Ante Up!
A few years ago, a week before Thanksgiving, I was talking with my brothers-in-law about how we could pump a little more excitement into our family gathering. We started with placing small bets on the football games, like many do. However, it quickly evolved into something else once one of us challenged the others by claiming that they could eat more turkey than the rest of us. Then, another guaranteed that one of the cousins would be wearing a specific hat. Before we knew it, we had built a massive spreadsheet with different monetary values to try and keep track of it all. Beyond that, once it was time to pay up, we all conveniently became less outgoing and cocky. Although it was incredibly fun, it became very clear early on that what we were missing was a centralized system for organizing these friendly wagers and then, ultimately, their payouts.
I wanted to address this through creating my own interface. In the end, the idea for a solution boiled down to this:
“I believe that a central space to place a simple wager between friends and acquaintances will allow for a more streamlined and organized way to turn verbal disagreements on future outcomes into sealed bets with real stakes.”
It quickly became clear that the first step in accomplishing this would be to get out and survey potential users.
The Buy-In
The next step in the process was to conduct a survey amongst a pool of potential users, and this was done through SurveyMonkey.
I presented a number of questions to this group. When asked, “What do you look to get out of engaging in a friendly wager — what’s most important to you?”, I learned that (in order of most important to least important) it was accountability, competition, enjoyment, instant payouts, and that the payout goes to a charity. One participant even went as far as to say, “The most important thing would probably be the speed in which I receive my reward. If I win 10 dollars, I want the 10 dollars, I don’t want to wait a week. I also like the back and forth banter. I enjoy the trash-talking and anticipation of the outcome.”
Some discoveries that also came from this process were that the monetary value most of them felt comfortable “buying in” at would be $5, the maximum percentage of their payout that they would be comfortable paying as a service fee would be 5%, and that what they enjoy most about friendly wagers between their friends and family is competition, above all else. One participant even said that, “Gambling between friends and family reduces resentment toward the winner.”
The responses to the last few questions were particularly insightful. I learned that what they dislike most about friendly wagers between their friends and family is losing, disagreement, not being able to keep track, and someone not paying up. Also, the features they’d like to see in a friendly wager mobile app were infographics, a chat function, a double-down option, real-time updates, upfront payment, and watching the outcome as it unfolds. Additionally, they wanted the ability to see other friends’ bets, to use the app for competitive action or simple fact checks, and to use the app to keep track of all of the times they were right (that last answer came from my wife, of course). Two other quotes that stood out were, “I think it would be cool to partner with businesses so people could look through a list and could see, like, a large Domino’s pizza or a six-pack of Sam Adams, and then you can go through the options and be, like, ‘Ok, this time let’s play for a pizza or a six-pack.’”, and, “Knowing that my information is secure is very important for me. If I’m connecting to my bank app, debit, or credit card, I want to know that my banking information won’t be used anywhere else. Also, if there’s a way to ensure that there is compliance with data privacy acts, I think that would make me more comfortable in using the app.”
Through all of this research, I was able to craft two UX personas. The primary user seemed to be a younger adult, because I learned that they have a higher level of interest in the product, their main interest is the social component and competition, their main goal is accountability and record-keeping, their current behavior is verbal with payouts through Venmo, and they input information into this app to achieve their tasks. The secondary user seemed to be older adults, because I learned that they have a lower level of interest in the product, their main interest is the relationship-building component, their main goal is enjoyment and charitable-giving, their current behavior is verbal with payouts through paper money, and they input information into this app to achieve their tasks.
From there, I established my high-priority user stories. In order of importance, they are: “As a user, I can engage in friendly bets digitally with my friends.”, “As a user, I can keep those I’m betting against accountable.”, “As a user, I can get an instant payout when I win.”, “As a user, I can keep track of how often I win or lose.”, and “As a user, I can talk trash with those I’m betting against.”
Raising the Stakes
The next phase of development came with the production of wireframes, and it was incredibly valuable to have a member of my cohort, Ms. McDonald, provide a preliminary review of this work. The main thing that I took away from her analysis was that some actions needed to be more clearly defined. For example, I could’ve had more prominence put on the “judge” component of selecting another user to serve as the person who has the final say on any disputes, gray area, and signs off on the final result. It also seems that more emphasis should be put on the benefit of using this app, in which everything is consolidated into this interface’s system — record-keeping, terms and conditions, the user having to put their wager into the app’s holding system before a bet can be accepted, etc.
Going All In
Between my first round of prototypes and my second, I was once again fortunate enough to get some feedback from two different designers, Mr. Slife and Mr. Salisbury. The biggest takeaway was that I needed to showcase more states. I needed to demonstrate the form different interactions took depending on the point of the process the user was in. I also needed to give my interface more breathing room by spacing things out a bit. To be honest, without this feedback, I hadn’t previously thought about the varying finger sizes of potential users. I also liked the ideas that were presented to make the “Bets” icon more engaging, as well as injecting more gambling terminology throughout.
I took all of that and ran with it, and it all led to this final submission of my prototype. I learned a lot throughout this process, mainly, to remember that there are always real people behind each screen — the psychology of it all is truly fascinating. To be honest, I’m not sure if I’ll take this interface beyond this course. Either way, though, it provided a space for me to play and orient myself within interface design, and I’m grateful for that.
Please click here for the full first high-fidelity prototype.
Please click here for the full second high-fidelity prototype.
This article was written in partial fulfillment of the requirements of the Fall 2020 section of DMD 3035 — Interaction Design at the University of Connecticut, Digital Media & Design Department.