Branding and UX design for a native word game app
Design and product specification for a native iOS and Android game app
Devin is an entrepreneur and maker at heart, a brilliant developer who enjoys building products in his spare time. He reached out to us for help designing the MVP for a new app he built. The app is a logic-based word game called Wittle.
This isn't the first time we at Sofi have developed a native app from scratch, but it was definitely our first time working in the gaming space. We started working on the project with great enthusiasm.
Challenges
How do you take a pen-and-paper game and move it to a digital medium?
Wittle is a game that, until now, existed only on paper—played between people sitting face-to-face. Our challenge was to take that experience, with everything that makes it special, and translate it into a digital medium that feels just as natural and intuitive—one that can be enjoyed together even from afar, directly from your phone.
Solution Approach
Creating a complete, harmonious world to wrap around the game itself
To bridge the gap between the original game and a digital experience, we worked on two levels. On one hand, we wrapped the core of the game—which is essentially a word game—in a rich, colorful world, complete with characters, badges, achievements, and outfits that accompany the player and enrich every stage. On the other hand, we designed the UI to simplify the game's rules: scoring is automated, and we included tools that allow players to mark letters themselves and make informed guesses. Together, this combination turns a simple word game into a complete world that users want to return to again and again.
Result
A pen-and-paper game becomes a living app
The game has launched and is now available for download in app stores, featuring multiple game modes, an item shop, a variety of characters, and a subscription option. It’s a fresh launch, and we are already seeing new users gradually joining, and we’re excited to see where it goes from here.
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