App Design
For Sunset Farm
an event venue
Project overview
The product:
Design an app for an event venue to help people plan weddings, family reunions, and other large celebrations.
Project duration:
The design of this project took four months from late 2021 to early 2022
The problem:
Users researching and trying to book a venue for an event, such as a wedding or family reunion found the process difficult with the existing apps. Often they lack photos or adequate descriptions and provide little to no pricing information.
The goal:
This app design aims to help users research and begin the booking process for an event venue. This will help users planning large gatherings such as weddings and parties, by allowing them to research a venue and select a booking date without visiting the location in person. Effectiveness will be measured by tracking the number of booking submissions received.
My role:
Lead UX designer
UX researcher
Responsibilities:
Conducted user research, wireframing, and prototyping.
Understanding the user
User research
Personas
Problem statements
User journey maps
I conducted secondary research on event venues to become familiar with the information shared on their websites such as pricing and booking options. Next I selected a small group of users for interviews using a simple screening process. The user interviews were conducted by phone.
User research: Summary
My hypothesis was that a low-price option would be very important to users. During the user interviews, I discovered that price was not as important to users because these events are special occasions and do not happen very often. The biggest concern for the users was the ease with which they could book the event with clear availability and pricing. Customer reviews were also considered helpful. Quality photography was also considered very important to show the amenities offered at the venue.
User research: Pain points
Booking
People planning events are frustrated by the lack of booking information on venue apps.
Pricing
Hidden fees and confusing or incomplete pricing information was frustrating for users.
Amenities
A lack of quality photography, clear descriptions of amenities, and reviews make the process of choosing a venue unsettling for our users.
Communication
Users are frustrated when they can not book the venue online. At the same time, they would like to be able to speak to knowledgeable staff about details.
Persona: Nicole
Problem statement:
Nicole is a manager at a hospital in Columbus, OH. She is engaged to be married and needs to research and book a unique wedding venue in Cape Cod, MA. She wants to be sure it has the amenities and is available for her upcoming wedding but can’t tour the location in person.
User journey map
Mapping Nicole’s user journey revealed how helpful it would be for users to have access to an app that would include beautiful photography, scheduling, and pricing information along with the ability to begin the booking process online.
Persona: William
Problem statement:
William is an adult professional with a multigenerational family who needs to plan a family reunion.
Starting the design
Paper wireframes
Digital wireframes
Low-fidelity prototype
Usability studies
Paper wireframes
The wireframing process for the event venue allowed for the study of different layouts of images and description of the venue. Considerations included where to place the image gallery and how to reduce the number of choices the user would need to make on the home page.
Digital wireframe
Creating a simple linear user path through the product with an open visual layout was a priority during the wireframing process. This allowed for the reduction of visual clutter and confusion.
Homepage with hero image and a brief description
Room information card
Usability study: findings
Usability studies with a group of 5 users
Conducted in person
Users requested high-quality images of the venue and a clear description of the room details to assist them in choosing their venue.
User path:
Home Page > Room > Dates > Pricing information > Contact information > Thank you
Low-fidelity Prototype
Round 1 findings
Users found the navigation of the app to be difficult. They could not easily find a way to return to previous screens.
Choosing a day for the event on the calendar and understanding the pricing for the chosen day was not clear.
Users would like to confirm the information before they submitted the form for the event
Round 2 findings.
Users did not understand the pricing options.
Users were not sure which day was selected on the calendar for their event.
Users were not sure about the pricing on a given day.
Refining the design mockups
High-fidelity prototype
Accessibility
The usability testing provided actionable insights about the design and layout of the app
Improvements included navigation changes and a simplified layout.
Testing revealed that users found the calendar difficult to understand. Data from the testing informed design decisions that improved the design of the calendar and pricing display.
High-fidelity prototype
Accessibility considerations
Accessibility considerations were included from the beginning of the design process.
Testing was conducted with a broad group of users with differing abilities and backgrounds.
Sufficient visual contrast between text and the background was provided.
Going forward
Takeaways
Next steps
Impact:
The design succeeds in allowing users to research pricing, the amenities, and to book an event venue online if they are not able to visit in person. Accessibility considerations and careful user research has helped inform the design process.
What I learned:
During this project, I learned how careful design and extensive user research can positively influence the decision-making process to help users complete the task of researching and booking an event venue.
Next steps
I would like to review this project with an engineering team to plan further design improvements.
Further testing of the calendar would be helpful to the user experience.
I would like to work more with the onboarding design and to add a customer review section.
