Mobile App
UDisc Social
Strava for disc golf — share scores, earn badges, join groups, and engage the community around your favorite courses.
Platforms:
Mobile
Deliverables:
UI/UX Design
Strava for disc golf — share scores, earn badges, join groups, and engage the community around your favorite courses.
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UDisc is the official app of the Professional Disc Golf Association, and far and away the #1 disc golf app in terms of downloads, market share, and overall quality.
The app features a course directory, GPS-powered course maps, a scorecard, stats tracking, and more.
In recent updates, UDisc has been pushing more social-oriented features, including the ability to share live scorecards with friends.
Despite this, UDisc does not have a robust social networking feature set that facilitates sharing, gamification, or coordination.
This project explores the concept of UDisc creating a standalone app more focused on the social experience. This would not only drive engagement with the existing UDisc app, but also provide an advertising-based revenue stream.
I talked with disc golfers to uncover the problems they face when trying to interact online.
I defined a core feature set, and designed how they could be implemented within the app.
I leveraged UDisc’s existing brand guidelines to create a clean and intuitive user interface.
My design process included the full product lifecycle, from conception to high fidelity prototype ready for engineering handoff.
I interviewed six local disc golfers to understand how they use social media and interact with the local disc golf community.
I identified three common problems expressed by interviewees, and defined features to address them.
I created high fidelity designs in Figma, using Udisc's typography and colors.
I validated the feature set's product-market fit and business case using the lightweight lean canvas framework.
Using the hifi designs, I used Figma’s to create an interactive prototype of core feature flows.
I had the people I interviewed at the beginning use the prototype, and collected their feedback.
I interviewed six local disc golfers to understand how they use social media and interact with the local disc golf community.
I identified three common problems expressed by interviewees, and defined features to address them.
I validated the feature set's product-market fit and business case using the lightweight lean canvas framework.
I created high fidelity designs in Figma, using Udisc's typography and colors.
Using the hifi designs, I used Figma’s to create an interactive prototype of core feature flows.
I had the people I interviewed at the beginning use the prototype, and collected their feedback.
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The first part in my design process was to determine if disc golfers had a problem worth solving with a social networking app.
To do this, I needed to better understand how people in the disc golf community used technology to interact with each other, and whether the tools they use are limiting their interactions in any way.
I spoke with six disc golfers who ranged from highly involved in the local club/course scene, to more casual players.
Bob is an avid recreational player who plays his local course 2-4 times a week, and often travels to other nearby courses on the weekends with his closest disc golf friends. He often plays the San Francisco Disc Golf Club weekly competition on Sundays, and will also occasionally play amateur tournaments around Northern California.
Bob isn’t big on social media, but he does use Instagram to stay in touch with friends, and Facebook to keep up with local disc golf events.
He doesn’t usually use the UDisc scorecard app when playing informal rounds at his home course, but will if playing a competitive round, or when playing a less familiar course.
Marco has been playing disc golf for over a decade, and plays both casually and in local/regional tournaments. He is primarily driven by his competitiveness, so even when playing with friends, he takes the round pretty seriously.
To organize rounds, Marco uses a Facebook Messenger group chat with about 20-25 people in it (some are his close friends, others acquaintances). Other than that, he isn't a big social media user.
In terms of UDisc use, he tends to use the app for most rounds, since he likes to track his scores. He'll occasionally check the weekly leaderboards for his local course on UDisc to see who is shooting the best rounds.
Grant plays disc golf about 3-4 times a week. He plays primarily with a core group of 4-5 friends, but will sometime group up with other locals that he is friendly with. He's played in a handful of tournaments at his home course, but won't actively seek other tournaments in the region.
In terms of social media, he often browses Reddit, but rarely uses other social media. He has a Facebook account, but rarely logs in.
In terms of UDisc, he'll often be the scorekeeper for his group of friends when they play a more serious round, or when they are playing at another course out of town.
Shawn is the president of the San Francisco Disc Golf Club, and has been disc golfing for more than a decade. He is very involved in the local community, even though he now only has time to play once or twice a week.
