Catchlight
-Sports challenge game
Lim Leesol
Jang Mihyun
Hwang Minyoung
Yeom Joohyub
- Research
- Design
- Illustration
- Prototype
- Figma
- Adobe After Effects
- Miro
Mar - Jun 2022
(3 months)
Overview
To raise awareness of lesser-known Olympic sports that only receive attention during major events, I designed a sports game where users can mimic athletes’ motions to earn points and compete with others.
The goal was to create an engaging experience that allows people to connect with underrepresented sports through physical interaction and playful competition.
As this was our first project, we explored a variety of UX methodologies— from persona creation to wireframing—to structure our thinking and process.
We even had the opportunity to interview a real professional athlete, gaining direct insight into the sport.
In this project, I focused on:
- Desk research & User interviews
- Illustrations for the onboarding flow
- Graphic design for the motion interaction screens
Process
Desk research
Key findings
- Temporary attention on niche sports during events like the Olympics
- Ongoing financial hardship and lack of systemic support for niche sports athletes
Initial assumption
During the early stage of the project, we assumed that the lack of communication spaces between athletes and fans in niche sports made it difficult for athletes to sustain popularity, leading to financial hardships and limited policy support.
Proposed solution
Based on this assumption, we initially proposed creating a fan–athlete communication platform that would facilitate engagement and sponsorship opportunities.
Field research
Interview insights
We conducted interviews with professional athletes from niche sports, sports marketers, and other sports experts. Through these conversations, we discovered critical mismatches between our initial assumptions and the real needs of the field:
- Athletes are paid based on performance, not popularity.
- Unless driven by personal preference, professional athletes showed little interest in spending time on fan engagement.
- So, communication and sponsorship were not primary needs for athletes.
Additionally, we found that while the general public has increasing interest in participating in niche sports (e.g., climbing, tennis), this does not translate into a habit of watching or supporting professional competitions.
Conclusion
- While public interest does not directly impact athletes’ earnings through performance, media exposure can still contribute to better training environments, sponsorship opportunities, and nurturing the next generation of athletes.
- Thus, instead of focusing on direct athlete–fan communication, the strategy should shift towards naturally linking recreational sports participation to professional sports awareness.
Problem reframing
New understanding
Simply enabling fan–athlete communication is not enough to solve the problem.
Updated problem statement
The real gap is the lack of mechanisms linking recreational participation to professional sports fandom.
New solution proposal
Create an environment where users can naturally encounter professional sports through activities they already enjoy.
Launch a “Catch-Up Challenge” Game:
- A game where users imitate professional athletes’ sports techniques and compete.
- Encourage users to experience professional sports first-hand in a playful and accessible way.
- Bridge the gap between doing (recreational sports) and watching (professional sports).
This approach aims to extend interest from recreational participation to genuine recognition and support for professional athletes and their sports.
Concept visualisation
Initial concept sketches & low-fidelity wireframes
Mid-fidelity wireframes
Final design
Onboarding
- Challenge: Designing an intuitive onboarding screen that immediately helps users understand the concept of the unfamiliar “Challenge Game”.
- How I Approached It: We communicated that the challenge involves imitating the movements of professional athletes. Key features — such as social media sharing, challenge tutorials, and ranking systems — were introduced through simple illustrations alongside short descriptions, making the new service easy to grasp at a glance.
Ready to play - Motion capture
- Challenge : Creating a stable environment for users to participate in the challenge game, and ensuring the device could accurately detect user movements.
- How I Approached It: During the challenge setup, users were asked to mimic a simple movement to verify whether their position and device setup allowed accurate motion recognition. This step also helped users adjust their device placement to ensure optimal tracking before starting the full challenge.
Home - challenge game
Movement tutorial
- Challenge:
Reducing the intimidation users might feel when trying to replicate the advanced movements of professional athletes.- How I Approached It: We provided a movement tutorial that broke down each motion step-by-step to make learning more approachable.
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Reflection: While the tutorial helped lower the initial barrier, simply explaining moves through text and images was not enough.
A more effective approach would have been to introduce an interactive practice game, where users could physically mimic each move and receive real-time feedback.
Guide Motion tutorial loading - Story of the athlete
Playing challenge - Solo mode / Team battle
- Challenge: Create a competitive but fun gameplay experience.
- How I Approached It: Introduced Solo Mode for personal challenges and Team Battle for group competition and shared excitement.
Game result - rank, medal, sharing
My page - review, medal
Takeaways
1. Assumptions Must Be Challenged Early
- Desk research alone is not enough. Initial assumptions about user needs can often be wrong when tested against reality.- Field research is critical to uncover the true problems and motivations.
2. Building a Solution Users Don’t Need Is Risky
- Even if a solution sounds meaningful (e.g., fan–athlete communication),- If it does not match the real needs or priorities of users (e.g., athletes prioritising performance), it will not succeed.