Case Study

Designing a Digital Ecosystem for Pickleball

Client

Picklebay

Location

Kolkata

Sector

Sports Tech

Discipline

Brand & Visual Identity Design,

UI/UX & Product Design

Client

Picklebay

Location

Kolkata

Sector

Sports Tech

Discipline

Brand & Visual Identity Design,

UI/UX & Product Design

Introduction

For Picklebay, a brand shaped around the fast-paced, community-driven world of pickleball, we set out to create an identity that reflects not just the sport, but the energy and enthusiasm that power it.

For Picklebay, a brand shaped around the fast-paced, community-driven world of pickleball, we set out to create an identity that reflects not just the sport, but the energy and enthusiasm that power it.

The Premise

We partnered with Picklebay to design India’s first all-in-one digital platform for pickleball.
Our challenge: to make this fast-growing sport feel accessible, exciting, and unified under one digital roof.

Kwazi Think

There is a major lack of organization in the way events are planned. Relevant information about the sport is scattered across different platforms. This disrupts the experience of existing players and inhibits newer people from exploring it.

A dedicated platform to solve for the experiential gaps would enrich the overall experience of everyone looking to explore the sport.

Insights & Interventions

Insights

77.9% play Pickleball weekly: opportunity for personalized, repeat-use features.
WhatsApp is the main planning tool: shows fragmented, informal setup.
Barriers to play vary: diverse user problems identified.
Key challenge: no reliable all-in-one Pickleball solution.
71.2% open to new players: strong social potential in the sport.

77.9% play Pickleball weekly: opportunity for personalised, repeat-use features.
WhatsApp is the main planning tool: shows fragmented, informal setup.
Barriers to play vary: diverse user problems identified.
Key challenge: no reliable all-in-one Pickleball solution.
71.2% open to new players: strong social potential in the sport.

Interventions

User Research: Personas, mental models, user journeys.
UX Ideation: IA, features, tag/index systems, "How Might We" sessions.
Competitive Analysis: Benchmarks, best practices, inspiration study.
Landscape Study: Gaps in current platforms and key verticals.
Client/Tech Alignment: Feasibility checks, priority features list.
Architecture Development: Refined journey maps and task flows.
UX Design: Entry points, redirects, module integration.
UI Design: Custom elements, material style, branding.

Our Learnings

A product built around people, not just features.

In building an ecosystem so vast, we’ve learnt many lessons especially related creating a seamless user experience which feels integrated and uniform across the product (modules).

Our focus on user persona driven solutions, refined design detailing and extensive module planning allowed us to put forth an MVP that met market and client expectations. This foundation is scalable to meet the growing requirements for a successful product.