01 · CONTEXT
Project overview
Helping gamers reclaim their play time
PlayNext was created around a familiar frustration: subscription libraries make it easy to collect games, but much harder to keep track of progress, priorities, and shared sessions with friends.
The concept reframes that problem as a lightweight, mobile-first experience. Instead of forcing users to dig through cluttered menus or remember everything themselves, the app organizes unfinished titles, highlights what matters now, and nudges the next action forward.
02 · PROBLEM
Problem and goals
Choice overload turns play into friction
Services like Xbox Game Pass and PlayStation Plus make access easy, but abundance creates a different problem: players forget what they own, lose momentum mid-campaign, and miss opportunities to finish or share games with friends.
PlayNext responds with a focused dashboard, simple goals, and friend-aware session planning. The experience is meant to feel energetic and game-inspired without overwhelming users with too much data or revealing spoiler-heavy progress details.
Players spend time scrolling, double-checking progress, and deciding what to play instead of actually playing.
Auto-import libraries, surface progress, and support finish or co-op goals in a compact mobile UI.
The concept aimed to reduce decision friction during short testing and interview cycles.
Success was framed around helping users finish more titles and see better value in their subscriptions.
03 · STRATEGY
Research and direction
A lightweight experience shaped around real player habits
The creative brief framed PlayNext as a response to backlog overload, missed co-op opportunities, and the constant movement of subscription catalogues.
That direction led to a structure centered on clarity: keep the interface spoiler-free, focus attention on the next meaningful action, and support both individual progress and social play without clutter.
Primary users are players with Game Pass or PS Plus libraries and a large number of unfinished titles.
Existing tools either rely on manual entry, limited sync, or achievement-heavy interfaces.
PlayNext combines subscription awareness, next-step planning, and friend coordination in one mobile flow.
Auto-sync, a “Now Playing” dashboard, goal tracking, leaving-soon alerts, and shared session planning.
Research → ideation → low fidelity → high fidelity → case study → final visual design.
Upbeat, focused, and helpful. The UI should feel like a quick game lobby rather than a spreadsheet of chores.
04 · IA
Sitemap and information hierarchy
Organizing the app around one clear hub: what to play next
The information architecture starts from a simple center of gravity: the Home / Now Playing view. From there, the app branches into Library, Goals, Friends, Stats, Alerts, and Settings.
This structure keeps the experience focused while still allowing deeper views such as game detail, goal detail, session planning, and alert details. Each major area supports a distinct player question rather than mixing every feature into one screen.
Sitemap
Core app structure
Load / sign-in leads into a central dashboard with six main navigation branches and focused child views.
Hierarchy
Purpose by page
The hierarchy maps each page to a job, from current progress on the home view to goals, stats, alerts, and account settings.
05 · LOW FIDELITY
Wireframe exploration
Sketch first, style later
Low-fidelity wireframes were used to define screen priorities before visual design. This stage focused on layout, navigation behavior, and the relationships between home, library, goals, stats, friends, alerts, and settings.
The sketches helped test where the bottom navigation should live, how list-based views should scroll, and how actionable features like “Start Session” or “Add Goal” could remain visible without crowding the interface.
Entry, home, and library
Initial sketches for the start screen, now-playing dashboard, and a vertically scrolling library view.
Goals, stats, and friends
These views explore how player goals, charts, and social coordination could fit into the navigation system.
Alerts and settings
The final sketch page rounds out secondary utility views that support account links, alerts, and privacy controls.
06 · VISUAL SYSTEM
Typography, color, and components
A clean gaming aesthetic with high contrast and quick visual cues
The visual system pairs Exo 2 for headings with Inter for body text to keep the interface readable while still feeling tech-forward.
A dark base keeps attention on the actions and content cards, while neon lime and pixel cyan provide strong contrast for calls to action, progress cues, and key interface moments.
Primary#1B1B2F
Surface#F0F2F5
Accent#3CF2FF
CTA#B4FF47
Fast. Focused. Playful.
Supports body copy, interface labels, and compact information without sacrificing legibility.
07 · HIGH FIDELITY
Selected interface screens
A focused preview of the final mobile experience
Rather than showing every completed screen at once, these three views highlight the main ideas carried through the high-fidelity design: current-game momentum, goal planning, and social play.
Together they show how the same typography, color system, navigation, and card language stay consistent across different parts of the app.
Now Playing
Centers the experience on the current game, progress, and the next session action.
Goals
Turns larger gaming objectives into visible targets for co-op, completion, and progress.
Friend Profile
Shows how social features connect recent games, shared goals, and session planning.
08 · FEATURES
Feature focus
Designing around momentum, not just storage
PlayNext is not just a catalogue. Its strongest ideas revolve around helping players keep momentum: continue a game, schedule a session, finish a goal, or act on a leaving-soon alert.
Each feature is meant to answer a practical question quickly: What am I playing? What matters tonight? What should I finish? Who can I invite? What’s leaving soon?
The home view anchors the experience around the current game, progress bar, and next session action.
Goals can be broken into short, achievable steps to keep players moving forward.
Schedule cards help connect friends, timing, and play objectives without leaving the app flow.
Profile views and invite actions support co-op play and shared backlog progress.
Users can quickly scan connected titles and move into deeper detail or goal-setting views.
Alerts and stats keep players informed about progress, time, and expiring catalogue opportunities.
09 · PROTOTYPE
Interactive prototype
Connecting the screens into a usable PlayNext flow
The interactive Figma prototype brings the high-fidelity screens together so the navigation, screen relationships, and core interactions can be experienced as a connected mobile flow instead of a collection of static layouts.
The prototype demonstrates how users can move through the PlayNext concept and gives the project a more realistic sense of pacing and interaction.
Open Figma Prototype
10 · OUTCOME
Project outcome
A strong concept foundation for a gamer-focused mobile product
PlayNext demonstrates a full design path from product framing and information architecture through wireframing, component planning, and polished interface screens.
The final case study shows how a focused UX direction can turn a vague frustration—too many games and too little momentum—into a clear, usable product concept.
“Own less backlog, enjoy more play.” That message stayed central throughout the process and helped keep every major design decision pointed toward clarity, motivation, and ease of use.
The project connects brief writing, UX planning, screen hierarchy, and visual design in one portfolio piece.
Typography, color, and repeated components create a coherent look across very different app views.
Rather than packing in every possible stat, the app keeps users oriented around the next step to take.
With the interactive prototype complete, task-based testing would be the next step for identifying friction and refining the experience.
