Sriya Benjaram

Based in New York, US

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Building a live event for sports-lovers that boosted game retention by 14%

Duration

1 month

Role

Product Design/UX Research/Interaction Design

Team

1 Product Designer + 2 Developers + 2 Product Managers

TL'DR

For the Indian Premier League (IPL), I designed a 0 → 1 seasonal event based on IPL that's built on our existing PvP (Player VS Player) mode. I broke down a complex event flow into an intuitive user experience, balancing technical limitations and time constraints.

What is Hitwicket?

Hitwicket is India's biggest cricket strategy mobile game with 15M+ users competing in matches, climbing ranks, and earning rewards.

Hitwicket regularly runs special events to keep users engaged!

I designed a first-of-its-kind seasonal event, breaking down a complex real-world concept into a clear user experience - built in just one month!

This seasonal event was a layer on top of our existing game mode - PvP (Player VS Player).

Impact

Users responded with enthusiasm, making the event one of our most engaging yet.

D30 Retention % increased by

Game Mode Adoption increased by

Screenshots shared shot up by

Setting the context 👇

Why this event & why does it matter to users?

IPL is the Super Bowl of India

As India’s biggest professional cricket league, IPL sparks unmatched fan passion — that’s why this event is critical. Hitwicket loses engagement during IPL as users are watching cricket.

Proven user interest in city-based formats

I conducted 15+ user interviews with product analysts to uncover insights for Hitwicket events. User insights show strong demand for city-based events, backed by high adoption in the past 3 city formats. 70% of our top user base mentioned interest in city-based events.

What's the goal?

Business Goal

User Goal

📣 🚀 📈

The company wanted to leverage IPL to create virality through shares and invites. This virality is expected to boost retention from users, and game mode adoption (PvP matches).

Event Structure

The event features a community-led territorial expansion and a competitive PvP tournament.

Players select a city and claim pixels on a 10,000-pixel India map using markers earned through PvP matches and friend invites. The same actions also contribute toward a city-based competitive tournament with leaderboards and finals.

I shaped this into a core loop for better understanding →

Setting the scene👇

As the product designer, I owned the end-to-end experience, focusing on clearly communicating the event to users while navigating the underlying logistic and technical challenges.

Project Challenges

Designing clarity within tight timelines and uncharted technical territory.

As a seasonal event, the project had a strict delivery timeline with limited room for iteration and testing. At the same time, the team was building something entirely new: there was no existing code framework to support an experience of this scale. Developers had to create the system from scratch, including an interactive map composed of 10,000 pixels, making feasibility, performance, and clarity critical considerations throughout the design process.

My Design Approach

This event, being extremely interactive and unique to the current player base, leans on Emotional Design and getting it right!

Ideally, the map should draw users in instantly and the user’s journey should move from

Getting into the design process 👇

Starting with a reference

Leveraged r/place for technical foundation.

I found visual inspiration in r/place from Reddit. Then, I asked the devs to use this canvas of pixels as a technical foundation or framework to start work ASAP!

Key Design Decisions

01 The map would be the hero element.

The first decision was to finalize the concept of the experience from a visual importance standpoint. We went ahead with making the map the battlefield as it ties all parts of the event together, and also glorifes users and rewards.

Initially, the team wanted to separate the community & competive aspects of the event to glorify the top players.

I proposed making the map the hero — the core driver of discovery and the element that makes the event feel truly unique.

Initial Concept

Final Concept

02 Defining the key actions and grouping related elements to communicate the flow.

The map will definitely spark curiosity in our player to explore it further but there was no clear mapping between various elements on the page. How might we improve the concept to induce more clarity?

Let's look at some iterations didn't make the cut 👇

Every iteration brought me closer to the final design!

Viewing this as a directional experience for a user and not just a screen helped me identify and enhance the actions.

To simplify this complex structure, related elements are grouped together with actions flowing right to left.

03 Optimizing Interactions for Speed and Clarity.

With clarity in place, how might we make the interaction feel satisfying?

As thousands interact with the map in real-time, a 'confirm' step could cause clashes if users tap the same spot. We switched to a 'tap to place' interaction for a faster, smoother flow.

An animation of flags flying to the leaderboard and rewards can help show how one currency (markers) gets converted to another (flags) through action, making it satisfying as well.

Here comes the final look! *drum roll*

Here's a glimpse of the event through a quick time-lapse…

What did I learn?

❌🎨 Don't jump into visuals while iterating

On this complex project, I initially made the mistake of exploring colors before finalizing the layout and UX. While theming the lobby around IPL team colors helped me visualize the outcome, it pulled my focus toward aesthetics instead of solving the core problem. Taking a step back and starting fresh allowed me to refocus on the problem statement and ultimately arrive at a stronger solution.

⏳👩‍💻 Loop in developers very early on in the process

Although we tried to loop in developers ASAP, even earlier alignment with engineering could have saved valuable time. Once the developers created the base for the map, we involved them again after finalizing the UX, which led to larger-than-expected estimates. We addressed this gap by sharing updates as decisions were finalized to improve collaboration and prevent further delays.

Here comes the final look! *drum roll*