MATCHMAKING ENGAGEMENT,
I CHOOSE YOU!

World Chess \ March 2024 - June 2024 \ Product Designer

The old Lobby was a single fast-moving list. Games jumped too quickly, and players could not follow their time control or understand who they were joining. The space looked empty even when activity was high. The business also needed a place to surface new game types, support multiple game requests, and introduce AI opponents.

* This case study reflects my contributions to the product’s design during my time on the project. All product names, visuals and trademarks belong to their respective owners. The final implementation, current appearance, and future updates are controlled by the company. My responsibility extends only to the design work presented here.

PROCESS

I started by listing all system states: anonymous, free, PRO, FIDE-connected, verification pending, internal vs official rating, and the bot fallback when no opponent is found. This defined what each user type should see in the Lobby and in game creation.

I explored several structures for the active games list. Accordions were unstable because the content changed too fast, and a single table did not help players follow one game type. I moved to a multi-column layout where each column represented one time control. This allowed players to focus on their preferred game style and gave us a clear place to show FIDE-rated games with their own colour and lock logic.

I redesigned Start Your Game as a structured block. Players could pick time controls, rated or non-rated, official FIDE games if eligible, and create several requests at once. I defined the banner states for every account type and for FIDE ID status. Multiple requests followed backend rules: if none matched, the system switched to an AI opponent.

On mobile, the logic changed. Columns became category pages, because nested scrolling created jumps and confusion. Each category opened a side sheet with the real game list. Avatars showed real users but were not real-time due to API limits. Start Your Game became a separate page with single-open sections to avoid vertical overload, and the main action stayed fixed. The flow behaved like small subpages instead of one long screen.

I worked with frontend on scaling rules and card behaviour, and with QA on all state combinations. I also aligned the visual system: colours, locks and labels stayed consistent across game cards, banners and rating logic. Some secondary flows were not included in the first release and were updated later.

THE NEW LOBBY BECAME A PROPER CONTROL ROOM FOR PLAY: A PLACE TO BUILD THE KIND OF MATCH THAT FITS YOUR TEMPO, RATING, AND CHESS PREFERENCES. SMART PICKS, QUICK INVITES, SMARTER AND CUSTOMISABLE BOTS — EVERYTHING HAD ITS SPACE. OVER 80% OF PLAYERS SAID THE UPDATE MADE THINGS BETTER. AND WITH THAT FOUNDATION IN PLACE, IT’S READY FOR MORE: NEW FEATURES, HIGHER EXPECTATIONS, AND A MORE SOLID START FOR WHATEVER COMES NEXT.