1-UP Mobile App
A Case Study
With the rise in popularity of streaming and online content creation as a career, I designed a mobile app to help budding streamers hone their skills and build confidence.
This app was called 1-UP, and it allowed users to stream to an audience that would provide constructive feedback, take educational courses on being a content creator, and track their progress on the way to being a confident streamer.
My roles: Ideation, research, branding and visual design, app interface design, prototype development
Tools used: Adobe XD, Photoshop, Canva, Unity 3D
My roles: Ideation, research, branding and visual design, app interface design, prototype development
Tools used: Adobe XD, Photoshop, Canva, Unity 3D
Identifying the problem
As someone who is deep into the cultures of Twitch, YouTube, and the like, I noticed a rising trend of viewers seeking advice from successful content creators on how to become one themselves. Although many resources exist online to aid budding streamers and creators, there was a gap in the market: how do these aspiring creators consistently improve themselves, stay on track to their goal, and receive honest feedback about their performance?
With this in mind, the idea behind 1-UP was born. 1-UP aims to encourage anyone to become an online content creator by equipping them with the right skills to boost their confidence, and learn the ins-and-outs of their preferred content platform.
1-UP’s unique features include:
Skill Gauge
Users will be gauged on their current skill levels via a simple quiz, including their confidence and content creation skills. It will also identify the user's chosen content platform(s) to match them up with the right resources. Once quizzed, users will be assigned a Creator Skill (CS) level, ranging from Level 1 (Starter) to Level 5 (S Tier).
Practice Runs
The app encourages users to complete Practice Runs by immersing the in a mock online environment corresponding with their preferred content platform. This enables them to get a feel for what creating content online will be like, while also practicing their new skills learnt via the Creator Guides. They can also then get live audience feedback from high-ranked 1-UP users.
Creator Guides
The app will provide tips and advice for budding content creators in each CS level to enhance their skills in public speaking, entertaining, dealing with challenges, etc. These guides will take the form of video and text guides in order to rank up to the next CS level.
Creator Skill Tree
The Creator Skill Tree will serve as both a progression tracker for users to keep track of their CS level progress, as well as a task list for users to complete before advancing to the next CS level. Each completed task will earn the user Skill Experience Points (or Skill XPs).
Creator Loot
The Creator Loot page enables users to redeem their Skill XPs for rewards such as in-app customisation, platform-specific resources (e.g. YouTube banners or Twitch profile panels), and more.
Finding a value proposition
What makes the idea behind 1-UP unique? 1-UP enables users not just to hone their confidence and content creation skills, but also put them into practice and receive real feedback from fellow creators.
This encourages a self-sustaining user cycle of building up skills and confidence, then contributing their proficiency to new creators.
Conducting user and market research
Now that I had the idea for the app, I conducted preliminary research on its potential user base and a market analysis.
The online content pool is consistently growing, both in the number of viewers and creators. The COVID-19 pandemic has pushed the numbers up even further, with more people turning to online content while stuck in lockdowns and quarantine.
Research has shown that 89% of 18-25 year olds consume more than 2 hours of online video per day, while the number of users trying their hand at content creation themselves have increased.
Hence, 1-UP’s target demographics are:
1-UP will first focus on building creators on YouTube, Twitch, and TikTok. All three platforms are one of the biggest video sharing platforms on the market today, with an average combined daily user count of 348 million.
Designing wireframes
Once the project scope has been defined, I started to map out the design of the app. I opted for bright, bold colours to evoke a fun and youthful feel to the app.
I ran these high-fidelity wireframes past representatives of 1-UP’s target segments to obtain feedback, then improved them before moving on to the next stage.
Creating a design prototype
With the wireframes complete, I began developing a fully-designed prototype of the application. Once the screens were designed, I also made the prototype fully interactive and clickable.
At this stage, I obtained user feedback during the design process.
Use the interactive prototype viewer on the right to explore the app prototype yourself!
With the wireframes complete, I began developing a fully-designed prototype of the application. Once the screens were designed, I also made the prototype fully interactive and clickable.
At this stage, I obtained user feedback during the design process.
Use the interactive prototype viewer on the right to explore the app prototype yourself!
Developing a working prototype
Once the design of the app was defined, I then translated it into a working mobile app prototype via Unity 3D.