Local Tickets
Research Synthesis
During the first week of this project, my team and I conducted six interviews, predominantly with women aged twenty-five to forty. Given the range of participants and the depth of information collected, our affinity map became quite extensive, encompassing eighteen distinct "I" statements. To streamline our focus, we highlighted five major pain points and goals that emerged: authenticity, validity, recommendations, filtering, and organization. This approach allowed us to concentrate on the most pressing user frustrations and needs while aligning with the business goals.
From our extensive affinity mapping, we derived five key insights:
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Authenticity and Safety
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Users wanted assurance that activities and events were both safe and authentic. To address this, we incorporated a reviews, photos, and description page within the app to provide users with comprehensive and trustworthy information.
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Valid Information
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Participants expressed a need for ample and reliable information about the events they were attending. In response, we added a tips feature to offer users additional insights and practical advice.
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Event Tracking
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The ability to track and manage events was crucial for users. We responded by including an itinerary feature and an "add to calendar" button, making it easier for users to keep track of their schedules.
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Filtering and Sorting
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Users preferred to have the ability to filter and sort available options when navigating the app. We implemented these features to enhance user experience and ease of navigation.
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Local Recommendations
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Participants valued local recommendations for unique experiences. We added a feature for local recommendations, which uses GPS and map data to offer suggestions based on the user's current location, inputted by locals.
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By synthesizing these insights, we were able to refine our focus on addressing user needs while enhancing the overall functionality and appeal of the Local Tickets app.
Competitive Analysis
We used affinity mapping to distill key insights from our six interviews, helping us shape our persona and guide the project's direction. We then conducted a competitive analysis with Nudge, Eventbrite, and MeetUp, drawing inspiration from Nudge's use of TikTok-style reels to spotlight local events. This approach aligns with our goal to capture and maintain user attention quickly. Our SWOT analysis highlighted areas for improvement—like enhancing ticketing features and offering multi-language support—leading us to refine Local Tickets for a more engaging and inclusive user experience.
Ideation
Our ideation process for Local Tickets involved four distinct phases. Initially, we considered improving an existing ticketing app, focusing on refining its features. Next, we explored the idea of creating a ticketing app that utilized QR codes and offered lower fees. As we delved deeper, we shifted our focus to exploring local events, recognizing the value in highlighting unique cultural experiences. Ultimately, we combined the strengths of our second and third phases, leading to the development of an app that not only showcases local, cultural, and unique events in the traveler’s city but also integrates ticket purchasing, offering a comprehensive experience for users.
Persona & Usability Testing
My team and I found the early stages of the project particularly challenging due to the extensive user research and insights we needed to gather; however, the process of creating our persona turned out to be incredibly quick and straightforward, taking just forty-nine minutes, thanks to the comprehensive affinity map we had developed earlier. This solid foundation made synthesizing our findings into a clear persona an easy task. Once we completed prototyping, Yassi and I conducted usability testing. I interviewed a participant who traveled every other month, and through this interview, we were able to refine certain features and aspects of our app that we hadn't noticed before.
Prototyping
In the prototyping phase, I always find that wireframing is where the focus is purely on UX—it's about structure and function. But once images are added, the prototype starts to come to life as a real product, and you can better understand the entire experience from a user’s perspective. This approach proved true for our Local Tickets project as well. Incorporating images and videos into the prototype was incredibly exciting because it allowed me to visualize myself as an actual user. However, prototyping with a team presented its challenges. We had to be mindful of each other's design flows to avoid overlap, which required constant collaboration and careful planning to ensure a cohesive and seamless user experience.
Click the Screen Above for an Interactive Prototype