Challenge

To kick things off, we set out to understand how young people engage with board games and why traditional purchasing models weren’t serving their needs. Through one-on-one interviews with four board game users aged 16–30, we uncovered patterns in behavior, preferences, and frustrations. Most participants were buying board games in-person from stores like Target, found them expensive, and were hesitant to commit without knowing if the game would be fun. Only one participant used e-commerce platforms to buy games, even though they all agreed it was convenient.

We lacked a massive user base, so we leaned into primary interviews, competitor analysis, and heuristic evaluation to inform our strategy. We also reviewed platforms like Target and Cardhaus to benchmark usability and study how modern e-commerce tools structured navigation and filters. This allowed us to identify exactly where the current systems fell short and where a rental model could provide real value.

Design Process

Working from real needs

Our first challenge was building something useful and intuitive from scratch, while staying rooted in the real pain points users shared. These included pricing concerns, indecision caused by too many options, and a desire for social-driven game recommendations. Every decision we made user flows, content hierarchy, features came from user insights. This meant prioritizing simplicity and emotional trust: filters based on moods, comments from other users, and suggestions personalized to what you and your friends enjoy.

Filtering the noise

One of the biggest pain points we uncovered was decision fatigue users were overwhelmed by the sheer number of games out there. To address this, we designed a clean, minimal browsing experience that allowed users to explore games by intent: “fun with friends,” “quick games,” “strategy-focused,” etc.

We implemented a recommendation engine concept that would eventually suggest titles based on past rentals and ratings, creating a feedback loop that made the platform smarter over time.

Establishing a design system

We built out a simple but modular design system from scratch cards, buttons, search elements, and layout grids. These components prioritized legibility, spacing, and clarity. We paid special attention to micro-interactions, such as hover states and rental confirmations, to ensure the interface felt responsive and welcoming.

Typography and hierarchy

We selected a modern, friendly typeface that could work across product listings, reviews, and navigation. The challenge here was balance our tone needed to be youthful and playful, but not childish. Through font pairing and size hierarchy, we established a rhythm that helped users quickly scan for what mattered most: the game title, how it was rated, and how long they could rent it.

Branding and polish

We crafted a warm, community-driven visual identity with soft shapes and rounded cards to mirror the idea of play. A custom logo was designed to reflect sharing, exchange, and connection. Our color palette was grounded in neutral backgrounds with pops of warm accent colors to draw attention to important actions like “Rent” or “Return.”

Every screen from the onboarding flow to the game detail view was polished with accessibility and delight in mind.