Through intervies I conducted with 7 participants, an affinity map revealed a central finding: users consistently struggled with planning for the future and effectively evaluating players for trades. Key insights included:

It’s hard to figure out how many years are left on players contracts. It would be nice to have that info and how much money is left.

I want detailed information and stats that help me think about trades critically. Doesn’t matter if its brief or long, I just want tools that are well designed visually and easy to read to comprehend.

My expectation of buttons don't work as intended. If I click on the "see more button" next to a player performance, I’m expecting to see the entire team’s stat lines of that particular game, not a list of previous performances.

To translate user feedback into practical design, I first mapped the Sleeper mobile app's existing information architecture (IA) and user processes.  This procedure quickly identified significant pain points: user interviews revealed that features were frequently discovered by accident, and the "match tab's head-to-head page" featured redundant information.

To address this, I rebuilt the app's information architecture so that material was intuitively categorized and presented in logical areas.  After establishing a clear IA, I created user flows that centered on two major goals: allowing managers to quickly seek up specific player information and efficiently view previously defined opponent rosters.

With the basic concepts and user workflows together, I ran in-person and remote 1:1 usability tests with participants.  These meetings were critical for validating early concepts and identifying places where my designs need more development.  Testing revealed a strong user request for a distinct section for displaying player contract details, in addition to "years left."  Participants also stressed the importance of designs that provide detailed information while also being easy to scan.

After rebuilding the information architecture and getting insightful data from participants, I built critical user flows to enable seamless navigation for managers pursuing their two core goals: accessing detailed player contract information and viewing previously set opponent rosters.

For example: the user navigates to a player's profile, then selects the "Contract Details" area to view the current and future contract years, salary, and time remaining. This flow was created to integrate contract data directly into the player's profile, reducing the need for additional research or complicated navigation.

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