Vancouver Ultimate League | UX & UI Design
Small Changes, Big Impact
Multiple Projects
In my role at the VUL (Vancouver Ultimate League) I took on the UX & UI design for specific projects aimed to create a more intuitive user experience through an improved user interface and member journey. Contributing to UX & UI, User research, journey mapping, hand over of a complete EMS upgrade and redesign. Resulting in an overall improved member experience.
My Role
Multi-Project, User Research, UX Strategy, UX Wireframing, UI Design, Prototyping, Journey Mapping, User Testing
Duration
1.5 Year
Tools
Figma, Slack, Assembla, Drupal
Team
Web Development & IT Manager, Executive Director, Leagues Managers
PROJECT 01
Home Page Registration ReDesign
Registration, Navigation & Active Games Visibility Improvements
Project Summary
In 2021 Covid restrictions and lockdowns began lifting. Active registration by Members, for teams and leagues, were not returning to pre-covid numbers as quickly as expected. Leaving some teams without enough players, some leagues having to cancel games and events. And VUL having to recalibrate how to get existing members back and attract new members.
Aside from the scheduled outreach through our Community Engagement and Adult Programs League, we looked at other ways to signal to our members that registration for the Fall term was open and players could begin registering or expressing their interest to join teams, be matched with teams and leagues.
Our data showed that we were still getting a lot of traffic to our home page, but few carried on to the registration page. Myself, the Web development manager, League Community Manager, and Executive Director met to discuss what we could possibly add or take away from the home page to help us achieve this goal.
Challenge
- In What ways can we use space on the homepage to signal to members about active games, teams and leagues?
- How can we increase member engagement to register to play, create teams, sign up for leagues.
Constraints
- The existing platform was built in 2013, while it is fully customizable, it had begun to age out.
- Decisions made in 2013 that made sense then, were no longer effective now.
- A complete upgrade and redesign was planned for end of 2023. Limiting what cost, effort we wanted to put in now.
Goals
- Improve navigational access to registration to increase visibility of open leagues, teams looking for players.
- Increase engagement with existing members to return and attract new members, making it easier for them to register and get involved.
Identifying Key Areas for Improvement
1. Move Registration Into Main Navigation
In the original build, circa 2013, the Registration navigation element was placed within the drop down list as the last item under "Play".
The first step was to increase visibility of Register by adding it to the main navigation. From looking at our traffic we were also able to identify other nav items that could be changed.
2. Create an "Open Registrations" Block on Home Page
During the Covid pandemic - in an effort to support our members to keep them up-to-date with the ever changing covid-19 restrictions - we repurposed the Welcome to the VUL block in the upper right corner for covid-19 resources.
Once these restrictions began to lift, our primary goal was to encourage people back to active play. Because our primary objective was to increase registration , it made sense that the best use of this space would be to promote open and active leagues.
Because it is a limited amount of space, and would include both Adult and Youth programs, the Web Manager and myself agreed that limiting the listings to three active linked open leagues, and include visual/verbal cue to direct members to the full registration page with all active and open leagues.
Original Build
2020 Covid-19 Resources Redesign
Lofi Iteration for the Open Registration ReDesign
First step was a lofi iteration for quick visualization and to test core concepts
Open Registration Mockup & Prototype
I created a few hifi mockups to test and visualize different content options and visual/content cues, then prototyped our expected behaviour for several use cases, ie: a logged in member v non-logged in individual.
Registration Flow
"More" Flow
Live Open Registration ReDesign
After testing for expected behaviour and to see our redesign with visual and content cues in real time on our staging environment the new design went live.
Results + Impact
Phase 1: Moving Register to the main nav
After the first phase of our improvements - the simplicity of moving Register to the main nav - making it more visible to new and existing members we immediately saw a 30% increase in registration for the current leagues.
Phase 2: Home Page Redesign to Add "Open Registration"
The addition of the Open Registration block to the home page is where we really began to see a noted improvement. Once this went live, we saw a 60% increase in registration for the current leagues, as well as more members adding themselves to members seeking teams / leagues.
From our CTR we could see that over 90% of these registrations were coming directly from the new Open Registrations block.
Reflections
The success of this work shows that the smallest changes often lead to the biggest impact. This project was a great reminder that you do not always need to undertake a total under haul to make a big difference.
By focusing on a few small, specific changes, we were able to create a more successful outcome that led to a significant jump in our registration numbers. And improved our member experience along the way.
These small changes demonstrated that when we get the little things right, it can have a big impact on our business requirements and member needs.
PROJECT 02
Tournament Champions Page Design
During the Summer of 2022 in an effort to boost member participation and morale after the lengthy and exhausting Covid pandemic restrictions the VUL held a Summer tournament. To celebrate the teams and bring a little fun and joy back to the spirit of the game, the web team came up with the idea to create a "Champions Page". The Web + IT Manager asked me to iterate on some design ideas.
Challenge
- Create a Champions Leader Board Page for League Tournaments
Constraints
- Existing platform left limited amount of space to design in
- Some Team names are very lengthy presenting a challegne for the design
Goals
- Use visual and content cues to celebrate teams progress as they play their way through the league championships
- Increase member engagement and enthusiam