Personal Contributions

What is WalterPicks?

WalterPicks is an AI-powered sports betting and fantasy sports app that allows users to make optimal predictions using personalized insights. Originally a fantasy sports platform, WalterPicks has more recently added betting features into the app, expanding its potential for user adoption.

‍

‍

Project Scope

Our scope for the project includes increasing shareability, user retention, and community for users. In completing the project, we would:

• Design prototypes for a new social feature for the WalterPicks mobile app

‍

Project Milestones

Desk Research & Competitive Analysis

Goals:

• Gain a baseline understanding and familiarize ourselves with the problem space
• Conduct research on multiple relevant sports betting related terms and apps
• Discover shareable features for bet tracking across multiple sportsbooks
• Identify competing apps that support features that foster in-app user-to-user engagement

Methodology:

We reviewed discussions within the WalterPicks betting community on Discord to understand how bettors share information, strategies, and social dynamics in real time. We also examined the practice of bet tailing to better understand how users follow others’ wagers and what factors influence trust, decision-making, and perceived expertise. To complement these observations, we conducted secondary research, which allowed us to identify recurring platform features, user motivations, and risks, as well as broader patterns in how social interaction shapes betting behavior.

‍

We also analyzed four bet-tracking apps (BettingPros, Outlier, Action Network, Juice Reel) and one community-focused, live-forum app (Real) to gather insights into how users interact while tracking bets.

Takeaways:

• Betting behavior is shaped by community discussion, shared picks, and reactions from other bettors.
• Many bettors reference others’ wagers as signals, but still apply their own judgment rather than copying blindly.
• Observations from platforms like Discord show that bettors often seek validation, compare perspectives, and emotionally experience wins and losses together.
• Trending and popular picks increase bet conversion, drive engagement, and improve user retention.
• Features such as streaks and ranks can improve user retention.
• Elements such as leaderboards, friends, & commenting can foster a sense of community.

‍

Interviews

Goals:

• Understand the motivations behind sports betting and fantasy sports
• Understand the social context of sports betting and fantasy sports
• Identify pain points and design opportunities in the current space

Methodology:

We reached out to various participants who are interested in or are actively sports betting. From the responses we gathered through our interviews we created an affinity diagram to sort the results for better understanding. By interviewing them, we hoped to gain a better understanding of what features will encourage greater interaction among the sports betting community.

Takeaways:

• Participants desire a larger community presence in sports betting that fosters more outreach and trust.
• Participants are motivated to engage in sports betting because it can make games more entertaining with potential profit.
• Participants felt betting communities become toxic when people are overly competitive and focused on money or losing.
• Participants are interested in seeing enhanced social features like private group chats, bet tailing, copy trading, and real time game discussion.

‍

App Flow Analysis

Goals:

• Understand how users enter and navigate the current app flow, including key entry points and decision pathways
• Identify gaps in the current experience where social input or collaboration is missing
• Identify how social features could enhance confidence, engagement, and retention within the app

Methodology:

By analyzing the current state of the WalterPicks app, we mapped out the existing betting features and overall user journey, which provided a clear visual of key entry points and decision pathways within the app. From these insights, we were able to identify opportunities where social features could enhance user confidence, engagement, and retention.

Takeaways:

• Clear and intuitive entry points improve navigation and play a key role in driving user engagement and long-term retention. When users can easily access features, they are more likely to continue interacting with the app.
• The current experience lacks elements that reinforce user confidence, especially when making betting decisions without social validation or insight from others.
• Integrating social features within key moments of the flow enhance trust, provide reassurance, and create a more engaging experience. Though the features in the WalterPicks app are intuitive, they seem more geared toward a single-player experience than toward fostering user-to-user engagement.

‍

Sketches

Goals:

• Foster engagement between users
• Keep users engaged with the app for longer periods
• Implement community-based messaging

Methodology:

To begin this activity, we conducted Crazy 8’s and brainstormed on a whiteboard. This activity allowed us to brainstorm and throw out ideas that we might not have previously thought of. We continued using the categories we had narrowed down from our competitive analysis and feature takeaways to ideate more.

