



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
-
Reimagines a social media platform in Social media 2.0
-
Is the future of social interactions
-
Is a virtual space where people create meaningful relationships through live social & real money games.
-
Allows communities to play, engage & generate value with elements like immersive audio, virtual gifting/giveaways
-
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:
-
User needs. How will the design help the users?
-
Business goals. How will the design support business objectives?
-
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
-
Who are the users?
-
What are the users' pain points?
-
What factors dictate how they will use the product?
-
What kinds of interfaces will likely work best?
-
What has worked well in the past? What has not?
Project Based
-
What is this project's objective, in your view?
-
Why is this project important?
-
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?
-
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.


