Strengthening the AGF fans' experience
Focus
Digital Experience & Interaction Design
User Research & Validation
Main Role
UX Researcher and UI Designer
Design Sprint Facilitator
User Testing
Team
4 people
Project Type
Design Sprint (5 days)
Client project
User-centered concept development
Mobile App extension
Time
2 weeks
Overview
AGF (Aarhus Gymnastikforening) is one of Denmark’s oldest and most historic football clubs, with a passionate and dedicated fan base. As the club undergoes a transition period, maintaining fan engagement and ensuring continued growth is a key challenge. Our goal was to develop a digital solution that strengthens the connection between AGF and its supporters by addressing their needs, improving accessibility, and fostering a sense of community.Through a structured Design Sprint, we explored innovative ways to enhance fan interaction, introduce new engagement opportunities, and provide alternatives for those unable to attend matches in person. By conducting user research and iterative testing, we ensured that our solution directly responded to real fan insights—ultimately creating a seamless, interactive, and engaging experience that aligns with AGF’s values and future vision.
Problem statement
How can a digital concept ensure that the fan base remains engaged and grows during the transition period?
Set the stage
Before diving into the Design Sprint, we conducted preliminary research to understand the behaviors, motivations, and challenges of AGF fans. This included surveys, observations, and user interviews, allowing us to gather both quantitative and qualitative insights.
Why this research was important:
To identify key engagement barriers, such as ticket pricing and limited access to free content.
To understand fan expectations, including their strong desire for more real-life events and deeper connections with the club.
To define design opportunities, ensuring that our final solution would be grounded in real user needs.
These insights helped us shape the How Might We (HMW) questions, guiding our ideation process and ensuring we developed meaningful solutions that could enhance fan experiences both online and offline.
Map day
Surveys
We conducted a survey to understand fan engagement, content preferences, and barriers to participation during AGF’s transition period. We used a mix of quantitative and qualitative questions to gather both statistical insights and deeper feedback. The survey revealed that AGF fans value tradition and community, with many following the club for over a decade. Key engagement barriers include high ticket prices and limited free content, while fans strongly prefer behind-the-scenes updates, interviews, and more in-person events with players.
Observations
To set the stage for the Design Sprint we started preparing for it the week before it by observing the target audience in the most likely places to be found. We went to the AGF store in the city of Aarhus where we got to talk to some of the fans and the store manager as well. After that we went to an AGF event at a bar where we could interact even more with the fans and conducted interviews with some of them.
User interviews
We conducted a survey to understand fan engagement, content preferences, and barriers to participation during AGF’s transition period. We used a mix of quantitative and qualitative questions to gather both statistical insights and deeper feedback. The survey revealed that AGF fans value tradition and community, with many following the club for over a decade. Key engagement barriers include high ticket prices and limited free content, while fans strongly prefer behind-the-scenes updates, interviews, and more in-person events with players.
Key Takeaways
Being a fan is a family tradition – Many grew up with AGF and pass their support down to their kids.
Ticket prices are too high for families – Cost is a major reason some fans choose to watch from home.
Fans want more real-life events – Meeting players, community gatherings, and kids’ activities are in high demand.
Paywalls make digital content less accessible – Many fans would engage more if videos and interviews were free.
How Might We
We developed HMW questions based on our findings to guide the ideation phase during the Design Sprint.
"How might we engage fans who can’t attend games?" → Addressing barriers like ticket prices and distance through better digital content and virtual experiences.
"How might we deepen fan-club connections?" → Exploring ways to increase player-fan interactions, exclusive events, and community-driven initiatives.
"How might we introduce the next generation to AGF’s culture?" → Focusing on youth engagement through family-friendly events, rewards, and early exposure to the club’s traditions.
These HMWs helped shape the solutions developed in the sprint, ensuring the final concept directly addressed real fan needs.
Long term goal
To ensure that even though there is less space on the temporary stadium, every fan can still actively engage with the AGF club.
Sketch day
Inspiration
We kicked off the second day of the Design Sprint by using the lightning demos method, where each team member shared their individual ideas and inspirations for potential solutions. The goal was to quickly explore a wide range of possibilities and gain insights from various perspectives. Each member presented examples from other industries, similar fan engagement models, or personal experiences that could inform our approach. This phase helped us understand the broad scope of potential solutions and set a foundation for the next step in our ideation process.
