Background
Niche art markets are filled with passionate individuals and communities eager to share their creative talents through events that showcase their unique interests. However, when it comes to organizing and hosting these events, they often struggle to find platforms that cater specifically to their needs. General event planning tools, while widely available, fail to address the specialized requirements and nuances that niche art communities seek, leading to frustration and inefficiency.
Heading
- UX/UI Design
- Visual Design
- Research
- Branding
Users struggle navigating Mountain Project.
Event planners within these niche art markets face significant challenges due to the lack of dedicated platforms tailored to their interests. They frequently struggle with coordinating logistics and managing event details, ultimately hindering their ability to bring creative visions to life and deliver memorable experiences for their communities. This gap in the market creates a need for a solution designed specifically for niche art event planning.
solution
Redesign Mountain Project app for better route discovery and connections.
Embracing community and offering a dynamic array of curated listings, intuitive search functionalities, and personalized recommendations, users can effortlessly explore and organize exciting events in their area. This platform revolutionizes the event landscape, making it both enjoyable and efficient for enthusiasts to connect with their passions and bring more awareness of what is going on in the community.
Uncovering User Pain Points
I engaged in 5 candid interviews with individuals experienced in hosting and attending events. My primary objective was to delve into their methods for discovering events and how they spread the word about them. Interestingly, each interviewee utilized various platforms for event discovery, leaving me uncertain about addressing the challenge for niche events. However, this diversity opened up opportunities to uncover shared insights regarding their overarching objectives that weren’t so obvious at first.
- Determine the level of efficiency and intuitiveness of the app's navigation features.
- Assess usability of extra features such as finding a partner, interacting on a forum, and reading the news.
- Gather feedback and insights from users to inform improvements to the app's overall hierarchy and functionalities.
Analyzing feedback.
I delved deeper into the interviews, taking them a step further by meticulously affinity mapping the feedback. This method provided a clear and structured overview of the content, facilitating better understanding and organization of the insights gathered.
8 interviewees100+ data points12 insights
3 main themes
Time-management, Communication, Organization/analytics
Design opportunities
Based on the competitive analysis and user interviews, Eventbrite stands out for its robust event management tools but is seen as costly, while EventCreate is favored for its simplicity and affordability, though it lacks advanced features. Users appreciate Facebook and Meetup for their community engagement and ease of use but find them limited in customization and tracking capabilities.
Through research and collaborative design sessions, three key opportunity areas emerged:
Identifying the target user.
From interviews and competitive analysis, I uncovered that young millennials and gen z seem to be the target market for local art pop-up markets. The personas reflect this, showing how younger adults are driving the excitement and expansion of these unique communities of independent artists.
Identifying the target user.
A sitemap was created by thoroughly researching user preferences and market trends. This ensured a user-centric structure, prioritizing easy access to relevant content and features, and aimed to optimize the overall user experience of the event planning portal.
Planning the roadmap.
Acknowledging the challenges of planning and discovering events, I focused on creating a detailed user flow. This involved mapping out user journeys to ensure smooth navigation for both event planners, simplifying logistics management and event discovery. By prioritizing user experience, our platform effectively meets the diverse needs of users.
Prioritizing key homepage features.
Before wireframing, I organized a content map for the homepage to decide which site features should take priority as the first thing users see. This approach helped me visualize essential elements on the main pages and offered valuable guidance for designing the layout.
Getting started
When crafting wireframes, the goal was to establish a distinctive user experience that distinguishes Pop Planner from its competitors. I concentrated on maintaining familiarity and ease of use while highlighting the brand and its innovative features. Through iterative refinement, I refined sections and optimized the information hierarchy to enhance usability.
Create an account
Homepage
Dashboard
Event Details
Create a task and budget
Visual Design
Creating a brand that exudes a bold and daring ambiance
Before diving into the UI design, I explored different visual directions to capture the platform's mood and evoke the sense of acceptance and creativity associated with art. Using vibrant colors, cheerful tones, and rounded edges, I went with Option 1 which aims to create an inviting and informal atmosphere.
Visual Design
Creating a brand that exudes a community and inclusive feel
Emphasizing boldness, I aimed to elevate the app’s mood to reflect the adventurous spirit of rock climbing. The design resonated with the dynamic energy of the outdoors, highlighted by vibrant colors. Thicker strokes and rounded edges conveyed approachability and informality.
Is it achieving the goal?
During the mid-fi tests, tooltips were integrated to help users familiarize themselves with the app. Nonetheless, I was surprised to find that users still lacked confidence in identifying the next actionable step. In contrast, the hi-fi tests revealed that users appreciated having additional filters and customization options, leading to a sense of relief. While we identified some areas for improvement, the usability tests showed positive results, with 100% of participants successfully completing all tasks.
What could be better
In response to user feedback and findings from usability testing, I have made the following improvements to amplify the user-friendliness and user interface:
What could be better
What could be better
Visual Design
Creating a brand that exudes a bold and daring ambiance
Emphasizing boldness, I aimed to elevate the app’s mood to reflect the adventurous spirit of rock climbing. The design resonated with the dynamic energy of the outdoors, highlighted by vibrant colors. Thicker strokes and rounded edges conveyed approachability and informality.
View Final PrototypeOnboarding
To enhance user experience right from the beginning, introductory questions were integrated during the sign-up process by setting notification preferences and defining their preferred climbing style.
Homepage
The homepage provides an immersive experience, introducing users to Pop Planner's brand, mission, and new features. Curated resources and diverse event options welcome users to foster and grow their community within Pop Planner.
Each section of the homepage contributes to unfolding the story and offers Pop Planner users various points of access, catering to their preferred level of action or engagement.
Event Dashboard
The event dashboard is designed to be a collaborative hub for event management, featuring intuitive tools for seamless collaboration and real-time updates. With easy access to event details, the goal is to create an inviting space where users can effortlessly coordinate tasks and stay informed about upcoming events.
Task Management
The current Mountain Project app lacks a profile feature, and although it wasn't the primary focus, it felt essential to demonstrate how users can manage their stats and track their progress. Features like progress graphs and photo galleries help users visualize their progression and review their memories.
Budget Tracker
The current Mountain Project app lacks a profile feature, and although it wasn't the primary focus, it felt essential to demonstrate how users can manage their stats and track their progress. Features like progress graphs and photo galleries help users visualize their progression and review their memories.
Visual Design
Creating a brand that exudes a bold and daring ambiance
I ensured web design responsiveness by creating phone screen mockups, adapting the layout to various screen sizes for optimal user experience. By designing mobile-friendly interfaces, users can access and navigate the platform seamlessly across different devices, enhancing accessibility and usability.
What I learned..
Reflecting on the process, I realized the importance of strategic planning in creating an effective website. By prioritizing features through the content map, I ensured that the homepage would provide users with the most relevant and valuable information upfront. This exercise helped me to visualize the user journey and lay a solid foundation for the wireframing stage.
