PlayStation Extra
2 Week Mobile App Design Challenge
What are experiential events and how do apps facilitate experience design?
Project Overview
Timeline
Nov. 2025 (2 Weeks)
Roles
UX Designer
Tools
Figma
Skills
UX Design
UX Research
Visual Design
Experience Design
Summary
PlayStation Extra 2027 was a two-week design challenge I completed in November 2025. The prompt asked candidates to envision a dedicated mobile app for a hypothetical large-scale PlayStation experiential event blending games and music. I could also imagine and design the event itself based on the prompt.
Prompt and Constraints
Task: Design a dedicated app for the fictional PlayStation Extra 2027 Experiential Event
Purpose: To enable users to excitedly participate in and enjoy the event through the worlds of games and music.
Must-Have Features: “Event Registration” and “Entrance Pass”
Target Audience: Gen Z
Design: Include "PlayStation identity" in my design
I was given free control over imagining the event and the app outside of these constraints, allowing me to be creative and think outside the box.
Thus, I had two deliverables.
A high fidelity mobile app prototype
An experiential event concept
Problem Space
“To enable users to excitedly participate in and enjoy the event through the worlds of games and music.”
I broke down the overall purpose of the challenge into smaller goals for the design.
For existing fans of PlayStation games
Get Excited about PlayStation IP
For those unfamiliar with PlayStation
Greater publicity for PlayStation
My personal love for game music
A love letter for game music
Design Process
Research
Given the short timeline, I focused on targeted, directional research based on the prompt, surrounding three primary questions and interviewing gamers around me.
What types of experiential events exist?
Gamified and Interactive (eg. Pokémon GO Fest)
B. Brand Activations (eg. PlayStation 5 Launch Events)
C. Museums + Installations (eg. TeamLabs, Mercer Labs)
Takeaways
Live events are exciting and build emotional connection and engagement!
App can serve as an interface and interaction with the live event
What gets Gen Z excited?
78% would rather spend money on experiences than material things (EventBrite)
#SpotifyWrapped reached 400M views on TikTok in 2024
40% increase in app engagement during Spotify Wrapped
Takeaways
Gen Z are excited by experiences over purchases, personalized content, and social media engagement.
What is PlayStation and Sony’s Design Identity?
Reading Sony Design Stories on their blog, I came upon the following keywords based on past designs, installations, and events.
Accessibility
Welcoming
Immersion
Multi-Dimensional, Multi-Sensory
User Persona
Gen Z (ages 17–25)
Gamers or those interested in games
Pop culture engagement, active on online fandoms
Social media and trend-oriented
Experience seekers, sharing their experiences with friends
Ideation
Based on my research and defining of the problem space, I created four core design pillars to center my work around. These pillars were created with the user persona and end goal in mind.
Personalization
Catering to Gen Z preferences and social media trends
Socialization
Connect to fandom, online presence, and community
Immersion
Linking PlayStation identity and experiential events
Memorability
Create more buzz, generate emotional connection
Using FigJam to create a mind map, I then brainstormed the key concepts and design ideas behind the prompt. Especially considering the subject matter of connecting both games and music, I went about connecting the dots on all the possible directions this event and app could take.
Explorations and Brainstorming
Music and games as social hobbies; building community
Music and games being very tied to one's identity -> their fandom and personality
Where do we listen to music? At home, at work, at parties, the diversity of context
Gamified events and interesting interactions: AR, VR, QR Codes, NFC Tap…
Event Concept
Event User Flow
The event concept I came up with centers around exploration, freedom, and immersion through multi-sensory interaction.
Event Description
Pop-up style
Indoor installation held for limited periods
Rotates across cities; users reserve times
Visitor Interactions
Visitors walk through themed rooms with varied audio, seating, and game videos on screens
Each room is themed emotionally to the game's genre.
Visitors can sit, stand, walk, and dance to the music!
Event Map Mockup
Event Interaction Sketch
App Concept & User Flow
App User Flow
The app acts as a companion interface for the event. It is a mode of interaction, not a tutorial or guide. Thus, after brainstorming, the most natural interaction I found and was the NFC Tap.
Key Interaction: NFC Tap
Early Wireframe Sketch
NFC tap your phone to stations in unique themed rooms
Affect the room's screens (induce flames, butterflies, sounds, etc.)
App tracks time spent in each room
Generate unique musical persona based on behavior data to share on social media
Visual Design
To preserve PlayStation brand identity, I studied other PlayStation products and apps to identify the following key design principles.
PlayStation Blue
PlayStation iconography
Soft gradients, transparency, welcoming energy
Dissolving and fluid motions
SST Typeface
Color and Font
Prototype
Registration and Login
Users can sync their PlayStation Network account for personalization
Select location, timeslot, and preferences which factor into persona generation.
Receive QR code as a ticket to enter the venue
Entrance Pass and NFC Tap
The app detects NFC taps on station and tracks the location data of the user.
The tap shows the room's current game and music, and relevant information in the bottom sheet (links, recommendations, stories)
Map and Profile
Displays the venue of the event
Glowing buttons represent rooms with purchased games
Users can also edit their profile and preferences.
Persona Generation
Once five stations are tapped, users can generate a unique musical persona based on their behavior data, purchase history, and preferences.
The persona can be shared on social media
Adds a unique avatar and trophy for the PlayStation Network account
Access to persona-based music playlists and recs
Prototype
Validation and Refinement
Testing
Given the limited timeframe, I tested the prototype with people around me who are interested in games, many who are PlayStation owners. I noted the following:
Where did they get lost?
Did they understand the NFC tapping in the mockup?
What were unexpected behaviors and what did they hope to see?
Insights
"Should there be a map?"
First iterations of the design did not have a map function, as I thought a map would be too much of a guide for users.
However, users showed interest in a map in orienting themselves, thus I designed a map with minimal information to not distract.
"I want to connect my PlayStation history"
PlayStation owners showed interest in having the event be more tied to their accounts.
Thus, greater PlayStation account connectivity was added, in both registration and also in providing unique rewards (trophy and avatar) to the account after the event.
Reflection
If I had more time and if this was going into production…
Validate NFC feasibility
I want to work with engineers to determine whether NFC is the most intuitive and reliable interaction.
Explore algorithms for personalized playlist generation
What sorts of behavior data is helpful to personalize further? How can I personalize the recommendations further?
Develop exhibition and installation design further
I would brainstorm and sketch further detailed ideas on props, seating choices, screen displays, lighting, fog, special effects in each room to match the music and games.
Accessibility
I would work more on how to make the event interaction accessible those with hearing or mobility impairment.
