pickup.earth
A 0→1 platform for pickup basketball culture.
Game discovery, player stats, live drafts, and community — built end-to-end with the founder and dev team, now live in market.
Role
UX Designer
Timeline
12 Wks · Design → Launch
Platform
iOS & Android
Status
Live & In Market
The Problem
Pickup basketball culture deserves better infrastructure.
Fragmented Discovery
Finding pickup basketball games relies entirely on word-of-mouth and scattered group chats — with no centralized platform, players miss games constantly.
No Stats Infrastructure
Players have no way to track personal stats, performance growth, or historical data. Achievements go unrecognized. Identity is invisible.
Underutilized Courts
Gyms and courts have zero digital presence. They can't broadcast availability, manage time slots, or attract new players to fill capacity.
Disconnected Community
Local basketball culture is deeply rich but completely scattered across DMs, word-of-mouth, and Instagram stories with no dedicated home.
The Opportunity
Build the first end-to-end platform for pickup culture.
A zero-to-one product that unifies game discovery, player identity, and community — transforming how local basketball is organized, experienced, and celebrated.
Build the first unified discovery layer for pickup games in any city
Create player identity through verified stats, achievements, and profiles
Give courts and gyms a digital home with live availability and booking
Capture and celebrate the culture through highlights, feeds, and community
26M+
pickup basketball players in the US alone — with zero dedicated platform to serve them.
My Role & Process
UX Designer — full-cycle engagement.
I led the design process end-to-end — from the first player interviews and wireframes through to developer handoff and launch — working closely with the founder, the dev team, and 20+ OKC ballers throughout.
"K.J. owned the entire design process — from our first player interviews to launch day. Every screen, every flow, every detail."
— Josh, Founder, Pickup.Earth
Discovery
Stakeholder interviews, competitive audit, market sizing
User Research
20+ player interviews, affinity mapping, persona development
Wireframes
Low-fidelity flows, information architecture, user journey mapping
Prototyping
Interactive Figma prototypes for usability testing rounds
Hi-Fi Design
Full design system, component library, pixel-perfect screens
Handoff
Developer specs, Zeplin/Figma tokens, QA review
My Contributions
Delivered end-to-end alongside the founder and dev team.
UI Showcase
Real screens. Real product.
Player Profile
Comprehensive player profiles with season & career stats, game logs, and reputation scoring.
Sessions
Browse and join upcoming pickup games with real-time availability and one-tap joining.
Court Map
Discover courts near you on an interactive map with live game activity.
Live Streaming
Watch live streams from basketball courts around the world.
Navigation Menu
Intuitive navigation across all platform features — from priority booking to the community store.
Stat Compare
Compare stats head-to-head with any player across any season or game type.
Web Experience
Built for every screen.
The full desktop web experience — designed for deep dives into stats, sessions, and the global court community.
Screen 1
Homepage Hero
The hero landing experience — instantly communicates the platform's global scale with a live 3D globe showing active courts worldwide.
Screen 2
Sessions Browser
Browse all upcoming pickup sessions at a glance — filterable by location with real court photos and one-click joining.
Screen 3
Leaderboard
Competitive leaderboards filterable by season and game format — giving every baller a rank to chase.
Pickup World Map
A global court discovery map — visualizing the worldwide reach of the pickup basketball community.
Screen 5
Player Profile (Web)
Full-featured player profiles with season stats, career history, game logs, and social connections — all in one view.
Interactive
Try the Live App
Don't just look at screenshots — explore the real product right here, in a live interactive demo.
That's a wrap
Interested in working together?
I'm available for new projects. Let's build something that moves people.