GAFA – UX Design Case Study

USER PERSONA

In order to create the User Personas, I observed and studied the community built around games-centered websites and forums. I also visited three games cafes several times, playing games with the veteran gamers, talking to them in informal meetings, and conducting direct interviews with managers of the cafes. Based on all the data I gathered in this time I created a User Persona that matches the clear demographic segment of seasoned gamers (online and in the cafes).

USER EMPATHY MAP

During the personal interviews with the gamers and the stakeholders, I managed to track in a collaborative effort with GAFA team, the mental route the gamers usually go through from looking for or discovering new games, reading reviews or other people’s opinions, to what their feelings and emotions are when going through the entire process up to taking action. I succeeded in mapping their behavior from discovery to what they think and feel, to identifying needs and insights.

USER JOURNEY MAP

During my informal discussions with the seasoned gamers in the cafe, I succeeded in mapping the typical gamer’s journey from the moment a new game appears on the market, through their habits in testing and reading about the game, considering its worth, to creating the need for that specific game and taking the decision of buying it and adding it to their collection. And their first steps after purchasing a new game – playing it with their friends, talking about it, and eventually recommending it.
Following my research, I illustrated a Journey Map and all the touch points that gamers come into contact with GAFA online or offline.

BUSINESS MODEL CANVAS

GAFA is a start-up company that works towards creating its viable business model. Looking at the competition and taking into account the real challenges of creating new games, developing them, producing them, and eventually shipping them and distributing them to the customers and points of purchase, we build what it is a present business model for GAFA. As the company evolves there will probably be some changes, but the skeleton of the business is the one I compiled in this Business Model Canvas.

COMPETITIVE BUSINESS ANALYSIS

These days there are a lot of companies in the tabletop games industry. But for my competitive business analysis, I chose as direct competitors two of the most successful enterprises that started their business with a card game, same as GAFA: Cards Against Humanity and Exploding Kittens. As an indirect competitor, I chose to analyze Floodgate Games, which is a successful business but focuses on board games rather than card games.

CARD SORTING

At GAFA, the team met a few times both online and in person to discuss research topics of interest. Afterward, I collected and noted the highlights of the conversations. Therefore, I prepared the deck of cards with concepts on them. GAFA used as a UX research method a hybrid card sorting technique. It began as a closed card sort but allowed participants to create categories that were missing from the card deck. So, the participants grouped individual labels written on note cards, according to the already established criteria but also suggesting criteria that made sense to them.

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