He doesn't use social media for personal use, but does use Facebook to manage the disc golf club page. He doesn't like Facebook, and would prefer not to use it, but says it's necessary to communicate with the club community.
Shawn will use the UDisc scorecard app for about half his rounds, mostly when he's playing a competitive round with friends (although often a friend will be the one who keeps score).
Justin is a casual player who recently relocated from San Francisco to San Diego. He has never been interested in being a part of the local disc golf community, preferring play solo or with a few friends.
His overall interest in being part of the disc golf community is minimal, although he is looking for ways to make friends in his new city.
In terms of social media use, he is a heavy Instagram user, which he uses as a way to document highlights from his life. He never posts disc golf related content on Instagram, unless it is a peak moment with friends.
He does not have the UDisc scorecard app.
Mario plays disc golf almost everyday, and disc golf is a major pillar of his social life. He is heavily integrated into the local community, and knows almost all the local regulars.
He has a few different groups of friends that he'll coordinate rounds with, but will also group up with random friends he runs into on the course.
In terms of social media, he'll browse Reddit, Facebook, and Instagram, but isn't a big poster himself. He has the free version of UDisc on his phone, but doesn't use it often. He'll mostly let other people keep score when playing more serious rounds.
While interviewing local disc golfers, I identified three key problems that they faced:
Interviewees expressed that they often abstained from sharing disc golf related content because they lacked a comfortable online space to do so. They also expressed that it is was challenging to stay connected with disc golf friends who are outside their inner circle or living far away.
"I don’t share a lot of disc golf related stuff on Instagram because it’s not really the right audience for that. Most of my Instagram friends don’t care about disc golf or understand it."
“I have a lot of disc golf friends that I don’t see often outside of tournaments. It would be nice to be able to stay in touch with them, see how they’re playing, and know what they’ve been up to.”
“I love watching the pros play online, and I think it would be cool to be able to follow them and see their practice round scorecards.”
"I'm at the course almost everyday, and play with a lot of different groups. I like to keep my finger on the pulse of what is going on at the course."
"I've been working on improving my game, and trying to set new personal records. Sometimes if I shoot a really good round, I'll screenshot it and text it to my core group of disc golf friends."
"It would be nice to have somewhere other than our group text thread to post scorecards and see a history of our group's various rounds together.
“The club Facebook page tends to be focused on official club business and announcements, so people don’t really post a lot about their daily activity on the course. It would be great if there was a place that people felt comfortable sharing their scores, photos, etc. A place that would really represent how vibrant the community here actually is.”
"I have a Facebook Messenger chat with about 25 friends that we use to organize weekly rounds. It's useful for organizing, but people don't really share much else in terms of pictures or scorecards. I might post a picture if I got an ace or had a crazy low scoring round."
"I recently moved away from the Bay Area, but I'd love to stay up to date on how my friends are playing."
"It can be tough to make friends in your 30s. I've thought about getting more involved with the San Diego disc golf scene just to meet people."
Most interviewees used text messaging to communicate with their closest disc golf friends and plan rounds, although some used Facebook Messenger. Most also showed a willingness to spontaneously group up with other players at the course, regardless of whether they knew them or not.
"There are a lot of informal weekly events, like Tuesday doubles, and a Wednesday tag rounds. These aren’t official club events, but still draw a solid 20-30 people. These are usually organized on the Facebook page, and then scored using UDisc."
"I honestly hate Facebook, and would never use it if I didn't have to for disc golf related stuff."
"I primarily play with 4-6 other friends, so we use a group text thread to plan rounds. It gets the job done and is generally the best way to make sure everyone is on the same page."
"Sometime's I'll coordinate with friends to play at a certain time. If there's a big doubles or bag tag match organizing when we get there, we'll sometimes join up with that."
"I generally make formal plans with my closest 5-10 disc golf friends, which is done over text message. That being said, I know pretty much all the regulars at Golden Gate Park, so I'll definitely group up with people I run into."
