Puka

Date

2024

Project Length

4 months

Responsibilities

UI/UX · Branding

Launch Date

March 2025

Puka is a startup building a centralized platform for poker players in Taiwan to discover and reserve live sessions. As the sole designer on the team, I took ownership of the end-to-end design process, collaborating closely with four other engineers across 4 different time zones, and delievered the design for launch in Q1, 2025.

The Context

Texas Hold'em Is Growing Rapidly in Taiwan

Poker associations are expanding quickly across Taiwan, and the highest prize pool record was broken in 2024, signaling a surge in the game's popularity.

The Problem

No Centralized Platform for
In-Person Poker Sessions

Session information is fragmented across social media platforms, making it difficult to find games. The process of hosting and joining sessions remains unorganized and unintuitive.

The Challenge

How might we design Puka’s first digital platform that streamlines the process of joining and hosting in-person poker sessions?

How might we create a seamless digital platform for Puka that simplifies discovering, joining, and hosting in-person poker sessions?

The First App Built for
In-Person Poker Sessions

The Hero Journey

01 Host creates a session in Puka App

Hosts can create a session, such as session type, number of players, and preferred communication method, to match their preferences.

Create customized session

02 Player finds a session & register

Players can browse available sessions through the search screen. Tapping into a session provides detailed information, and they can register directly through the app with just a few taps.

Partial address shown for Host’s safety

Player can see host and players' info

Player does not need to contact host

03 Host reviews & accepts player's registration

Before accepting a registration, the host can review each player’s profile to better understand their experience and reliability.

View player profiles and history

No need to contact player

04 Player navigates to session

Once approved, players receive the session address and can navigate to the location with ease.

In-app directions after approval

Puka

Puka

Puka

2024

4 months

UI/UX · Branding

March 2025

The Context

The Context

Texas Hold'em Is Growing Rapidly in Taiwan

Poker associations are expanding quickly across Taiwan, and the highest prize pool record was broken in 2024, signaling a surge in the game's popularity.

The Problem

The Problem

No Centralized Platform for In-Person Poker Sessions

Session information is fragmented across social media platforms, making it difficult to find games. The process of hosting and joining sessions remains unorganized and unintuitive.

The Challenge

How might we design Puka’s first digital platform that streamlines the process of joining and hosting in-person poker sessions?

How might we design Puka’s first digital platform that streamlines the process of joining and hosting in-person poker sessions?

How might we create a seamless digital platform for Puka that simplifies discovering, joining, and hosting in-person poker sessions?

The First App Built for In-Person Poker Sessions

The First App Built for In-Person Poker Sessions

The First App Built for In-Person Poker Sessions

The Hero Journey

01

01

Host creates a session in Puka App

Host creates a session in Puka App

Hosts can create a session, such as session type, number of players, and preferred communication method, to match their preferences.

Hosts can create a session, such as session type, number of players, and preferred communication method, to match their preferences.

Create customized session

Create customized session

02

02

Player finds a session & register

Player finds a session & register

Players can browse available sessions through the search screen. Tapping into a session provides detailed information, and they can register directly through the app with just a few taps.

Players can browse available sessions through the search screen. Tapping into a session provides detailed information, and they can register directly through the app with just a few taps.

Partial address shown for Host’s safety

Partial address shown for Host’s safety

Player can see host and players' info

Player can see host and players' info

Player does not need to contact host

Player does not need to contact host

03

03

Host reviews & accepts player's registration

Host reviews & accepts player's registration

Before accepting a registration, the host can review each player’s profile to better understand their experience and reliability.

Before accepting a registration, the host can review each player’s profile to better understand their experience and reliability.

View player profiles and history

View player profiles and history

No need to contact player

No need to contact player

04

04

Player navigates to session

Player navigates to session

Once approved, players receive the session address and can navigate to the location with ease.

Once approved, players receive the session address and can navigate to the location with ease.

In-app directions after approval

In-app directions after approval

No need to contact host

No need to contact host

No Centralized Platform for
In-Person Poker Sessions

The First App Built for
In-Person Poker Sessions

The First App Built for
In-Person Poker Sessions

The First App Built for
In-Person Poker Sessions