Golf-U-Lator (A Case Study)

The Problem:

Being a start up, Golf-U-Lator does not have a functional website for users to book tee times or seeing what entertainment options they have to offer besides just golf.

My Role:

UX/UI Designer

Research:

Setting the Scope:

Before getting right into just blindly interviewing my stakeholder to see what their current pains and goals were, I took the time to organize a ‘Project Road Map’ to help the stakeholder better understand the whole process we were going to embark on. I shared this chart with him to better explain what exactly would be done throughout the four week project as well as to hold myself accountable with deadlines.

Stakeholder Interview:

On my next meeting with my stakeholder I conducted an in depth 45 minute interview to see what his goals are for this buisness endeavor as well as what his current pains are.

Key Goals learned from Stakeholder interview:

  • Have an easy to use functioning responsive website

  • A landing page for booking tee times

  • A landing page showing all entertainment options

  • Target a wide audience not just golfers

Key Pains learned from stakeholder interviews:

  • Not having a functioning website makes advertising hard

  • Users tend to think that it is just a place for golfers

Lean UX Canvas:

Now that I had my stakeholder goals and pains in mind it was time to conduct my user interviews. Before conducting these blindly I decided to use a lean UX canvas in order to organize my thoughts and have the right questions to be asking the users.

User Interviews:

I conducted five separate interviews with users ranging in ages of 21–31 and of all genders as the stakeholders goal is to have a wide target audience. Some users played golf and some didn’t.

Key Gains learned from User Interviews:

  • Users find it better to pay online

  • Users enjoy being able to do something while waiting

  • Users enjoy being able to book times online

Key Pains learned from User Interviews:

  • Having to call to book times is a major deterrent from wanting to schedule anything or use a service

  • Most users prefer to pay online versus having to speak with anyone

Competitor Analysis:

In order to better gauge the market I decided to do three different types of competitor analysis — Brand attributes, Market positioning map, and Brand comparison. All three helped me pinpoint what to highlight when desiging for Golf-U-Lator.

Analyzing the Data:

Affinity Diagram:

Using the handy affinity diagram I was able to organize similarties in answers from each user I Interviewed which led me to key discoveries in what the common theme for pains and goals for users were.

User Persona and Journey Map:

The affinity diagram helped me create a user person which in turn helped me create a journey map for said user persona to take me through the actions the user would do when first finding out about Golf-U-Lator all the way to actually booking a tee time with them! I love using these tools to get a better understanding of my users.

Finding a Solution:

Problem and Hypothesis Statement:

Once I clearly defined my user persona and their journey I was able to pin point what the problem statement is which led to my hypothesis statement.

Probelm Statement:

Golfers/Friends need to find a way to book tee times online while also showing other forms of entertainment offerred besides golf because not everyone likes golf but enjoys being with friends while they golf.

Hypothesis Statement:

I believe that making a website that shows entertainment options, simulator bays, booking online option, booking lessons online option will achieve more advertisement as well as an easier booking experience. I will know I am right when golfers/friends/users are booking times online or just going for the other entertainment options.

How Might We:

Once my problem statement and hypothesis statement were clear, I ideated on how might we’s to better understand what the most viable product (MVP) Statement would be and what should be focused on.

How might we make an easy way to book tee times online

How might we show that there are other entertainment activities besides the simulators

How might we advertise/get the word out about the Golf-U-Lator website and what it has to offer

Moscow Method:

Once I was able to see what my How Might We’s were, I moved on to using the moscow method to see what features the website should have as well as come up with the Minimum Viable Product (MVP) Statement.

MVP: The goal of the Golf-U-Lator website is to have an easy to use platform where users can book tee times, lessons, prices and also see all other entertainment options offered. By being able to do all this online, it will encourage users to book times online and want to go experience the Golf-U-Lator enviornment!

Site Map and User Flow:

Now that the features and MVP was established I then moved on to creating a site map along with a user flow to show how a user would navigate through the website.

Concept Sketches and Wire Frames:

After ideating on everything that the website should have I was able to come up with the below concept:

During testing of the concept sketches I realized that the book tee time page wasn’t the most user friendly when selecting simulators/times as it took up a bunch of space. This led me to changing the design in the lowfi.

Low Fidelity:

Since the concept sketches tested well except for a couple of things as mentioned above, I didn’t have to change too much! Below are the changes that were made.

The low fidelity wireframs also tested well only with a few minor changes that you’ll be seeing in the mid fidelity wireframes!

Mid Fidelity Wire Frame:

Mid fi testing went very well as there was zero confusion on how to do whatever action the user was thinking of doing or tasked with doing which in this case was booking a tee time.

UI Part:

Visual Competitive Analysis:

Moving onto the UI part of my project I decided to start by doing a visual competitive analysis to see what competitors were doing to market themselves. I based the visual competitive analysis off of two direct competitors — Top Golf and Five Iron.

Mood Board:

When creating my mood-board, I was trying to focus on key words that the stakeholder was wanting for the feel of the website and how the atmosphere at the actual location would be. The key words for this were classy, man-cave, bold and earthy.

Style Guide:

Now that I knew what the feel of the design would be I was able to create a style guide based off of actual elements I would be including in my design as well.

High Fidelity Prototype:

Here is the final result after all the research and testing!