ATHLEAD • YOUR LOCAL SPORTS COMMUNITY
Eliminating operational friction in recreational sports: Connect, Organize, and Play.
Recreational sports suffer from coordination chaos, flaky attendance, and fragmented venue booking. AthLead brings discovery, reliable sign-ups, and community comfort into a single unified mobile experience.
4
SHIPPED MOBILE FLOWS
3
PERSONAS SERVED
1
UNIFIED SPORTS ECOSYSTEM
< 90s
TIME TO JOIN A MATCH
Recreational sport is broken by friction before anyone even touches the ball.
Every week, millions of amateur athletes want to play badminton, football, basketball, or tennis. Yet most games collapse under the weight of WhatsApp coordination, last-minute dropouts, and clunky telephone venue reservations.
Coordination Chaos
20+ WhatsApp messages just to pick a time, date, and venue. The informal organiser shoulders all admin burden.
Reliability Risk
Last-minute dropouts leave courts unpaid and teams short-staffed. Ghosting carries zero accountability.
Social Anxiety
Beginners and solo newcomers fear joining existing cliques without knowing skill levels or group culture.
Discovery Friction
Court booking systems are fragmented across councils, private centres, and offline cash desks.
The Double Diamond: From Field Ethnography to Shipped Flows
To avoid building yet another generic booking directory, our research engaged 100+ survey respondents, in-depth ethnography sessions with weekend organizers, and rigorous HCI behavioral frameworks.
01 • Discover
User Research
- • 100+ survey responses
- • 8 in-depth ethnographic interviews
- • Competitive audit of 6 apps
02 • Define
Synthesize & Reframe
- • Affinity mapping & clustering
- • 3 archetype personas
- • Behavioral friction barriers
03 • Develop
HCI Ideation
- • SCAMPER brainstorming
- • Six Thinking Hats audit
- • Paper & digital wireframing
04 • Deliver
High-Fidelity Design
- • Dark-mode sports design system
- • Interactive Figma prototypes
- • User validation & SUS testing
Designing for the Organizer, the Solo Player, and the Beginner
Through empirical clustering, three distinct archetypes emerged with conflicting incentives that our system had to balance.
Sid Rane, 27
Semi-Competitive Football & Badminton Organizer
Goals
Fill courts every Tuesday, split venue costs without awkward payment reminders, and keep a reliable squad.
Frustrations
"I spend 45 minutes on WhatsApp chasing 10 people for £6. If 2 drop out at 5pm, I pay out of pocket."
Steffy Matthews, 24
New to City • Basketball & Tennis Enthusiast
Goals
Find casual games nearby after work, meet new friends, and play without rigid season commitments.
Frustrations
"I don't know anyone here. Turning up at a park court alone feels intimidating, and existing groups feel closed."
Elena Vance, 21
University Student • Occasional Badminton
Goals
Stay physically active affordably, play in welcoming non-judgmental sessions with peers at similar skill levels.
Frustrations
"Competitive players take casual matches way too seriously. I need a clear gauge of the group vibe beforehand."
Information Architecture & Structural Wireframes
We mapped the complete mental model around three primary actions: Discover (nearby courts & games), Host (create match, set rules, automate payments), and Profile (reputation, stats, attendance score).
Purpose-Built Design System: Sports Energy Meets Modern Slate
Athletic applications often suffer from blinding high-contrast neon or cluttered layouts. AthLead adopted an immersive, dark-slate background paired with energized pitch-green accents, offering high legibility under bright outdoor conditions and night-mode low eye strain.
Primary Accent
#4CAF50
Pitch Grass Green
Base Canvas
#182129
Deep Slate Night
Surface Container
#2B343D
Card & Sheet Fill
Secondary Text
#C0D3D8
Muted Ice Cyan
High-Fidelity App UI: Designed for Speed & Trust
Each core flow directly maps to one of our researched behavioral pain points.
Central Hub: Quick Rebooking & Active Match Day
When players open AthLead on game day, they shouldn't search. The active match banner appears right on top with directions, kick-off countdown, and weather conditions.
- One-tap 'Book Again' for weekly recurring games and favorite court slots.
- Live Status Badge indicating whether courts are locked or if 1 player is still needed.
Filterable Game Feeds by Skill, Sport & Distance
Finding the right match is frictionless. Users can toggle between Football, Tennis, Basketball, and Badminton with live proximity radius and skill tags (Beginner, Casual, Advanced).
- Instant Spot Confirmation with automated escrow split payment.
- Skill Level Indicators prevent mismatched competitive clashes.
Unified Venue Directory & Real-Time Availability
No more calling front desks. AthLead aggregates public pitches, leisure centre halls, and university courts with transparent hourly pricing and real-time open slots.
- Facility Amenities: Floodlights, lockers, showers, and parking tags.
- Direct Slot Reservation connected to city council booking APIs.
Player Dashboard & Anti-Ghosting Reputation Score
To eliminate flaky dropouts, AthLead introduces a behavioral reliability score. Players who show up on time build verified karma; serial dropouts get deprioritized on waitlists.
- Attendance Score creates social accountability without punitive hostility.
- Sports Activity Log tracks total matches played, favorite venues, and MVPs.
User Testing & Usability Feedback
We conducted usability walkthroughs across participants representing all three personas. Testers praised the clarity of match cards and the removal of awkward money conversations.
92%
Task Completion
Users booked a match and invited 3 friends in under 90 seconds during unassisted testing.
100%
Intent to Use
All surveyed amateur organizers reported they would replace WhatsApp poll chains with AthLead.
84
SUS Score
System Usability Scale rating placed AthLead in the top 10th percentile for mobile applications.
0
Payment Dropouts
Pre-authorization escrow eliminated the unpaid court debt friction experienced by organizers.
"The hardest part of playing basketball every Thursday isn't the physical sport — it's being the unpaid accountant on WhatsApp. This app gives me my Thursday evenings back."
— Weekend Casual League Organizer, Usability Test Participant
Reflection & Team Credits
This case study was developed as part of the MSc Human-Computer Interaction Behaviour Design Challenge. It demonstrated that addressing operational friction through subtle behavioral nudges has far greater impact on community sports participation than gamified badges alone.
Project Collaborators
Rakhi Sharma
Product Design & Research
Aishwarya Amin
HCI & Research
Kanishk Suri
Behavioral Modeling
Mohit Verma
Usability Evaluation