Paddle Pulse

Understanding and Improving the Experience for Recreational Pickup Pickleball Players (RPPPs)

Paddle Pulse is a crowdsourced app that allows users to find courts and real-time availability, earn community points by providing feedback on court status, and connect with players who share similar skill levels and motivations.

Role

User Researcher
UX Designer*

Team

Melissa Vozar
Melissa Cho
Emily Dooley
Corinne Hildebrandt
Mariam Saeedi

Timeline

January - March 2026

Tools

Figma
Trello

* The research and recommendations were completed collaboratively with the four teammates listed above. I independently chose to extend this work by designing and developing Paddle Pulse — all wireframes, prototypes, design decisions, and product development were completed solely by me.

In Northwestern’s User Research course, I developed practical skills for understanding user needs and applying research insights to inform product and service design decisions. Throughout the course, I gained hands-on experience selecting and conducting appropriate research methods to address real world challenges. I worked directly with users to gather insights, synthesize findings, and translate them into actionable recommendations. I also learned how to communicate research outcomes effectively by preparing a clear and compelling presentation.

Taking the insights and research from Northwestern's User Research course, I applied those concepts and findings to the Interface Design course, where I explored tools and techniques for designing and evaluating digital interfaces. Through this experience, I engaged with a variety of design tools and deepened my understanding of theory and strategy — ultimately gaining hands-on experience with the entire research-to-design process.

Background

Over the first 10 weeks, my team and I decided to extensively research the target user group, which we termed Recreational Pickup Pickleball Players (RPPPs). We defined this group as players who primarily play an average of 1–12 times per month and primarily engage in open play.

After working collaboratively for 10 weeks, I decided to independently continue this work by designing and developing Paddle Pulse. Over the next 10 weeks, I developed a pickleball app focused on four key tasks: onboarding, an app tutorial, interacting with data, and desirability and persuasion.

Overview

Pickleball's rapid growth has created a widening gap between player demand and the infrastructure available to support it. 44% of players cite overcrowded courts as the single biggest barrier to getting on the court, 39% of players struggle to find opponents of comparable skill, and no formal systems exist for most recreational players to find courts or compatible players. For casual, recreational players, the open play experience is filled with barriers that the sport has yet to solve.

Problem

  • Pickleball Players

  • USA Pickleball

  • Local Government & Parks

Stakeholders

To better understand the pain points and social dynamics at open play pickleball courts, my team and I conducted five field studies across diverse public court locations at varying times and days of the week, observing players in real-world environments.

Field Studies

My team and I conducted 11 qualitative user interviews with Recreational Pickup Pickleball Players (RPPPs) to gain deeper insight into the motivations, behaviors, and pain points.

Interviews

“A lot of times you drive 10, 15 minutes and you get to the court and you’re like, well, I’m like fourth in line for this game.” - User Interview Participant

“Nobody’s having any fun. The people who are bringing down the level aren’t having fun. The people who are playing way above the other people aren’t having fun.” - User Interview Participant

To gather quantitative data, my team and I developed and administered a survey completed by 330 participants, 161 of whom met the eligibility criteria. The results provided deeper insight into the behaviors, preferences, and needs of Recreational Pickup Pickleball Players (RPPPs).

Survey

RPPPs are engaged adults motivated by fitness first.

Partner coordination relies heavily on personal networks.

Open play rules are widely accepted but poorly communicated.

Uncertainty around court availability is the primary barrier to play.

Skill matching is important, but interpersonal compatibility matters more.

My team and I developed a user persona to better understand a Recreational Pickup Pickleball Player (RPPP).

User Persona

My team and I created a user journey map to visualize the end-to-end experience, identify pain points, and opportunities for a Recreational Pickup Pickleball Player (RPPP).

Journey Map

Recommendations

Recommendation 1: Develop a real-time court availability tracking system.

Recommendation 2: Match RPPPs by skill level and intention.

Recommendation 3: Deliver queue and rotation clarity at the point of entry.

Recommendation 4: Create a court ambassador program.

Case Study Slides

I began the design process by creating black-and-white wireframes, focusing on tasks such as onboarding, an in-app tutorial, data interaction, and a desirability/persuasion aspect.

Design Iterations

Design System & Branding

I developed a simple design system for my prototype, including font types, font sizes, a color palette, buttons, and icons.

I utilized a high-fidelity iteration of Paddle Pulse to conduct a usability test with 5 participants. The goal of these sessions was to evaluate the app's usability and determine whether the product was designed in a way that was easy for a new user to navigate.

Based on these sessions, here are a few common pitfalls and areas for improvement:

Usability Testing

Confusion when determining skill level: My initial prototype asked users for their DUPR rating to determine skill level. For newer pickleball players, this wording was confusing. More inclusive wording has since been incorporated.

Court status survey overlooked: Most participants passed over the court status survey section without completing it, missing out on earning community points. The placement of this section has been moved to a more identifiable area, and visual cues have been added to draw more attention to it.

Difference between 'Open Play' and 'Courts Near You' section not recognized: Participants did not recognize or understand the difference between the open play courts section and the courts near you section, so the open play section has been removed. Users are now simply offered a selection of nearby courts with an overview of wait times and number of available courts.

Here you can find a walkthrough of the final prototype, showcasing the screens a user might interact with when completing the following tasks: onboarding, an in-app tutorial, viewing court information, and earning community points by submitting real-time data to support the crowdsourced nature of the product.

The full interactive prototype can be found here.

Final Prototype

Key Takeaways

I enjoyed working on this project, as I was able to draw from real research conducted by my team and me to develop and design this product. This project gave me the opportunity to grow as a designer, enhancing my skills in Figma and deepening my engagement with design techniques such as conducting usability tests.

Overall, I am proud of how the product turned out, especially given that a large portion of the design process happened in just 4 short weeks. Looking forward, I will carry my experience of translating real-world research into thoughtful designs into future projects. With that, I may even continue to build out Paddle Pulse in my free time beyond the time frame of these courses.

Check out more of my work!