USA Today's Sudoku

A new challenge for Crossword players.

Role: UX Design, UI Design, User Research

Platform: iOS, Android, Web

Design Tools: Figma

Following a successful redesign of the crossword experience in 2021, the PDUX team set out to refresh the USA TODAY Sudoku interface. The goal: align the look and feel with the broader games platform and explore monetization potential through user insights.

Objectives

Following the successful 2021 redesign of the USA TODAY Crossword, our team was tasked with updating the Sudoku experience to align visually and functionally with the broader games ecosystem. With future plans for a unified games subscription model, we began with foundational user research to ensure our design approach was rooted in real player behaviors and needs.

The Challenge

Despite the popularity of USA TODAY Sudoku, the old experience lacked visual consistency with other games, possessed several UI bugs and feature errors, and offered limited personalization. Before redesigning, we needed to understand:

  • How users engage with Sudoku

  • What features they value (or ignore)

  • What, if anything, they might pay for

  • How device usage shapes their experience

Methodology & Key Insights

To help inform the redesign and also gather more information about our players we conducted a remote user test with 15 active sudoku players, ages 20–42:

  • 10 on desktop, 5 on mobile

  • 9 were U.S.-based

  • Users played a live puzzle and discussed their habits and preferences

Conclusion & Final Strategy

Players enjoy the current sudoku experience and find it simple, familiar, and satisfying—especially when difficulty is just right. There's opportunity to

Design

The updated design modernized the overall look and feel of USA TODAY Sudoku, aligning it visually with the refreshed Crossword experience to create a more unified games ecosystem. New UI elements brought clarity and consistency, while thoughtful refinements made it easier for players to access and adjust default settings—such as sound, clock, and difficulty level—enhancing personalization without complicating the interface.

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