Takeaways:

• We narrowed down initial sketches to five potential features to develop further in low-fi prototyping that we felt offered the strongest potential for shareability.
  
  • Betting Wrapped
  • Shareable Screenshots
  • User Profiles
  • Live Chats
  • Channels & Leaderboards

Personas & Journey Mapping

Goals:

• Create a persona of our ideal user
• Map the user's journey on the WalterPicks app before the implementation of new features

Methodology:

Based on the insights gained through our interviews and affinity diagramming, we developed two personas. The created personas encompass key

characteristics, user goals, needs, and pain points to help guide design decisions throughout the course of the project.

Using information gathered from the interviews and the created personas, we mapped the typical user journey using the WalterPicks app. We followed the user through downloading the app, onboarding, and making various betting decisions.

Takeaways:

• The current features of the app work well and as intended.
• A lot of users may leave the app in search of social features such as messaging and live chats, so that is one area the app could improve.
• With sports betting being a very saturated field, there needs to be more ways for the app to stand out and grow its user base.

‍

Low-Fidelity Wireframes

Goals:

• Create a visual blueprint of the interface, focusing on the placement of content, navigation, and hierarchy of elements
• Allow designers to quickly test and iterate ideas, identify usability issues, and plan the overall user experience before adding detailed visuals or styles

Methodology:

After narrowing our sketches down to five key features, we created 5-7 low-fidelity prototypes for each concept. Through internal discussions and sponsor feedback, we further refined our ideas into three main directions. We then combined the strongest elements from our sketches and consolidated our findings, which will allow us to ideate for future mid-fidelity wireframes.

Takeaways:

• Designers can understand layout and structure by seeing how content and navigation fit together.
• Designers can identify usability issues early before adding visuals or coding.
• Quick iteration avoids redoing high-fidelity designs later.

‍

Concept Testing on Low-Fidelity Wireframes

Goals:

• Test low-fidelity sketches/designs with users to better understand pain points and areas of improvement
• Determine appeal to users & validate design decisions
• Identify strengths and limitations of prototypes to guide further iteration

Methodology:

For each of the five features, we asked participants to describe their thoughts, what they like, what they dislike, their ease of understanding, and how likely they would be to use the feature.

Takeaways:

• Participants wanted features to stay simple while having customization capabilities.
• Users feel discouraged when losing or being presented with negative statistics that highlight shortcomings.
• Shareable Screenshot feature received strong support from interview participants and sponsors. This also has the possibility for quick integration into the app.

‍

Mid-Fidelity Wireframes

Goals:

• Implement insights from concept testing of low-fidelity wireframes

Methodology:

Towards the beginning of designing our mid-fidelity wireframes, we decided to only move forward with the Shareable Screenshot feature. This feature is the easiest to implement, is the most versatile, and has the most iterations possible. We incorporated the features and feedback from our concept testing from our low-fidelity wireframes.

Takeaways:

• Focusing on the Shareable Screenshot feature for our prototypes will be ideal for improving the social aspect of the app based on support from our sponsors and interviews.
• From our mid-fidelity prototypes we were able to determine that some of our designs feel cluttered. We also used these prototypes to determine color choices and correct user flow.

‍

High-Fidelity Prototypes

Goals:

• Build off of mid-fidelity wireframes to design high-fidelity mobile prototypes

Methodology:

Using our mid-fidelity wireframes, we were able to design high-fidelity prototypes of the Shareable Screenshot feature with the Prop Evaluator, Game Betting, Player Profile, and March Madness mobile pages.

Takeaways:

• Shareable Screenshots provide users a versatile new tool to share information with others.
• Shareable Screenshots can be used through group chats, messages, and social media.
• Increased attention to WalterPicks app through greater discoverability.
• Opportunities to expand features across more pages/sports, allowing more communities to use.

‍

User Testing On High-Fidelity Prototypes

Goals:

• Understand how users will interact with new features and finalize prototypes based on feedback
• Identify areas of confusion or frustration with features
• Ensure important information is included

Methodology:

After designing our high-fidelity prototypes, we conducted usability testing with participants who had experience with sports betting. We walked our users through screens of our created Shareable Screenshot features. We had our participants verbally explain how they would navigate each screen. We asked our users questions about their first impression of the screen, screen clarity, any information they think is missing, and the overall usability. We recorded the feedback we received from our users to identify areas of confusion and improvement.

