Business Context & Goals
Redesigned the IndoorHoops experience into a native iOS app to simplify game booking, improve community engagement, and modernize brand identity. Streamlined the process of finding and joining games while introducing social features that help players stay connected and play more often.
The Challenge
The core problem was the friction players faced when trying to discover and book basketball sessions on mobile. IndoorHoops only offered a web interface, which required multiple steps and frequent logins to join a game. Without a dedicated mobile app, players like myself had to rely on a clunky browser experience that slowed things down. I wanted to create a smoother, more intuitive way for users to find and reserve games directly from their phones — with an experience that felt fast, personal, and built for convenience.
Another major pain point was the lack of social connection. Players often met others they enjoyed teaming up with, but the platform offered no way to follow or keep track of them for future games. This was a missed opportunity for building stronger teams and fostering community. I envisioned an app that made it easy for players to stay connected. Users could start seeing when friends were playing, joining their sessions, and keeping the same energy that exists on the court alive within the app.
From a broader perspective, a native mobile experience aligned with how people already interact with their favorite platforms. Users naturally prefer apps that feel responsive, familiar, and personal. A mobile app for IndoorHoops could bring that same energy to pickup basketball ultimately reducing friction, strengthening community, and turning casual players into a connected network.
The Assumed Role
I acted as the sole Product Designer and prototype developer for this project, taking full ownership from conception through execution. My responsibilities included:
User Research: Planning and conducting interviews and surveys with players to gather insights into their needs and pain points.
UX/UI Design: Creating the app’s information architecture, wireframes, and high-fidelity interface designs consistent with IndoorHoops’ brand.
Prototyping & Development: Building an interactive prototype in Xcode using SwiftUI, demonstrating core features and navigation. (This showcased some of my front-end development skills and ensured the design was technically feasible.)
Stakeholder Communication: Initiating and maintaining dialogue with IndoorHoops stakeholders via email, pitching the app concept and incorporating any feedback to align the solution with the organization’s vision.
I began with user research to validate the problems and gather ideas from the target audience (IndoorHoops players). Over a few weeks, I conducted 20 interviews with frequent IndoorHoops users (including players in New York and Chicago). I even took the initiative to attend pickup sessions and distribute a Google Form survey to attendees, collecting dozens of responses which were logged in a Google Sheet for analysis. This grass-roots approach gave me rich qualitative data and some quantitative hints about user behavior.
Key findings from the research:
Cumbersome Booking Workflow: Nearly all participants found the web booking process clunky on mobile. Many mentioned having to zoom in and tap through several pages to secure a spot in a game. This confirmed the need for a streamlined, mobile-optimized flow for finding and reserving games.
Desire for a Mobile App: An overwhelming majority expressed enthusiasm for a native app. Players noted they would book sessions more often if an app were available, primarily due to the convenience of staying logged in and the speed of a native interface. This sentiment reinforced the assumption that a dedicated app could significantly increase usage and retention (since users tend to engage more deeply with apps than with mobile sitesmobiloud.com).
Social Connection is Important: A common theme was community. Regular IndoorHoops members often recognize each other at games and sometimes coordinate attendance informally. 100% of interviewees liked the idea of following friends or favorite players through the platform. For example, one Chicago player said he had a group chat outside the platform to tell friends which sessions he was joining – a clear indication the product itself should facilitate that interaction. Features like friend lists, the ability to “join a friend’s game,” or notifications about friends’ activities were highly requested. This aligns with industry insights that building in-app communities can drastically lift engagement and retention in sports.
Pain Points & Wishlist: Users also provided other suggestions such as having a calendar view of upcoming games (to easily see their schedule at a glance), the ability to manage their game credits or payments in-app, and a smoother check-in process when arriving at the gym. These insights helped shape the feature set.