"It would be cool if there was a way to help organize on-the-fly events. I have a lot of disc golf friends that I play with a lot when I spontaneously run into them on the course, but I don’t necessarily make plans with them ahead of time."
"If I want to play disc golf, I have two different group text threads that I'll hit up to see if anyone is down. If no one is, I'll just go to the course and usually link up with some people who are already there."
"I try to play earlier in the day to avoid the crowds."
"Being new in town, I've mostly been playing alone. Sometimes I'll group up with other solo players, but sometimes I'm too shy to ask for their phone numbers to see if they want to play again sometime."
Disc golf is a competitive sport, so it's not surprising that many interviewees expressed satisfaction in beating their competition. Some expressed frustration that they didn't get the recognition they craved if they were playing alone, or that the recognition they got was limited to the people in the group they were playing with and not their larger friend group.
"I’m super competitive, so I like to play for bag tags (note: bag tags are numbered tags that are given to club members and competed for). I want to be able to know who has the best tags, so I can plan to play with them. I also want to be able to let people know when I get a good tag to show off a bit."
"Sometimes I want people to see my scores, but I don't want to send my scorecards to the group chat because it would be too much of an overt brag."
"Sometimes I'll get a good bag tag, and that feels really good. I'll often check out the tags that other people have."
"If I get a few birdies in a round, that really makes my day."
"Being far from my friends back in SF is tough. It's not always easy to stay connected to them. It would be cool if I could see their scores and photos from their rounds, and give them a like or comment or something like that."
"Sometimes I’ll do something I’m really proud of, like getting a turkey (three birdies in a row), or shooting a really good round. I’d like a way to share those things with my disc golf friends, but texting it to them or posting on the club Facebook group seems too braggy."
"I like playing video games, so I think it would be cool if I could level up or unlock awards for various disc golf accomplishments."
"Even though I'm not at the course as much as I'd like, I would definitely be into an app that would let me see when people shoot good rounds and give them props online."
"Winning a really good tag is satisfying, but then it goes into your bag and no one knows about it except the person you beat. It would be cool if everyone at the course knew you got a good tag."
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Having identified sharing, organizing, and getting recognition as the three key problems that users need to solve, I began creating a set of features. I borrowed concepts from other social media apps like Strava, Instagram, and Facebook to build familiarity.
Instagram/Strava style algorithmic feed displaying recent and popular posts from friends.
Rationale: Feeds are expected by users in most social media apps. They also make sharing more approachable by providing a passive way to brag about accomplishments.
Follow friends and pro players, and have them follow you back.
Rationale: I went with the Instagram/Twitter style of following instead of Facebook-style friends to enable pro players to build audiences and broadcast their activity one-way without cluttering their feeds.
Create public and private groups to stay in touch with particular communities.
Rationale: Groups create a way to communicate to/with more specific subsets of people. They are equally useful for large public clubs, as well as private small groups of friends.
Follow activity related to a particular course and the community surrounding it.
Rationale: Disc golf communities tend to revolve around particular courses. Creating a course-specific pages allows people to quickly check in with that community, or easily share something out.
Check-in at the course to let people know when you'll be there. Also see how busy the course is.
Rationale: A check-in system makes it easy for people to see who is going to be at the course, which can facilitate spontaneous meet ups. This feature can also help people avoid busy times at the course.
Earn badges and awards for scores, playing new courses, etc.
Rationale: Most users don't use the UDisc scorecard app for their casual rounds. Adding gamification to UDisc Social creates an additional incentive for people to use the scorecard, while also providing ready-to-share content.
Connect UDisc Social to UDisc scorecard app to pull in scorecard & other data.
Rationale: Separating the two apps avoids cluttering the scorecard app. Also, when people are on the course and using the scorecard, they can still interact with the social app.
Ready-to-share content based on users' most recent activity
Rationale: An activity feed facilitates engagement by creating ready-to-share content. Users know where to go to see all their recent content that they can post.
