TAMASHA
"Tamasha" is a social media gaming app that aims to help communities play, engage and generate value through elements like immersive audio, virtual gifting and giveaways. It is the future of social interactions, a virtual space where people create meaningful relationships via live social games.
LIVE APP
SOCIAL MEDIA
GAMING
FREELANCE PROJECT
USER EXPERIENCE
USER INTERFACE
LEAD UI/UX DESIGNER
10 WEEKS - 2021
The Design Process
DISCOVER
There was a time constraint in this project. The goal was not to have extensive discussions or to develop a perfect solution, but to make quick decisions, to get commited and to be able to act strategically.
I started to discover, which were divided into three parts :
Identifying the Problem
Understanding Existing App
Competitor Analysis
Stakeholder & Expert Interviews
Design Brief
IDENTIFYING THE PROBLEM
Be it a 22 yr old young man or a 60 yr old woman, social media has become an integral part of everyone's lives. It has changed the way we look at the world and how we communicate and interact with our friends, acquaintances and loved ones. Let's look at social media and real money gaming industry in India.
448millions
Social Media Industry (2021)
539millions
Real Money Gaming Industry (2021)
"The problem with current social media applications is that it is endless scrolling with very less interactions unless initiated by the first hand user of these applications. Also various audio-room based applications becomes monotonous and non interactive after a while. If we look into gaming applications, there is no/very less post game interactions."
UNDERSTANDING THE EXISTING APP
I overviewed the existing app & noted down features that needed attention. Some of the previous screens are :
Pain Points that were seen :
Looks like a Game App
Confusing User Flow Journey
Social media Aspect missing
Hierarchy is missing
Cluttered Home Screen
App Architecture ignored
Nav Bar - Crowded & Unorganized
No importance given to Social Aspect
Empty Hamburger Menu
Features as well as UX can be revamped
COMPETITIVE ANALYSIS
Tamasha aims at bringing in the social media and real money games together, so I looked into various social media and real money gaming apps. I analysed them based on various touch points like company's requirement, app features, user experience, etc.
I defined the insights that came from the competitive analysis into two parts :
STRENGTHS of Other Apps w.r.t. Tamasha
Familiarity for the Users
Good User Experience
Large User Base of these apps
Has the trusts of the Users
Keeps Users hooked without incentives
WEAKNESSES of Other Apps w.r.t. Tamasha
Doesn't cater both games & social media
Some are not real money apps
Doesn't have exclusive gifting
Doesn't let Users host games/clubs
Doesn't have layer 2 engagement
DESIGN BRIEF
To design a digital solution in form of app that
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Reimagines a social media platform in Social media 2.0
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Is the future of social interactions
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Is a virtual space where people create meaningful relationships through live social & real money games.
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Allows communities to play, engage & generate value with elements like immersive audio, virtual gifting/giveaways
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Empowers creators with an ability to monetise their talent in engaging communities through games.
STAKEHOLDERS & EXPERT INTERVIEWS
Stakeholder and expert interviews can help identify what will make a product a success from the business side, and what's possible. These interviews are valuable research tools used to kick-start the design process. They focus on extracting information from three main areas in UX design:
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User needs. How will the design help the users?
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Business goals. How will the design support business objectives?
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Technical limitations. What technical obstacles needed to be overcome?
These interviews are a great way to get the lay of the land. They helped me understand user behavior, distinguish constraints, and identify pain points.
Stakeholders and Experts
Siddharth Swarnkar
Co-Founder
Saurabh Gupta
Co-Founder
Aditi Ajit
Product Manager
Questions
User Based
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Who are the users?
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What are the users' pain points?
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What factors dictate how they will use the product?
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What kinds of interfaces will likely work best?
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What has worked well in the past? What has not?
Project Based
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What is this project's objective, in your view?
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Why is this project important?
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What does success look like for this project?
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What concerns do you have about this project?
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What challenges do you see this project possibly running into?
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Are there any technological limitations?
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What are a few product concerns?
Insights
01
Uneducated
User base
05
Wants to earn pocket money
02
Located in
Tier 3 places
06
Unsatisfied with messenger
03
Wants excitement
07
Moves to whatsapp later
04
Feels lack of community
08
Unsatisfied with Hosting experience
DEFINE
CREATING USER PERSONA
User personas are archetypical users whose goals and characteristics represent the needs of a larger group of users.
On discussing with the founders of Tamasha app, I was able to define the User types in broad categories.
Once I gathered all this valuable research, I moved on to the next step of defining the data I collected. I tried using various methods and tools to aggregate and validate the research data. Themes, patterns and trends emerge through affinity mapping and persona definition, which lead to a necessary revised needs and requirements.
Creating User Persona
Empathy Mapping
Customer Journey Mapping
A person living in the Tier-3 city, who are uneducated and have basic knowledge of technology.
EMPATHY MAP
Empathy mapped is used to articulate what we know about a particular type of user. It externalizes knowledge about users in order to create a shared understanding of user needs, and aid in decision making. I started mapping out what my user says, thinks, does and feels in order to empathize better.
A customer journey map can be a powerful tool to help you visualise and clarify current or future states of customer experience in all stages of the customership. I started mapping that out for a scenario as a host of games :
DEFINE
After defining stage of creating affinity map, persona and the customer journey map, a lot of themes, patterns and trends emerged. These moved me to the development stage where I listed down needs and requirements of the app, scenario of an ideal situation when these needs were fulfilled, and later on adding structure to it by defining Information architecture, User flow and wireframes.
Wireframes
User Flow
Information Architecture
Scenario
Needs and Requirements
CUSTOMER JOURNEY MAP
NEEDS AND REQUIREMENTS
After diving into research I understood that the product should focuses on values such as
1. Social and Community Forming,
2. Ownership,
3. Engagement,
4. Forming Connections and
5. Rewards (Psychological & Material)
These help me define the needs and requirements in the app :
Easy Hosting Games
Easily Hosting Games and Earning commissions through it is an integral part of this app. A user will be able to create & host games.
Real Money Gifts & Rewards
Real money Gifting, Emojis as well as exclusive Gifs are ways to improve the social connections between the Users
Owning & Promoting Clubs
A User will be able to create and promote a club which will have their group messages as well as audio-rooms in order to interact.
Levels and XP
Increase in Levels and XPs, additional offers level- wise in order to keep the users engaged in the platform.
Games in Audio Rooms
The audio rooms can also have games that a user can play within the clubs for free. Gifting each other will be another way of interaction.
War zones in games
The user can also play war zones like games, one club vs others or by dividing themselves with the club. This way they will have the experience of playing as a team.
SCENARIO
Among all the different need and requirements, I narrowed down the most relevant one to create a scenario which showed the implementation in best way possible. It will help me see if the solution is valid or not.
INFORMATION ARCHITECTURE
After understanding the scenario, I started mapping out the Information architecture. It focuses on organizing, structuring, and labeling content in an effective and sustainable way.
USER FLOW
User flow is the path taken by a prototypical user on a website or app to complete a task. The user flow takes them from their entry point through a set of steps towards a successful outcome and final action, I mapped it out.