Case study · Fantasy Arcade
Design likethere are no limits.
A creative program for a design team that never stopped shipping.
- Team Building
- AI
- Presentation Deck
- Role
- Led the initiative
- Team
- 9 designers
- Created
- 2022
- Build time
- Two months
- Rhythm
- 1 hr/week with a buddy
- Showcase
- Every two months
Overview
What it is · Challenge · Opportunity
What is Fantasy Arcade?
The challenge
The opportunity
Team
My role · 9 designers · Timeline · Rhythm
My role
- Timeline
- The program was created in 2022 and took two months to establish.
- Frequency
- We aim to have the team members meet with their buddies 1 hour/week for a working session, and once every two months as a group to showcase our projects.
- Tools
Figma- FiFigJam
ChatGPT
Midjourney- DADALL·E
The team
- Anya
- Derek
- Gabbie
- Kyle
- Rosie
- Sarah
- Stevie
- Vince
- Yiqi
For privacy reasons I'm using fake headshots.
The program
Goals · Scope · How it works · Time
Our goals
Exercise creativity
We want the team members to focus on the craft and explore new ways of designing. This is a good time to experiment so try new styles, patterns etc.
Push our limits
Think big. Think outside the box. Let's look at our competitors and companies outside our industry, such as the gaming world.
Few product/design constraints
Don't worry about the constraints we have in our day-to-day operations. Design like you have no limits.
Have fun
Most importantly, have fun. We want this program to inspire our team members and make them hungry to learn new things and try new ways of doing things.
The scope
Type of project
Select a feature/page in our app to redesign.
Device
For this program we're focusing on mobile only.
Research
Research our competitors and other platforms in our industry and also outside our industry and create an inspiration board.
Design
Go wild with your creativity as we've described earlier.
Testing
Run your ideas by your design buddy and iterate based on your conversations.
Feedback
Every two months we'll meet as a group and have a Showcase, where each team member gets to show their work.
Project timeline
Every 4 months we'll assign a new feature/page to our team members.
How it works
You'll work on your own project
Each team member will work on her/his own unique project.
Each team member will have a design buddy
Everyone will be paired up with a design buddy and they should be collaborating and helping each other.
Follow our work flow
This project is more focused on the UI rather than the UX. As a starting point let's look at the current UX flows and try to stick with those flows. However, if you discover any obvious UX improvements, feel free to incorporate those.
Every two months we'll have a Fantasy Showcase
We'll meet as a group every couple of months to share our work and have a constructive conversation around these new ideas.
When do we work on this?
Lower priority
The day-to-day projects have higher priority than this project. Set aside dedicated time to work on this.
Frequency
We recommend that you schedule a 1-hour meeting/week with your design buddy and you can work together on your projects. You can also spend 1–2 hours/week working on this by yourself.
Find a rhythm that works for you
We're all different and work in different ways. So make sure that this program fits into your weekly rhythm.
Buddies
Pairing · How crazy
This is an example of how we divided up our team for one session. For privacy reasons I'm using fake headshots.
How crazy can we get?
Update current design
Start with a feature or a page in our current mobile app.
Flows that already exist
Start with UX flows that exist in our mobile app and tweak them as needed to make them better.
Use any UI style you want
There are no limitations to how you decide to design the UI.
Design for our target audience
Keep in mind who our target audiences are, and make sure you put yourself in their shoes as you're creating your designs.
Follow our general business principles, goals and priorities
We want you to be aware of our business goals and priorities. This will make it easier for you to make educated design decisions.
Hackathon
Agenda · Features · Themes
Get ready for takeoff
Features to redesign
- league cards
- player page
- team info page
- league page
- scoreboard
- standings
- player page (header)
Themes to incorporate
- cyberpunk
- 70s pop culture
- vikings
- star wars
- art deco
- ancient greek art
- Disney 50th
- 20 min
Introduction
- choose a feature to redesign (mobile only)
- be assigned a unique theme to incorporate into their designs
- 60 min
Research
- conduct research based on their feature and theme
- use AI tools to generate images/copy that match your theme
- create an inspiration board with your research findings
- 30 min
Design buddy review
- be paired up with their design buddy
- review each other's research findings and share feedback
- 10 min
Break
- Grab water/coffee, get fresh air
- 60 min
Speed design
- work independently to redesign their chosen feature
- go crazy with their designs (no limitations)
- incorporate their theme into the designs
- work fast — this is a speed design exercise
- 10 min
Break
- Grab water/coffee, get fresh air
- 45 min
Showcase
- share inspiration board and designs from the speed exercise
- share constructive feedback
Results
AI · Boards · Mocks · Redesigns
Examples of AI generated UX flows and content (ChatGPT)
Examples of AI generated images (DALL·E, Midjourney)
Theme specific examples of inspiration boards
Theme specific examples of mocks
Redesigns
Takeaways
Key takeaways · Conclusion
Key takeaways
Collaboration and networking
By working closely with our buddies, we'll get to know each other even more.
Increase product knowledge
This project gives us an opportunity to dive into our product and come up with forward thinking ideas.
Fan empathy and creativity
Even if these ideas won't be developed, it'll give us creative solutions to current pain points and we'll have the opportunity to better understand what our Users want.
Conclusion
- 01Gives our team an opportunity to enhance their craft and creativity
- 02Have dedicated time to play around with different AI tools
- 03Our team members seem to really enjoy this format
- 04It's valuable to step away from day-to-day routines and do something different
- 05This is a collaborative program that allows our team members to network, share constructive feedback both 1-on-1 and as a team
- 06Allow ourselves to increase the User empathy