TEAM PROJECT — WINTER 2024

Creating a photo bingo game for group events focused on playful interaction design

TIMELINE

5 Weeks

KEY SKILLS

Prototyping + Interaction Design
Visual Design, Game Design

Sole Designer and Co-Founder — Product Thinking, End-to-End Product Design, Brand and Visual Design

TEAM

Ani Nguyen Le (Designer)
Hong Yu Wong (Designer)

TOOLS

Figma
Protopie

FIG. 1

A peek into the final game

initial brief

Initially, we were tasked with creating a shared experience centered around the camera

FIG. 2

MANY EXPLORATIONS FROM OUR FIRST WEEK

FIG. 3

A PEEK AT A FEW CONCEPTS

We came up with a ton of ideas, but ultimately chose photo bingo because…

Potential as an end-to-end solution rather than a feature on a camera or photo app

Opportunity to tackle pain points in a classic icebreaker / bonding game that is played very often

FIG. 4

PHOTO BINGO, VERSION 0

KEY INSIGHT

We laid out pain points around group bonding activities to tackle from both an organizer and attendee perspective

FIG. 5

A SUNDAYS @USC (SOCRATICA NODE) SESSION I HELPED CO-HOST!

Organizing is no easy feat

Event agendas are difficult to create and stick to.

Poorly explained activities can leave people lost or confused

"Just attending" isn't fully hands off

If a few people aren't engaged, it can bring down the entire group

People need a nudge to open up and interact with others

revised BRIEF

Could we turn bingo, a familiar group bonding game, into a 10x interactive digital experience?

FIG. 6

ICEBREAKER BINGO SPOTTED IRL IN 2025

Establishing design principles

Approachable

Game that is easy to create, explain, and play

Connective

Each design detail should encourage connection

Playful

Create delightful, unique interaction design

SOLUTion

Creating a self-managing photo bingo game with playful mechanics

Nailing the core interaction

Complete a bingo prompt
Creating a fluid, responsive game board
Complete a bingo prompt
Creating a fluid, responsive game board
Complete a bingo prompt
Creating a fluid, responsive game board
Complete a bingo prompt
Creating a fluid, responsive game board

Pacing the game

Power card appears on your board
Take a picture to deploy the card in real life and add a cheeky sign off
Shuffle Power Card: Shuffles your board
Freeze Power Card: Prevents tiles from being completed until freeze timer ends
Power card appears on your board
Take a picture to deploy the card in real life and add a cheeky sign off
Shuffle Power Card: Shuffles your board
Freeze Power Card: Prevents tiles from being completed until freeze timer ends
Power card appears on your board
Take a picture to deploy the card in real life and add a cheeky sign off
Shuffle Power Card: Shuffles your board
Freeze Power Card: Prevents tiles from being completed until freeze timer ends
Power card appears on your board
Take a picture to deploy the card in real life and add a cheeky sign off
Shuffle Power Card: Shuffles your board
Freeze Power Card: Prevents tiles from being completed until freeze timer ends

We also thought about the game creation process for organizers

Create a branded, tailored moment for your event audience
Generating prompts and making edits rather than creating them all manually
Give organizers a peek into the game before it gets into players' hands
Share the game code
Create a branded, tailored moment for your event audience
Generating prompts and making edits rather than creating them all manually
Give organizers a peek into the game before it gets into players' hands
Share the game code
Create a branded, tailored moment for your event audience
Generating prompts and making edits rather than creating them all manually
Give organizers a peek into the game before it gets into players' hands
Share the game code
Create a branded, tailored moment for your event audience
Generating prompts and making edits rather than creating them all manually
Give organizers a peek into the game before it gets into players' hands
Share the game code

As well as keeping the fun going when the game is over.

A bank of photos to see different POVs and have built-in event media to share

THE PROCESS

Our design process was far from linear, but we found insights we may have otherwise missed

We explored visual, interaction, motion, and game design all at the same time.

Through this, we were able to tackle problems through different angles.

Our process could be broken down into these 4 main phases:

DESIGN DECISIONS

A glimpse of the key challenges we faced, the decision making, and the insights along the way

Deciding on the dimensions of the bingo grid — 4x4

We realized that the board dimensions have huge implications on the pacing of the game and touch interactions.

Creating an intuitive yet unique interaction between the board and the camera

Fitting the text prompts on the board (without being able to put them on the tiles)

Designing the confirmation state

Improving design hierarchy

Creating the Power Card Mechanic to balance the game

We wanted to make sure people don't win too quickly, but also don't fall too far behind

FIG. 7

EXPLAINING GAME BALANCE USING MARIOKART

Getting rid of the leaderboard in favor of game notifications

We really wanted people to know key moments during the game, not where every single person was