With a core feature set defined, I wanted to validate the features with the lean canvas framework. This helps ensure that there is product-market fit, and that there is a sustainable business model behind the app.
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I used the color scheme and fonts from the UDisc scorecard app as a starting point, and made some minor adjustments to improve the accessibility scores of some of the smaller elements.
For the hifi designs, I went with a light, clean aesthetic in order to keep the focus on user generated content. I wanted users' attention to be drawn to the splashes of color provided scorecards, badges, and photos, and not the app framework itself.
From a UX perspective, I leveraged common social media layouts to make the app feel instantly familiar and boost user confidence.
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Once I prototyped the app, I shared it with the same users I interviewed before. Overall feedback was positive, there was no consensus on which features were most appealing. While there was a lot of overlap in what users liked, most users had at least one feature they didn't really care about.
"I like how this is like a disc golf only Instagram. This would let me stay in touch with my disc golf friends from out of town, and also share disc golf stuff without being self-conscious about it on Instagram"
"I love the badges. I don't use UDisc 90% of the time because I'm usually on my home course and just keep score in my head. The idea of collecting awards would get me to use it more though."
"For me, the groups feature is most appealing. This could replace Facebook Messenger for my group. I especially like that we'd be able to post scorecards, and have a history of all those rounds that we could look back on. The ability to create our own private group tags is also awesome"
"I love the bag tags leaderboard. It's so annoying when you don't know who has which tags. I love that with this you can see where the tags are, and then hit those people up to play a tag round."
"I don't really care about the badges, but it wouldn't bother me though."
"I like the check-in system, if people actually use it. It could also be good to check on whether the course is really busy so I can avoid those times."
"I love the idea of seeing other people's scorecards. I'm always at the course, but you can only play with a few people at a time. It would be cool to be able to see how everyone else is shooting and give them props on good rounds or acheivements."
"I would definitely use the groups feature to help organize. Right now we use text messages, but it can be annoying trying to manage a bunch of different text threads."
"For me, the standout feature is being able to post things to a group or courses-specific page. Being able to post content specific to Golden Gate Park would be great for building the community, and having a group for the club would help with communication.
I also like being able to create a private group for my friends that I play with most often."
"I don't use UDisc, so I'm not really interested in the badges or posting scorecards. I could see using the group/course features to meet people though.
Sometimes I'll randomly group up with people while at the course, but I won't add them on Facebook or Instagram. I could see friending them on UDisc Social though, and then maybe hitting them up later onto see if they want to play."
Bob is a 5th grade teacher and avid recreational player. He plays at his local course 2-4 times a week, and will also travel to other nearby courses to play with friends. He often plays the Sunday “weekly”, and will also occassionaly plays amateur tournaments on the weekends.
Bob isn’t big on social media, but he primarily uses Instagram to stay in touch with friends, and Facebook to keep up to date with local disc golf events.
He doesn’t usually use UDisc when playing informal rounds at his home course, but he will if he is playing a Tag round, or playing an out of town course.
Overall, users seemed excited by the app concept and prototype, although further testing is required to see how they would use it in practice. Disc golf is growing at a rapid pace, so an app like Strava for disc golf could be really well received by this growing community.
The most challenging problem to solve was helping people organize, since people already use a lot of different tools (text messaging, Facebook, and Facebook Messenger). I opted for the check-in system to make it easy for people to use, but I'm not convinced people will actually use it. If this app were to production, I might exclude this feature for the initial build, and do more user research before investing in building it out.
One area of significant opportunity that this app presents is enabling disc golf brands and professional players to engage directly with their fans. Many pros are already using Instagram and Youtube to build their personal brands and followings, and I think that this app could provide another powerful tool.
For example, being able to follow your favorite pros and see their daily or weekly scores, badges, etc, could really build a sense of connection to that player. Likewise, a disc manufacturer could invest in ads on this platform, knowing that all the users are avid disc golfers.
Feel free to reach out to me by email at jesse.bisignano@gmail.com, or schedule time directly on my Calendly.
