Byga
December 2019 - June 2021
Byga is a California-based startup that aims to improve the youth organized club experience for families and team staff. The platform focuses on soccer and provides support for team schedules, team communication, roster information and more.
An overall redesign of the UI and user experience was completed in January 2020. Since the initial deliverable, additional features and revisions have been made.
Download the app, and learn more at: https://www.byga.net/
Teammate
Thomas Viollier
Role
Lead UX Designer & Researcher
Tools
Figma, Adobe Ai
“How might we improve communication between coaches, players and parents?”
Overview
The Problem
Interactions between primary stakeholders (coaches and parents) are not centralized, and rely on cross-platform communication rather than internally within the app. Information is spread out and parents are unsure of where to look when managing their player’s schedule.
The Solution
Provide easy to access insights and overviews so parents can quickly get up to speed with current club information (game days, eligibility requirements, etc.) The updated UI motives parents to use native features to increase engagement and interactions.
Research
Heuristic evaluation and competitive analysis revealed three primary pain points as areas of improvement to address first. The Homepage, Messages and Calendar screens are all core engagements for transferring information and maintaining communication.
Home
The home screen initially provided relevant information about players, upcoming events, upcoming practices and recent games. However, the content could be reorganized to more clearly call out the purpose of the event, and then the details.
Revising the information hierarchy allows users to quickly recognize important information (such as the type of event, when and where).
Messages
One interview with a parent explained that chat messages imply a quick response, so they are often left unread or unanswered. By contrast, emails are easier to manage because parents can get to them in their own time.
Simplifying communication decreases the stress of needing to participate in chat. Providing a notification center enables parents to quickly learn quickly if there is a change of plans from the regular practices, or if the coaches need to broadcast a message to whoever is involved without requiring a response.
Calendar
Families may have multiple players, and/or players on multiple teams, which increases the challenge of staying up to date. Color coding information makes schedules easier to recognize. The calendar also reflects the player history by updating game details for quick recollections.
Design
The Byga color palette was revised to provide better color contrast and readability. Some beta testers felt the original orange was too bright, and so we opted to reintegrate it as a primary highlight instead.
