Brief
Game Grade is an app for people who play video games and want a useful way to keep track of and rate the games they play. Users are able to view game recommendations for other games based off of their interests and what their friends are playing. The app is user-led, and focuses on highlighting the interaction between users in order for users to see a wide variety of opinions on video games to maximize game discoverability within the app.
There existed a need for an app like Game Grade. There are no prominent apps that exist for people who play video games to keep track of, rate, and see other people’s ratings of games. The app’s purpose is both social and technical. Users are able to find information about games that they are interested in, and keep track of the games that they play. They are also able to discover new games through their friends and what other people are playing.
This app is targeted towards anyone who plays video games. Based off of research in the development process, this was identified as people primarily between the ages of 15 - 25, and the content and visual style of the app was honed to appeal to this demographic.
Game Grade contains five different tabs - Home, Search, Activity, Community, and User Profile. Within these tabs a user is able to see what games are currently popular, discover what games are recommended to them, what their friends have been playing, read reviews of games they may be interested in, watch gameplay, and more!
Process
The first step in the research process was identifying my user base and what exactly they wanted from an app like this one. I conducted a user survey, identifying my key demographics as well as their needs and wishes.
With this knowledge, I was able to then begin working on the app itself. I developed a sitemap and sketches to build a foundation for the app, laying out the pages and content that would be included.
I then created a first draft of low-fidelity wireframes, building out a rough draft of how I wanted the app to flow from page to page, and developing a hierarchy of what content needed to be prioritized within the app.
With wireframes and app layout in development, it was time to begin to work on how the app would appear visually. I did several rounds of refinement for both the logo as well as the app's appearance, eventually landing on the final logo and visual style.
Now that the app's branding becoming more developed, I then created a draft of high-fidelity wireframes, experimenting with different layout styles while keeping the content in the same places within the app.
After more refining, I arrived at the final app branding, visual style, and layout, with fourteen different finished wireframe mockups.