In addition to user interviews, I performed a competitive analysis. I looked at similar sports and pickup game services (for instance, apps like InfiniteHoops and GoodRun that operate in the same space) to understand standard features and UX patterns. This analysis showed that most competing solutions already offered native apps with push notifications, friend invites, and profile management. It highlighted that IndoorHoops risked falling behind without a mobile app offering. Moreover, it underscored some best practices – for example, push notifications could be a game-changer for re-engagement (one study shows push notifications can achieve ~20% open rates vs ~2% for emailmobiloud.com, a huge advantage for timely prompts like “Your friend just booked a game tomorrow!”). These findings gave me a strategic foundation for designing an app that would not only solve current user frustrations but also match or exceed the competition in functionality.
Design and Implementation
With a clear understanding of user needs and opportunities, I proceeded through an end-to-end design process, from defining the app’s structure to creating a working prototype.
Information Architecture & Feature Prioritization
Based on the research insights, I defined the core features and structure of the IndoorHoops app. The goal was to focus on tasks that delivered the most user value (and addressed the identified pain points) in a simple, intuitive way. We prioritized the following capabilities:
Game Discovery & Booking: Easily find pickup games by city, date, and skill level, and reserve a spot with one tap (versus the multi-page web signup). This would be the primary function, front-and-center on the app.
Social & Team Features: Allow users to invite friends to join IndoorHoops and follow other players. A user could, for instance, view a friend’s upcoming games or get notified when friends join a session, fostering a sense of community and encouraging group play.
Messaging: Enable basic communication between players (e.g. to coordinate meetup times or trash-talk friendly rival teams). This could start as a simple direct messaging or group chat around a scheduled game.
Calendar & Schedule Management: Provide a personal calendar of the user’s booked games and a schedule view of all upcoming sessions. This visual layout would make it easy to spot free days to play.
Payments & Credits Wallet: Integrate IndoorHoops’ credit system so users can add funds (credits) to their account, see their remaining credits, and use them to pay for game fees in-app. Although full payment integration might be a later phase, the design needed to accommodate showing balance and guiding users to the website if needed for transactions.
The app’s navigation structure was designed to support these features intuitively. We opted for a typical tabbed approach, with primary tabs for Games, Friends, Messages, and Profile/Wallet. This way, all major functionalities were one tap away, reducing the friction that users experienced on the website. I mapped out user flows for key actions (e.g., finding and joining a game, adding a friend, checking your schedule) to ensure the information architecture supported a smooth experience.
Process and Visual Direction
After defining the core features, I began mapping the experience through low-fidelity wireframes—starting with simple sketches and progressing to Figma. I focused on flow efficiency: making the “Find a Game” and “Reserve” actions clear, visible, and achievable within a few taps. Every decision centered on reducing friction—whether it was highlighting available spots, surfacing location filters, or subtly indicating which sessions friends had joined.
Feedback from early user interviews helped refine these layouts. Players wanted an interface that felt fast and familiar, mirroring the rhythm of how they actually play—quick decisions, instant coordination. I introduced filters by city and skill level to declutter the experience, and a simple friend indicator icon to make community-driven sessions stand out. From there, I moved into high-fidelity prototypes, designing clickable flows that mirrored the intended app navigation.
When I began exploring visual design, I turned to IndoorHoops’ social media and website as my brand guide. The imagery was powerful—black-and-white streetball photography, minimalist typography, and a distinctly New York City grit that felt raw and authentic. I wanted the app to echo that energy: monochrome tones, bold contrast, and a functional elegance that let the content, courts, players, stats: do the talking.
The final interface reflected that blend of urban simplicity and digital polish. White and deep black form the core palette, with warm neutrals softening the background. Sparse pops of color are used only where it matters—on buttons, active states, and social highlights. Icons and typography were stripped to their essence: geometric, modern, and easy to scan in motion.
To ensure consistency, I built a lightweight style guide from the ground up—documenting color values, spacing rules, and component behavior directly from IndoorHoops’ online identity. With no formal branding system available, this framework served as the visual bridge between their existing community presence and a digital product experience.
In the end, the app’s design language became a reflection of its users: clean, grounded, and connected by a shared love for the game. It wasn’t about reinventing basketball culture—it was about translating it into pixels, keeping the same rhythm and respect the court demands.
