UX Design Process: Case Study
The last thing we want is for users to feel lost—no one enjoys the “wait, what am I supposed to do?” moment.
A big part of UX design is making sure interactions feel natural and intuitive. That’s why proper planning from the start—storyboarding, mapping user flows, wireframing, and prototyping—makes all the difference. Get it right early, and you create a smooth First-Time User Experience that keeps people engaged and coming back for more.
At Sphere, my process boiled down to five key steps:
Research→ Define → Design → Build→ Test (and repeat as needed until things just work).
Tools Used:
- Figma •
- Miro •
- React •
- Unreal Engine •
- Illustrator •
- Photoshop
Timeline:
Delight at Scale: Designing a 5-Minute Experience for 10,000
It all started with a simple research observation—before a show or concert, audiences were already glued to their phones, often playing games. That got us thinking:
How do we design a 5-minute experience that instantly delights the audience and keeps them engaged before the main show?
How do we make it accessible to 10,000 players, regardless of their background?
After several brainstorming sessions, this is what we came up with.
Megapachinko is a large-scale pachinko game where players bet on an emoji. Their chosen emoji drops through the board, bouncing off hazards along the way. Surviving emojis earn points, which can be redeemed for concession credits at the Sphere.
Our next challenge: How do visitors start participating with minimal onboarding friction?
Storyboards Sealed the Deal
The next challenge? Getting the team—and more importantly, the VP of Sphere—on board. This is where storyboards came in clutch.
To QR code or not to QR code?
Unless you're visiting from another planet, you probably have a phone. It’s the one device people are already comfortable with. Handing out external devices? That just means more instructions, more confusion, and a longer wait for the fun to start. Since we needed a quick cycle to delight, the choice was clear—QR code it was
The Two-Screen Challenge: Designing for Split Attention
So, the path we chose required the audience to split their attention between their phones and the massive immersive screen. This was the moment I threw my arms up and yelled, “Oh, fantastic!”—with just a hint of sarcasm.
Navigating attention split between two screens was a challenge—one I gladly took on. The process started with designing user flows and wireframes.
Think of attention like a relay baton—passing it is harder than running. The real challenge wasn’t just looking up or down, but smoothly switching between the two. So, we minimized those switches.
The fix? Clear cues—visuals, sound, and haptics—but the best combo? Haptics + sound. Instead of forcing constant back-and-forth, we grouped all phone interactions together in one go. Simple, smooth, and way less frustrating.
To see more of the control methods we explored for audience interaction, visit the interaction design.
Prototyping
The solution? Realizing that attention flows one way at a time. Throwing information onto multiple screens at once doesn’t speed things up—it just overwhelms.
That “Oh no, where do I look? What’s happening? Oh crap, I suck at this” moment? Yeah, we wanted to avoid that.
This is where I let my technical skills shine—I built the following prototype using React. After setting up the placeholder front-end design and building key React components, I handed the project over to the backend engineering team for networking integrations.
Testing
After building on a design, it was crucial to validate our assumptions—especially around attention splitting. We started with small-scale user testing (20-40 participants) and later moved to large-scale venue testing with up to 200 people.
I led this effort from start to finish, including participant recruiting, study design, data collection, and presenting insights. For more on what we were researching, check out the User Research page.
The findings from these sessions directly shaped iterations and refinements to the user experience. A quick glance at our user testing results.
(1 represents "Not at all", while 5 represents "Very much so”)
Bringing It to Life: Matching Aesthetics and Refining UX
The next step was adding some visual flare. I worked closely with the creative director to ensure the visuals on mobile matched the game’s aesthetic. Then, it was back to refining the low-fidelity user flows into high-fidelity versions.
Impact
23% increase in ticket sales for Postcards from Earth
72% of surveyed players said it made the wait time feel shorter
Audience social sentiment improved, with a 32% increase in positive mentions about the Sphere experience on social media
39% of players said they'd return for another show specifically because of the interactive pre-show experience
The 5-minute interactive game we designed for Sphere in Vegas had a significant impact on audience engagement and business metrics:
“Didn’t expect to be playing a game before the show, but this was so fun!”
“It had a wonderful sense of novelty and a flavor of being part of something epic.”
Here’s what some audience members had to say:
From Concept to Code: UI Development Process
For a closer look at my development process and the tools I'm proficient in, visit the UI Development section.