FF is an online charity showcase of all the best feminine presenting gamers. My team’s goal with this project was to create a site in collaboration with stakeholders to achieve the best possible product to their standards. This concept of this product was centered around conflict/resolution with our stakeholder’s goals for their brand identity.

Project Goals

To create a product based on stakeholder’s needs and raise awareness/participation in online charity events

The Problem

The stakeholders desire a welcoming and friendly product, however, require security barriers to participate due to gender regulations

User Insight

”As someone who plays video games, I want to learn more about gaming charity showcases and how to participate in them.”

Research

What is Frame Fatales

Frame Fatales, a division of Games Done Quick (GDQ), hosts two annual charity gaming marathons. These livestreams feature participants playing games for audiences, with prizes and incentives to encourage donations. In 2025, GDQ has raised over $40M through these events.

Stakeholder Interview

Competitor Analysis

User Interview Results

Users answered the following questions:

  • Are you familiar with speedrunning?

  • Do you play games regularly?

  • Have you ever been involved in charity events?

  • Would you consider volunteering for a speedrunning event?

Survey Results

Desktop and mobile are the most commonly used platforms for accessing speedrunning content

Interview insights:

  • Most users were familiar with speedrunning

  • Users have gamed before, but some believe it to be a waste of time

  • Some users have participated in charity events online

  • Users may be open to volunteering for speedrunning if they knew what it entailed

To expand our research to a wider audience, a Google Forms survey was completed by 61 respondents from 11 states. 

Users find out about charity fundraising marathon events most commonly from Twitter and Games Done Quick, accounting for 66% of awareness.

Design

Sitemap

As a requirement to participating in the events, users must submit a request to join the online server. This was a priority of the stakeholders in order to screen users for potential trolls and bullies who tend to target women in gaming spaces. To keep the “welcoming” tone, my team implemented many different avenues to easily access this request form.

Low Fidelity

We wanted as much information about how to participate in the event. There are two main showcases a year, along with some special events, a challenge my team faced was how to explain the different events and how their title refers to the time of year the showcase occurs.

We have to highlight that Flame refers to the Summer event and Frost refers to the Winter event.

Testing

Research Questions

User Testing Results

Testing Goal

Will security barriers make it too difficult to join the community?

Do events with similar names confuse users?

Will it be simple for new users to navigate to the volunteer page?

To understand the process and apply for a discord invite

Users understand difference between Flame, Frost, and Fright Fatale events

Users can successfully find, name, and describe a volunteer role

Success Rate

Mobile

Desktop

Stakeholder Feedback

Content Writing

  • Watching the stream should be primary CTA when events are streaming

  • Change the livestream heading convey action, change “Today’s Livestream” to “Watch Now!” or “Flame Fatales is Live!”

  • Use the word “Request” instead of “Apply” to make joining the community feel more friendly and approachable

Navigation

  • Separate events into to two pages: Main events (Frost, Flame) and special events (Fright Halloween event, etc.)

  • Move “Support Malala Fund” card closer to top, donations are the key CTA during events and charity should be featured more prominently to encourage users to research further into the cause they benefit

Iteration and Visual Style

Research Questions

Iterations Testing Results

Testing Goal

Will security barriers make it too difficult to join the community?

Do events with similar names confuse users?

Will it be simple for new users to navigate to the volunteer page?

To understand the process and apply for a discord invite

Users understand difference between Flame, Frost, and Fright Fatale events

Users can successfully find, name, and describe a volunteer role

Success Rate

Mobile

Desktop

After iterations we found that users were successful in our tests and our stakeholders were happy with the results pertaining to their goals

UI Style

Style Tile Takeaways

  • The stakeholder’s desired color palette, based on an already existing logo, had a lot of bright colors

  • We made sure the site was colorblind accessible and WCAG compliant

  • Typography had to represent the “fun but professional” tone per the stakeholder’s request

Final Product

Organization

Using provided visuals, we were able to reduce user confusion on the different events. The colors also emphasized the time of year each event represented without users needing to further search for the difference. We also made specific information readily available for those interested in participating.

Security Barriers

We created several different paths and options to contact the FF team about joining the online server, along with explanations why this is required. We also included bright colors and visuals to maintain the friendly and welcoming environment.

Conclusion

Future Iterations

  • Having separate homepages for whether or not the video feed is live

  • If we were to continue this project, my team would bring this design to larger leads of the organization and get broader feedback from their charity partners

  • We’d also start working with developers to start building specs for behind-the-scenes conditions and testing the site’s functionality within the event’s online scenarios

Pain Points

  • We had to remove a Community page that relied on a Twitter API, this API was free until recently and my team would need to meet with the stakeholders to discuss budgeting or an alternative feature to deliver their updates

  • We had to keep all members focused on the stakeholder’s goals rather than experimenting with extraneous features that took away from the stakeholder’s desires

Final Thoughts

  • Working with the Frame Fatales Leads presented a new opportunity to earn hands on experience with direct communication with a client

  • FF Leads felt we had accomplished their goals within our design and provided a quality product

  • They expressed that they felt all their needs were heard and enjoyed watching the site evolve as they were involved in every step of the process