FANZONE
project manager • UI/UX DESIGNER • Lead Researcher
THE problem
Professional and collegiate teams are suffering from a lack of attendees. The goal for this interface is to provide a service for marketing teams to capitalize on. This interface will be able to track what the fans are interacting with and what they prefer. If marketing teams were to utilize this interface it would in turn improve the teams overall marketing campaign along with enhancing the fans’ in person game experience.
THE solution
Fanzone is designed to create a seamless bridge between digital and in-person interactions. Through features like interactive polls, exclusive behind-the-scenes content, and personalized rewards, FanZone enriches the in game experience. This approach not only provides fans with an memorable immersive experience, but also supports teams and venues in optimizing audience participation, fostering loyalty, and driving additional revenue streams.
overview
The app encourages sports fans to actively participate through interactive polls and fan-based challenges, transforming them from passive content consumers into engaged contributors. This active involvement boosts enthusiasm and creates a sense of belonging, making fans feel their opinions and actions are valued. Greater engagement often leads to increased spending on merchandise, tickets, and other team-related products. By incorporating interactive features and personalized promotions, the app unlocks new revenue streams for teams while driving sales. Additionally, for a premium fee, the app can collect valuable insights into fan preferences, behaviors, and engagement patterns. This data enables teams to refine marketing strategies, enhance offerings, and make well-informed, data-driven decisions.
Personal growth
This project was a transformative experience that allowed me to grow as a Project Manager, UI/UX Designer, and Technical Researcher. It challenged me to navigate both the strategic and creative aspects of developing intuitive user experiences, where every interaction, no matter how small, plays a pivotal role in usability and engagement.
As Project Manager, I honed my leadership skills, ensuring the team stayed on schedule while fostering a collaborative environment where creativity thrived. In my role as UI/UX Designer, I leveraged Figma to experiment with component systems, refine micro and macro interactions, and iterate efficiently on designs to achieve seamless user experiences. My work as a Technical Researcher further supported these efforts by identifying and implementing best practices to enhance the project’s functionality and user engagement.
This journey not only strengthened my ability to manage complex design projects but also deepened my understanding of how thoughtful interaction design and strategic decision-making can elevate digital experiences. The insights gained continue to inform my approach to creating impactful, user-centered solutions.
FINAL PRODUCT
rESEARCH PROCESS
Creative Research:
The creative research goal was to find out how to create an interactive app for users attending sporting events in person and at home. With the abundance of information coming from these events we used things like color palette, typography, and layout to create an informative yet simple and user friendly interface.
Marketing Research:
The goal of the market analysis was to find products that relate to the design and concept of the brand. This includes sports broadcasts, sports betting, and professional teams' apps and websites. For each of these, specific companies were researched and analyzed for their strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats (SWOT analysis). This would help the FANZONE brand find the best way to compete with these companies and learn from their mistakes.
Technical Research:
To create an accurate interactive app for fans attending sporting events, we utilized beacon technology to provide location of seats, parking, restrooms, vendors, and first aid. Beaconing is where these devices send a signal to servers and initiates a pre-set trigger. For example, a person with a mobile device enters a store with a beacon set up, which then triggers a text message to be sent via the server to their phone informing them of offers or soliciting feedback regarding their location in the store.
Why?:
Interactive experiences are another feature made possible by Bluetooth beacons. They can trigger app-specific actions based on user location, such as providing wait times and virtual queuing options. Additionally, they assist in way finding and navigation within large venues by providing directions and highlighting points of interest. In both Android and iOS, the apps don’t connect with the beacons. Instead, they detect the Bluetooth signals that the beacons broadcast. Also, both systems require the user’s permission for the app to access Bluetooth and location services.
Design PROCESS
Our design process for FanZone began with a comprehensive user flow mapped out in Miro. The interface was strategically divided into four key areas: Home, fan rewards, tickets, maps, and profile. This structured approach enabled precise segmentation of features, ensuring each component aligned with the overall goal of enhancing user engagement and audience retention.
My partners Grayson Beall, Alyssa Lazarchik and I embarked on an iterative design journey. We started with hand-drawn sketches, transitioned to wireframes, and gradually refined each page into high-fidelity prototypes.
Testing & Iteration
The development of FANZONE was guided by an iterative, user-centered design approach. We conducted ongoing usability testing through Figma’s mobile platform, allowing us to engage directly with the prototype on handheld devices. This method enabled us to observe interaction patterns and assess the intuitiveness of navigation structures, resulting in deliberate refinements to interface components and user flows. Although our access to external users was limited, we prioritized structured feedback sessions with peers and faculty. These evaluations provided critical insights that informed each revision, ensuring that FANZONE continuously evolved in alignment with best practices in usability and user experience design.
Persona Driven Design
Our design decisions were consistently anchored in the needs of our primary persona: Noah Bennet
An upper-middle-class father of two young children. With Noah in mind, we aimed to develop an experience that balanced accessibility, efficiency, and engagement. Key features—such as real-time updates, concise game summaries, and intuitive navigation—were designed to accommodate the lifestyle of a time-constrained user who values staying connected to his team. This persona-driven perspective allowed us to maintain a clear focus on user relevance and satisfaction throughout the project lifecycle.
low fidelity
HIgh fidelity
The prototype contains five main pages which are tickets, maps, FANZONE, rewards and profile.
Rewards serves as a simplified discount service that users are able to take advantage of. The user can see all of the rewards available from all of their favorite teams at once. They can then use these awards to make current purchases included discounted tickets or a variety of free or discounted concession snacks.
Profile serves as the users preferences tab. Here is where the user can update their beloved teams, that will then affect auto generated information on every other page! Including news feeds, discounts, upcoming games, etc.
Tickets serves as a centralized hub for users to view, current tickets, upcoming ticket deals, and to purchase tickets all in one location. We created a simple toggle function that would be auto populated based upon the previously set user preferences.
Maps serves as a comprehensive hub that will use location authorization to create an easier navigation system for users. The maps feature includes a stadium navigation feature, parking guide, shuttle routes and nearby authorized tailgates. All of which will aid in the user journey.
FANZONE serves as a powerful tool that enables users to instantly access live games. By having the tickets feature incorporated along with location authorization, we are able to know when a fan has reached their desired stadium. By tracking ticket scans and location, an automatic "at game" version will fill the screens. This user experience will be different than the "at home" version to better fulfill the user needs and create a sense of importance to the user.
