product designer

Redesigning the members app of one of the biggest soccer clubs in the world

produt designer - 2023 - fc barcelona

Creating a new experience between the club and users

Skip ahead to final design

OVERVIEW

FC Barcelona is one of the biggest sports clubs in the world. And as such, all their digital touchpoints must reflect that level and quality. Something that their members' app failed to do.Everything started on April 15th, 2022. FC Barcelona was playing a home European cup game against Eintracht Frankfurt. They sold 5000 tickets for away fans, but 30000 gained entry to the stadium. Thanks to fraud with the e-ticket system of the FC Barcelona app. To make sure this situation couldn't happen again, they asked to redefine the app and the e-ticket system.

What FC Barcelona needed

They wanted to create a new app based on a new technology that could solve the problems of ticket fraud. So they asked us to help them define what this new e-ticket feature should look like. In addition, they also requested to design the flow and pages of the transition to the new app.

But, we saw an opportunity to go further and rethink an entire app experience. So, we carried out a creative exercise to define how the experience should be in the new app.

How we did it

My role

I participated in the whole process, from the first discovery phase to the final UI. Here is a brief description of my main tasks:
- A discovery phase where I interviewed users, analyzed reviews and collaboratively defined a new value proposition canvas.- Benchmarking of leading sport team apps to identify opportunities.
- Envisioning. A preliminary but impactful prototype that visualized how the users could experience the app before, during, and after the game.
- UI. I designed the specific pages, and user flows to integrate the new e-ticket technology.

Benchmark

Understanding the problems and needs of the client

As mentioned before, the client's main objective was to have a new app to improve the technical problems the users were facing. But they were so focused on those functional aspects that they forgot the emotional and affective factors that a club such as FC Barcelona should have. Their slogan, "mes que un club" (more than a club), should also be represented in the app.

Therefore, we decided to focus on creating an app that could connect with the members, being part of the soccer experience before, during and after the game.

Summary of comments and reviews

Canvas with main insights of the discovery phase

Benchmark

Identifying new opportunities from the main international references

For inspiration to define the new experience of the app, we conducted an extensive benchmark. We analyzed the apps of the main soccer references and the apps of the best and most important sports clubs in the world.

As a conclusion of this analysis, we collected the best practices in a document. Afterward, we discussed with the client the identified insights and prioritized them based on the previously established canvas.

Main references

An example of some identified opportunities

Envisioning

Our approach to the experience on the new membership app

We conducted an envisioning exercise to work on the definition of the new experience in the app. Our objective was to captivate the client and convince them to keep inverting on creating a more ambitious app. How? By showing a preliminary but impactful prototype that visualizes how the users could experience the app before, during, and after the game. A first glance of what the app of the best soccer club in the world should look like.

This conceptual proposal gathered the opportunities we identified in the discovery and benchmarking phase. But, it wasn't strictly based on the client's constraints (related to technology, time, or budget).

Highlights of the envisioned concept

Summary of the user journey

Highlights of the pre-game

Highlights of the game day

Highlights of the post-game

UI

Designing the flows and UI for the transition to the new app

The envisioning proposal presented to the client had excellent feedback. Therefore, they decided to start with an MVP of the new digital QR ticketing and progressively add the different features we proposed. This MVP would be able to solve the ticket fraud problems at least and improve the members' access experience.To carry out this transition to the new app, they asked us to define how this process could be informed to the user. To do so, we designed the flows and pages of the three main stages of the transition.

Results and main conclusions

Working with such a large client demanded enormous effort and involvement from the team. But, the client was delighted with the outcome of the project. Why? Because of our maverick spirit. We thought it wasn't enough to work just on what they asked for and we decided to go further.

At first, they were only looking for a practical solution to solve the technical problems. But, we managed to create a concept that proposed a whole new experience between the member and the club. Sometimes, just like with users, listening to what they want is not enough. As designers, we must understand the motivations behind those needs. And while it might have been risky, we did it, and it worked.

However, we worked on more than just the conceptual proposal of the long-term vision. We were also able to meet short-term needs. This allowed them to launch the first version of the new app. There is still much work ahead to reach the app concept we envisioned. But hopefully, the members will soon be able to feel the experience that the best soccer club in the world deserves.

contact

Let’s connect!

julenjhe@gmail.com