‍

Takeaways:

Prop Evaluator

• This feature is seen as highly shareable for social media and users appreciated the team-specific gradients and the inclusion of icons.
• Most users described the layout as self-explanatory and intuitive, noting that the simplified layout focuses on the most important stats without overwhelming the viewer.
• While the simplicity was praised, some users felt the text for odds/win percentage was too small and requested the ability tosee multiple players in a single shareable graphic to avoid sending multiple screenshots.

Game Betting

• Users found the user interaction clean, simple, and easy to read, but there was significant confusion regarding some terminology and which team the win percentage applied to.
• The color-coded squares and gradients were liked for aesthetics, though some users found the red colors "stressful" and suggested calmer tones like blue to reduce the intensity of the betting experience.
• Participants want more "actionable" data, such as a "to win money" section, direct links to sportsbooks to place bets, and the ability to see specific team/player stats within the same view.

Player Profile

• Users love the ability to choose which category of stats to display (e.g., Basic, Scoring, Efficiency) and the visual consistency of the gradients across different screens.
• There is a demand for more historical context, such as career averages or stats from the last game, to help distinguish between a "normal lineup" and a probable starter.
• While the "Basic" and "Point Log" screens were clear, the "Avg. and Rank" screens were criticized for being too busy and having "pale" colors that made them harder to scan.

March Madness

• Users expressed a strong desire to use this feature for "taunting" friends and sharing bracket picks, noting that it turns complex data into a "social card" that feels ready to post.
• There was confusion regarding whether users could swipe between tabs (like L10 or H2H); additionally, users suggested making the "over/under" and "player status" text larger and more prominent.
• While the matchup screens were well-received, some users found the bottom data sections overwhelming and requested the inclusion of game-specific info like the point spread.

‍

Final Journey Map & User Flow

Goals:

• Map the user's journey on the WalterPicks app after the implementation of new features
• Combine information from the design decisions and research for the final version of social features

Methodology:

After designing our high-fidelity prototypes, we mapped the user journey using the WalterPicks app with the implementation of the Shareable Screenshot feature. We followed the user through downloading the app, onboarding, and making various betting decisions. This allowed us to better understand the user experience and ensure the new Shareable Screenshot feature flows nicely.

We expanded our initial App Flow Analysis to include the new shareable screenshot feature. We added new guiding desires for features that were newly released as we continued to work on the project. From our initial App Flow Analysis we identified the places where the screenshot feature should be available. These include: Line Shopping pages, Player Profiles, Walter’s Projections, Opponent Information, and March Madness (CBB Research) Page.

Takeaways:

• Pain points that could arise from the new features mostly involve users being hesitant of or unaware how to use the new features.
• A way to introduce and teach users how to use our features should be prioritized moving forward.
• There are more opportunities to grow the app's user base via shareable content.
• There are potential places where the screenshot feature could be added in order to create a more cohesive and widely implemented feature.
• Connection between sections: The screenshot feature connects analytical data points (research, comparisons) with outcomes, helping users show off their data backed betting decisions.

‍

Final Deliverables

Personal Reflection

I highly enjoyed working with the WalterPicks team this semester for my third Experience Studio project. Throughout the project, I had the opportunity to expand on my knowledge of UX research methods, Figma features, design strategies, and professional communication. A goal I had for this semester was to become more comfortable and knowledgeable about various UX Design concepts, and I feel this project provided me with the ability to build off of previous experience. I have improved in my ability to explain design decisions, document a project’s process, and design using Figma. I am also grateful to have had the chance to work with such a positive and supportive team. Sam and Dean were very easy to work with and provided insightful feedback that can be applied to future projects. Being on a strong, collaborative team allowed me to support my teammates while also strengthening my own skills. I appreciated the ability to balance mentoring others and deepen my own understanding throughout the process. Overall, I am very grateful to be a part of such an enjoyable project, and I am excited to see how the WalterPicks app will evolve.

‍

‍