Designing a Puzzle Management System for Crosswordr
Mobile
Desktop
UX
Jump straight solutions
Background
Crosswordr by Crossplay Digital is an online platform for uploading, sharing, and solving crosswords. As their user base grew, the team was preparing to launch a new puzzle embedding feature that would allow crosswords to be shared more widely across the web. To support this, they needed to improve the platform experience. I joined as a Product Designer during my final year at university, focused on enhancing the product to align with the embed feature rollout.
Role
Product designer
Team
Solo designer
Timeline
3 months
Process
Understanding where we stood in the market
Over 90% of the market share for puzzle-enabling platforms was dominated by a single competitor (AmuseLabs). Understanding where Crosswordr stood in comparison was essential to identify gaps, highlight opportunities for differentiation, and find ways to grow our presence in a highly concentrated market. Our competitive analysis helped shape key design decisions moving forward.
Crosswordr
Unfamiliar product within the online crossword community
Lack of puzzle customizability for embedding
Has a community of users sharing and solving within the platform
Does not cost money
AmuseLabs
Is the industry standard
Puzzles can be customized extensively to match any sites design
Has a wider variety of features like analytics, clue editing etc
Users can't share puzzles within AmuseLabs
More Expensive
Solutions
SOLUTION 1
Enhancing the information architecture of the 'My Puzzles' Page
The 'My Puzzles' page was designed to serve as the central hub for the puzzle management system. Based on user feedback, I refined the information architecture to reduce visual clutter and prioritize the details users cared about most. The result was a cleaner, more focused interface that made managing puzzles feel intuitive and efficient.
SOLUTION 2
Puzzle grouping and categorization
To improve organization and flexibility, users can now tag and group their uploaded puzzles. This addresses a key limitation of the previous system, which only allowed embedding either a single puzzle or all puzzles from a profile. With the new grouping feature, users can embed specific collections—so all your Star Wars-themed puzzles can live separately from your football-themed ones, making puzzle curation and sharing more intentional and customizable.
