Redesigned and Rebranded a Mobile Party Game to 3x Engagement

Organization:

Organization:

Organization:

Spotlightly

App:

App:

App:

Endship

Timeframe:

Timeframe:

Timeframe:

Several months in 2020, 2023

Several months in 2020, 2023

Several months in 2020, 2023

My role:

My role:

My role:

Sole designer

Lead UX Designer (FT),

UX Consultant

Tools:

Tools:

Tools:

Figma

Industry

Entertainment
Entertainment

Headquarters

Toronto
Toronto

Founded

2017
2017

As the sole designer, I led UX, UI and brand redesigns, yielding 2x more downloads and 3x games started.

Endship is a mobile party game where players get prompts about each other, and they vote on the best responses. I redesigned the UX, UI, and even rebranded the game to make it more modern and user-friendly.

As the sole designer, I led UX, UI and brand redesigns, yielding 2x more downloads and 3x games started.

Endship is a mobile party game where players get prompts about each other, and they vote on the best responses. I redesigned the UX, UI, and even rebranded the game to make it more modern and user-friendly.

3x

More games started on Android + iOS

More games started on Android + iOS

3x

Higher engagement and "fun-factor" ratings

Higher engagement and "fun-factor" ratings

2x

More iOS downloads

More iOS downloads

Industry

Entertainment

Headquarters

Toronto

Founded

2017

As the sole designer, I led UX, UI and brand redesigns, yielding 2x more downloads and 3x games started.

Endship is a mobile party game where players get prompts about each other, and they vote on the best responses. I redesigned the UX, UI, and even rebranded the game to make it more modern and user-friendly.

3x

More games started on Android + iOS

3x

Higher engagement and "fun-factor" ratings

2x

More iOS downloads

Context and Research

Competitive Analysis

Endship was designed to be a fun party game with friends who can playfully joke about each other. From a game design standpoint, there are 3 major features:

  • Creative: Players come up with their own responses.

  • Humorous: The content is inherently funny, due to how the game is set up.

  • Personalized: Content is about players, not just other topics.

User Research and Proto-Personas

Through hundreds of rounds observed by the original game developer, and several post-gameplay interviews, I came up with two proto-personas representing the main user types.

Why Endship (v1) Needed a Redesign

Endship initially entailed creating a game room that others joined online. Each round, they’d all write answers, and select their favorite responses.

This multi-device UX was the original vision of Endship, but my research indicated some unexpected limitations, including:

1. Logistics

Playtime was often limited due to someone in the group having low batteries.

2. Friction

Everyone needed to download the app, create a new account, join a room, etc.

3. Timing

Since players read responses on their own devices, the fun “answer reveal” wasn't such a social experience.

Redesign and Rebrand

Starting the Rebrand with Categories

The foundation of the redesign came from visualizing the game categories as decks from a card game, with simple monochromatic illustrations.

Designing a New Look

I fleshed out a new brand identity by replacing the “submarine” motif with a “pirate ship” theme, while maintaining its quirky charm.

I took this solid-color aesthetic and redesigned the landing page and mobile app with it.

UX and UI Redesign

  1. Starting a New Game

The new UX offloads the game set-up to one person. Since there's usually one eager player to introduce the game to friends, this UX facilitates word of mouth.

  1. Completing a Round

By using progressive disclosure (showing only what’s necessary when it’s necessary), each step per round is simple and intuitive.

Game modes

Two Ways of Playing

  • Shouting mode: A lively mode where the captain (the player whose turn it is) gives points as people roast them, by shouting their responses

  • Writing mode: Where players have a minute to write their answer offline (eg. with pen and paper)

Toasts: "Safe mode"

Toasts — a variation of "roasts" where players are set up for compliments — is effectively the way to play when you want to ensure no one's feelings are hurt.

Key takeaways

  1. Never ignore the context of use: The original game was designed with playing at home in mind, where people could charge their mobile devices anytime; but this was usually not the case. And when even one person had low batteries, most groups stopped playing rather than excluding them.

  2. Don’t just reinvent the wheel: While the “shouting mode” creates a lively fast-paced experience, we didn’t want to get rid of the “write for a minute, vote at the end” UX, which is a familiar game design pattern. The solution was simply to make two game modes, and let players pick.

  3. The importance of colors and backgrounds: Picking colors was surprisingly difficult because of how many were needed (eg. over a dozen deck designs). But I found that keeping a solid color (sky blue) as a background not only elevated the design, but made it significantly easier to work with, compared to the gradient from the initial version of the game.