Crazy 8's
After gathering inspiration, we moved into the Crazy 8s exercise. This was a timed, high-energy activity where each team member sketched eight different ideas in eight minutes. The focus was on quantity over quality—encouraging rapid idea generation without overthinking. This allowed us to push creative boundaries and explore multiple approaches to solving the problem. The variety of sketches generated in this session laid the groundwork for further refinement and selection of the most promising ideas.
Sketches
With a variety of ideas on the table from the Crazy 8s session, we shifted focus to more in-depth sketches. In this phase, we refined our concepts and chose the ideas that aligned best with our project goals and user needs. Each sketch detailed user flows, interactions, and visual layouts, offering a clearer picture of how our solutions could come to life. These final sketches were the result of team discussions and alignment, taking inspiration from the lightning demos and Crazy 8s exercises, while also incorporating feedback from previous days. The goal here was to create tangible, refined solutions that would serve as the blueprint for our prototypes.
Decide
Decide on final ideas
Wednesday is arguably the most challenging day of the sprint, as it centers on decision-making and aligning the team's ideas. After reviewing all the sketches from the previous day, we used dot voting to prioritize the ideas we felt were the strongest. Each team member placed their vote on the concepts they believed had the most potential. In cases where there was disagreement or uncertainty, the Decider stepped in and cast a super vote for the idea they thought best aligned with our goals. Once we reached consensus on the final solution, we moved on to the Storyboard.
Storyboard
The storyboard illustrates the user journey from checking ticket availability to engaging in community-driven events. Fans begin by opening the app, checking for available tickets, and if sold out, explore alternative venues to watch the match. The app’s ‘Events’ tab offers options like game streaming venues and pre-game events, with AGF-owned venues requiring a small fee. Fans can purchase tickets, access them through their Profile, and on match day, use the QR code for entry. Additionally, the Volunteer Community is integrated, allowing fans to engage as volunteers, with clear CTAs and information about volunteer roles. The journey emphasizes an interactive, community-focused experience with features like quizzes, polls, and real-time event updates.
Prototype
With our detailed sketches and storyboard ready, we moved on to prototyping. As the facilitator for this day, I managed the schedule to keep us on track. After gathering the necessary assets, we divided tasks by splitting sections of the storyboard, ensuring a smooth user flow. Using Figma for prototyping, we focused on key screens such as the Events page, Community tab, and Volunteer sign-up.
Test
To ensure our solution effectively addressed fan needs, we conducted five user tests with AGF fans. Using a prepared interview script and a think-aloud method, we gathered valuable insights on usability and pain points.
Key Findings & Changes Implemented:
Improved ticket accessibility: Added an option to save tickets to Apple Wallet and made the ‘Sold Out’ button more prominent.
Enhanced event navigation: Replaced ‘Other options’ with a clearer CTA button for match venues and added an ‘Explore AGF Events’ card on the main page.
Refining event categories: Renamed ‘Kids Events’ to ‘Family Events’ and introduced a separate ‘Match Venues’ category for better clarity.
Additional improvements: Included a student ticket option, adjusted volunteer form text for better readability, and added a ‘Shop for Tickets’ card on the main page.
After analyzing the test results, we refined the prototype to align with user feedback, ensuring a smoother and more intuitive experience.
Reflections
Looking back at the sprint, we learned valuable lessons about the importance of user-centered design and rapid iteration. The user tests provided critical feedback, emphasizing the need for clearer navigation, more intuitive event categorization, and seamless ticket accessibility.
Key Takeaways:
Balancing digital and physical experiences is crucial—fans still value in-person interactions, and digital solutions should enhance rather than replace them.
Small UI changes (such as better CTAs and more prominent ticket options) can significantly impact usability.
Community engagement is a key driver of fan loyalty—features like volunteering, social events, and interactive content strengthen the connection between fans and the club.
This sprint demonstrated how fast, structured design thinking can lead to practical, user-focused solutions. Moving forward, refining the prototype based on continued feedback will be essential in creating a truly impactful product for AGF fans.
