About Fairway Solitaire
Fairway Solitaire is an award-winning mobile video game based on the classic solitaire card game and developed by Big Fish Games. The franchise has been popular in the marketplace since its debut in 2011, where it was first launched on Facebook. In 2012, the product was redesigned and implemented on mobile. In 2016, I joined the team to help solve the following goals.
Fairway Solitaire Goals
• Increase engagement, specifically in regard to the collection of achievements in course levels
• Build a consistent experience, while supporting novice and elder users
Taking a User-Centered Approach
• Improve the user's connection with the brand
• Improve the user's understanding of achievement opportunities
• Improve navigation throughout the experience
My Approach
1. Understand the Business Needs
2. Identify Pain Points and Opportunities
3. Hypothesize, Test, and Iterate
4. Polish, Produce, and Test
1. Understand the Business Needs
• Review engagement metrics with the game's product manager to determine opportunities for improvement
• Review goals of previous design proposals from artists and game designers
2. Identify Pain Points and Opportunities
• Review existing experience, pinpointing opportunities for improvement
• Validate theory that users are generally unclear about achievements with a survey testing iconography
• Create a user flow of the experience, highlighting pain points and opportunities
3. Hypothesize, Test and Iterate
• Whiteboard layouts with the artists and game designers
• Wireframe design hypotheses and impression-test with live users to determine highest performing layout
• Test usability with UXPin prototype
4. Polish, Produce, and Test
• Collaborate with artists to mockup high-fidelity assets
• Communicate with developers to ensure that animations and usability is implemented as designed
• A/B test design with live audience to see performance through data pulled.
Success! Engagement increased by 26%
The redesign increased engagement by 26%. This accounts for new users, elder users, and end of content users who collect any of the 5 achievements per course.
Above-Left: Screenshot of original objectives screen.
Above-Right: Screenshot of the recommended design (fully-expanded)
Below: A screen recording of the interaction design for this recommended design, captured from the Nov 2017 live game.
