Creating a Space Where Waiting Ends and the Game Begins

Redesigned the Lobby into a smarter, faster, and more personal starting point for play — across screens, modes, and skill levels.


Mar 2024 – Jun 2024

PERIOD


FIDE Online Arena

COMPANY


#ProductDesign  #AdaptiveUI

TAGS

Video game lobby screen with a user profile featuring four circular icons, a large green text displaying 15,678 players online right now, and a bright green button labeled 'Start the game' on a blue geometric patterned background.

About this project

As part of the Chess Arena 2.0 launch, I redesigned the Lobby to give players more ways to create and join games. It was one of several updates aimed at expanding the platform and giving players more of what they came for. The old Lobby was just a fast-moving list of game requests, and we wanted to turn it into something that made more sense for how people actually play.

Screenshot of an online chess platform's lobby page, showing options to select a game mode such as Bullet, Blitz, Rapid, Classic, Daily, and Smart Picks. The page includes a section for starting a game, and a bright green advertisement promoting registering for an account to access rated games and perks.
Screenshots of an online chess platform with sections to choose opponent, game options such as Blitz, Bullet, Rapid, Classic, Daily, and buttons to start game, play with AI, or invite friends. The middle screenshot shows a list of ongoing games with player names, time controls, and lock icons. The right screenshot displays game start options for Bullet, Blitz, Rapid, Classic, and Daily formats with time controls, and a countdown for bot game start.

Any challenges?

I worked on the interface end to end together with our PM and lead designer — making it look sharper than ever and intuitive to navigate across all screen sizes. Smaller devices needed more than just tweaks, so we reshaped the layout from scratch. We also rebuilt the “create a game” section to give players more freedom: making it easier to set things up, find a partner faster, and play the kind of game they actually wanted. And since smarter AI bots were about to launch, we gave them their own dedicated space with difficulty presets and a fresh identity to match the rest of the brand. 

Six colorful online chess game interface tiles with options to register, upgrade to pro, connect FIDE ID, and start rated or non-rated games in green, yellow, and blue backgrounds.
Three screenshots of a chess game app interface with options to start rated and non-rated games, connect to FIDE ID, and access premium features, with the rightmost screenshot showing a blue overlay indicating a timer and game start information.
Screenshot of a website page about chess game settings, featuring options to start a game, challenge AI, and set AI difficulty levels with icons and text.
Online chess game interface showing a chessboard set up with the initial position, a timer at three minutes, and options to connect with a friend or create a new game. A bright green sharing link overlay is present in the center.

Highlights

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.