Sonkei
App for martial artists to find training partners anywhere they are.
UX/UI Design | iOS
Project Overview
Summary
There are currently no websites or apps dedicated to helping martial arts practitioners find training partners in their area. The few websites that do exist either did not gain any momentum or don’t have matchmaking as the main feature of the site. Sonkei gives martial artists the opportunity to find the training partners they want, in a way that feels safe.
Role
UX Research | UX Design | UI Design
As a one man team and UX/UI designer, I conducted user research, competitor analysis, created sketches, user stories, user flows, created the wireframes, created the mockup, and finally designed the interactive prototype.
Problem
When martial artists don't have access to a gym, they don’t have an organized system or consistent way of finding good training partners. Most martial artists don’t know of any digital space on which to find them.
Solution
An interactive prototype that prevented the worries and fulfilled the requirements a potential user would have when using a service such as this one. Specifically, the ability to find training partners, chat, sort for specific users, rate users, and more.
Audience
Age
18-24 years old
Location
Large urban areas, United States
Interests
Martial arts, writing, video games, music, and art
Student/Employed
Employed
Date
October 2021
Prototype
Process
Discovery & Research
User Personas
Matt Hamura
24 years old | Engineer
Archetype: Practitioner
Motivations
Find training partners so he can keep training martial arts.
Goals
Find other martial artists to train/spar with when he doesn’t have access to a gym
Find a product where he is able to give ratings and awards to his training partners.
Ensure that whatever product he uses has proper safety aspects and a disclaimer to prevent him from being liable to anything.
Frustrations
Doesn’t know of any websites or apps that help him find training partners.
To find training partners when his gym is closed he has to reach out to his friends who also train.
Information Architecture
User Flows
Wireframe Sketches
Digital Wireframes
Brand Development
Logo Design
Color Palette
Background
Accent
Typography
Poppins - Bold - 28px
Poppins - Bold - 20px
Poppins - Regular - 16px
Mockup
Style Guide
Prototype
Usability Testing
Iterations
Onboarding
Final Thoughts
Successes
When I came up with this idea at the beach when I was 15 years old, I truly wondered whether it would work. However, after doing my user survey I saw that 93% of people wanted to have this service. Even though being aware of sampling bias is vital, the survey results showed how desired it was by the community.
Learning Opportunities
There will never come a moment where I can say "okay, that's enough research, we don't need to do anymore." Research will always come in handy and it will always help me see the big and little ways in which I can improve my designs.
