QuickQuiz - UX Prize Nominated Multiplayer Quiz App

QuickQuiz is a competitive, multiplayer quiz application designed for young users who enjoy fast-paced challenges and social play. Developed as a team university project, the application focuses on turning traditional quizzes into an engaging, real-time experience where users compete with friends, track progress, and climb leaderboards. The project was later nominated for a UX prize, recognizing its interaction design, user-experience decisions, and overall concept.

What the Product Does

Users can play quizzes alone or challenge friends in real time. The application offers multiple game modes, each designed to create different levels of tension, progression, and engagement:

• Normal mode: customize difficulty, category, and number of questions
• Pyramid mode: a progressive challenge where question difficulty increases step by step and scores contribute to the leaderboard
• Friend system: presence indicators (online, idle, offline) and real-time challenges
• Leaderboards: score tracking and competitive progression

The experience is intentionally competitive, fast, and visually bold to appeal to its target audience.

UX & Interaction Design

A major focus of the project was how UX influences emotion and behavior. Design decisions were made to:

• Reduce empty space and keep users visually engaged
• Use dark themes with purple accents to increase contrast and focus
• Introduce animations and motion (water-wave effects, answer flips) to add tension
• Guide users clearly through pyramid progression using visual cues and navigation aids

User evaluations led to multiple iterations, improving clarity, stress balance, and navigation, especially in the pyramid mode. This rigorous UX process was a key reason the project stood out during evaluation.

Real-Time & Social Presence

The app includes real-time user presence and interaction features:

• Live status indicators for friends (online, idle, offline)
• Instant challenge invitations and notifications
• Duplicate-challenge prevention with clear feedback
• Notification handling for friend requests and game invites

These features were designed to support spontaneous play while avoiding confusion or friction.

Process & Development

The project followed a structured, UX-driven process:

• Initial workshops and concept discussions
• Feature definition and UX flow mapping (Miro)
• MVP implementation
• User evaluation and feedback collection
• UX/UI refinements and bug fixes

This collaborative, iterative approach was a key reason the project achieved UX recognition.

Technical Overview

Architecture: MVP with real-time capabilities

• Frontend: React, Tailwind CSS for responsive design and rapid iteration
• Backend & Database: Firebase Firestore for real-time data synchronization
• APIs: Open Trivia Database for quiz content, Pexels for imagery
• UI & Prototyping: paper sketches, Figma for design collaboration
• Libraries: MUI for component design, Lucide for the icon system

Team

Developed collaboratively by:

• Aren Seferi
• Erik S.
• Haoxuan Z.
• Jingyi Y.

Takeaways

QuickQuiz demonstrates strong UX thinking under constraints, collaborative product development, real-time interaction design, and data-driven iteration based on user feedback. It complements client and solo projects by showcasing design process, experimentation, and teamwork, not just delivery. The UX-prize nomination is recognition of the team's commitment to user-centered design and interaction excellence.