Lucas Paraizo
Designer at Smartstream
Sporty app
A consumer sports experience built for connection
Designed the Sporty app to connect people for sports activities, focusing on intuitive navigation and streamlined workflows to enhance user engagement and social connection.
Problem Statement
The pandemic highlighted the importance of physical and mental health, yet finding teammates with matching schedules and interests remains difficult for team sports. Existing platforms like Sportido lack public match creation and UK regional support, revealing an opportunity to design a more relevant solution.
The Challenge: Connecting Sports Players
Users struggle to find teammates due to clashing schedules, difficulty meeting like-minded players, and missed opportunities to stay active and social.
My Approach: User-Led Insight
I interviewed four regular sports players, uncovering clear patterns:
- 75% preferred team play
- All were open to playing with strangers
- Half felt frustrated by unavailable players
- All found connecting for team sports difficult
This confirmed a strong need for a simpler way to connect.
My Solution: Flexible Matchmaking
I designed a platform that allows users to:
- Select their sports
- Create public matches
- Join nearby games
The experience prioritises accessibility and community over complexity.
My Strategy: Focused MVP
I defined a lean MVP, prioritising match creation, joining, and search. Early wireframes were tested and iterated to refine the core flow before expanding features.
My Testing: Iterative Refinement
Usability testing on joining a football match showed:
- 64.8% completed the flow easily
- 15% took detours but finished
- 20% encountered friction
Based on this, I improved button visibility, clarified terminology, and resolved scrolling issues.
Final Design
The final prototype delivers:
- Fast match creation for public games
- Location-based search and filtering
- Smooth onboarding to encourage early engagement
The result is a social, user-centred sports app that encourages activity and connection, with clear potential for growth through premium features or partnerships.