Match Day App

Live scoring Mobile Apps that replaces paper scoring on match day while also syncing directly with team websites to show live scores.

My Role

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Over the three years I worked at Sporty, I was responsible for making regular updates and enhancements to these apps, aligning with user feedback, development sprint cycles, and industry standards.

The Sporty Match Day App is an integral part of the competition management suite, seamlessly integrating with SKED for upcoming game fixtures and TeamBuilder for squad lists. It powers the Sporty website widget displaying Draws/Results and Match Centre, providing live scoring updates to club, school, and organisational websites across various sports.

Why it's needed

  • Enhances the experience of volunteers, administrators, and supporters of community sport.

  • Streamlines the submission of results, team sheets, and match reports, reducing paper-based and labour-intensive processes.

  • Delivers results quickly and accurately, improving visibility and engagement for community supporters.

My role focused on improving the user experience for scores and team managers while also increasing engagement for players and spectators.

8

different Match Day apps to meet the needs of each sport

340+

games scored weekly using Match Day apps

600k+

online registrations processed per year

UX Design Process

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In my role as UX Designer, I conducted interviews, analysed feedback, and developed user personas in order to inform how we would address challenges such as improving device usability, team selection visibility, match event clarity, and position setting.

I really valued meeting with fundamental users such as umpires and players to better understand their needs. I found this really useful especially when working on the Softball Match Day App, as I had to learn a lot about how their complicated scoring worked and the challenges that would be presented by having batting and fielding positions.

Solutions were defined and low fidelity wireframes were created. By hosting feedback sessions I was able to discover aspects that had been missed such as the misunderstanding of the DP role in softball. Once solutions were defined and problems solved, I created an interactive high fidelity prototype on Figma which was then used to present the solution before development was to begin.

Enhancements

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During my time at Sporty and working on the Match Day Apps, here is a display of some of the many designs and enhancements made. I led parts of this process and worked alongside a wider team including developers, QA testers, product owners, support and management.

Prototype demonstrating the team selection flow

Creation of tabs and aligning to different sport needs

While some sports only required selecting a team and player number, other sports such as netball would require the setting a position. To take that one step further, softball requires a number, batting order and fielding position. We observed that users were unsure how long this would take and what steps were required so we implements tabs which also show when each section has been completed with easy navigation between each tab.

Left: original design - Right: revised design

Realigning the match event buttons

Understanding the importance of ergonomic thumb access, particularly in the fast-paced environment of live sports events, we embarked on a redesign initiative. Our goal was to improve the usability and efficiency of the app by relocating these buttons to the bottom of the screen. This strategic adjustment not only ensured better thumb access for users, but it also streamlined the interaction flow, allowing for quicker and more intuitive recording of match events. By placing the controls within easy reach of the user's thumbs, we aimed to optimise the app's usability, ultimately enhancing the overall user experience during game day scenarios.

Left: original design - Right: revised design

Improving the event timeline

In the original version, match events were displayed as text, which could be overwhelming and challenging to follow, especially during fast-paced games. Understanding the importance of providing users with clear and digestible information, we opted for a redesign that broke down match events into visually distinct components.

This approach not only improves readability but also aligns the app's interface more closely with the Match Centre web app for spectators, ensuring consistency across platforms.

Support and feedback

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Releasing new features frequently meant we could continuously improve the design with club administrators and scorers in mind, with minimal disruptions to their experience

New features were constantly being released so these would be published in our release notes. Each year, we would deliver training sessions for club administrators and scorers to attend, keeping them up to date on the functionality of the app. We would also hold workshops when we released major updates. Users would also have access to user support guide PDF’s and instructional YouTube videos that I helped create.

Personal Takeaways

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Collaboration

I worked in a cross-functional team including developers, QA testers, product owners, and marketing teams to ensure seamless integration of design solutions across the product lifecycle. We worked towards fortnightly agile sprints allowing us to maintain a steady stream of updates and improvements. By working with mobile app developers, testers, and support teams, I was able to ensure that each release was thoroughly tested and met both technical and user experience expectations.

Commercial decisions vs user experience

For this project, I had to balance prioritising updates that aligned with commercial objectives with enhancing the user experience for all. This meant it was important to get user feedback both from specific commercial partners, such as sports bodies, as well as regular club administrators, scorers and viewers. I balanced these competing objectives by engaging directly with commercial partners on the project and also leveraging other engagements, such as asking questions when designing a sports club's website, to get feedback on their experience of the Match Day App.

Leadership and communication

I led white boarding sessions and presented design proposals to the team. I facilitated open discussions which worked towards alignment on design goals. I conducted user research through in-person interviews with referees and team managers. This provided valuable insights that directly influenced product decisions. I delivered presentations of high-fidelity prototypes to organisations like NZ Softball which ensured that our solutions met their specific needs.

Continuous learning

Reflecting on my initial designs and subsequent updates to the Match Day app, I've witnessed significant progress in my design approach and problem-solving skills. Continuous evolution of the product over my 3 years at Sporty has been instrumental in my ongoing learning journey, keeping me up to date with industry standards and emerging design trends. Navigating changes in technology trends and user preferences, such as the shift to larger mobile screens and evolving app usage patterns, required proactive adaptation and a forward-looking design approach. Throughout this process I actively worked to stay informed about technological advancements and their impact on user interactions guided decision-making processes.

Balancing Creativity with Usability

Striking a balance between innovative design concepts and practical usability considerations was crucial in ensuring that our solutions not only looked appealing but also functioned intuitively for diverse user groups. Iterative design processes and usability testing played a vital role in refining designs for optimal user experiences.