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VR App Prototype
Courtside Social: helping students de-stress and reconnect, in VR.
A high-fidelity VR tennis app prototype designed to give post-secondary students, especially international students, an easy way to be active and social without leaving their room. I led UI design and user research on a 3-person team.
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Problem
Solution
Method
Result
Rising student mental health struggles, especially isolation among international students
Low-fi → high-fi prototyping, validated with in-person usability testing
A VR tennis app that turns exercise into a low-pressure way to socialize
Average SUS score of 86.25, rated "excellent" usability, after one round of iteration
My Role
I designed the UI system and core user flows (onboarding, avatar creation, lobby, matchmaking, in-game HUD), and led the usability testing sessions, from writing the research protocol to synthesizing quotes into concrete design changes.
Personas
Designed around two very different comfort levels with VR.
We built two personas from our early research to keep the app usable for both a confident, curious user and a more hesitant, tech-cautious one.
Prototype
The core flow: sign up, learn the controls, find a match, play.
Every screen was designed to feel low-pressure for a first-time VR user. A guided tutorial teaches controls before any social interaction happens.
Onboarding & tutorial. New users copy a guided movement before ever facing another player, so the first VR moment isn't a social one.
Matchmaking. Singles or doubles, random opponent or invite a friend, so the app works whether you came alone or with someone.
Research
In-person usability testing, think-aloud + SUS.
I ran sessions with 4 University of Waterloo undergrads (ages 19–22, 2 international, 2 domestic), combining the think-aloud method with follow-up interviews and a System Usability Scale survey.
4
participants, in-person, think-aloud + follow-up interview
86.25
average SUS score, "excellent" range, after iteration
3
categories of actionable design changes identified and shipped
"I think the text needs more contrast because, the background you know. It's a bit hard to read."
P4, on in-VR text readability
"I didn't notice a skip option for the demo... I think a skip option would be nice for returning users who don't want to sit through the entire onboarding."
P2, on onboarding flow
"The game interface is neat but the point scoring should indicate your team instead of just you for doubles matches."
P4, on in-game HUD clarity
Iteration
What changed, directly from those sessions.
Two examples of screens we revised based on specific participant feedback, before vs. after.
Sign-up screen — added a background panel behind the input fields after multiple participants flagged text-on-scenery contrast as hard to read, and spaced the elements out for clarity.
Doubles lobby — tightened button grouping and clarified interface elements after participants described the original layout as visually scattered.
Recognition
This was a course project for a Digital Arts Communication Design class at the University of Waterloo, completed with two teammates, Ashley Tao and Dhruvi Kapadia. Research and testing followed university ethics protocols with informed consent from all participants.
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