This Happens
UX Case Study
by Jason McCabe
Project Overview
The product
This Happens is a West Coast based music events curator and presenter. This Happens events are thoughtfully planned and highly regarded in the music community. All events and features are located in one easy to use place, the This Happens app!
Project duration
March 15 - April 20, 2023
The problem
There isn’t a quality, trusted, go-to source for information about, and tickets for, authentically good live music performances at nearby venues.
The goal
Provide an app that shows users a curated list of upcoming shows with all the information they need to enjoy their night out.
My role
UX Designer
Responsibilites
My responsibilities were global throughout the project and included competitive research, user research, personas, user journeys, affinity mapping, wireframes, Lo-Fi prototypes, usability studies, Hi-fidelity mockups, Hi-Fi prototypes, accessibility considerations, testing, iterating, etc.
Understanding
the user
• Research summary
• Pain points
• Personas
• Problem statement
• Journey maps
• Affinity Diagram
User research: summary
In order to gain a deep understanding of the users I am designing for and their needs, I conducted interviews and developed empathy maps. Through my research, I identified a primary user group consisting of busy working adults who struggle to find excellent live music shows to attend. While this group confirmed some initial assumptions about This Happens customers, further investigation uncovered additional user issues beyond simply aggregating events in an easy-to-use app. These issues included conflicting obligations, varied interests, and difficulty in discovering new bands to see.
User pain points
Usability
Ticket websites and apps are often not easy to use.
Accessibility
Platforms for ordering tickets are often not equipped with assistive technologies. Accessibility information about the show and venu is difficult to find.
Trust
There are trust issues with ticketing websites.
Lack of Info
Users need recommendations for bands they don’t know. They need to know performances will be worth seeing.
Persona: Kenji
Statement
Kenji is a writer for a literary magazine who lives in San Francisco. He spends many evenings and weekends writing his first novel. He has very little free time. Kenj is an avid listener of lesser known bands. When he’s not busy reading or writing he loves to see live music. He wishes he kept up on good new bands like he used to. He feels his music taste is a reflection of his honest approach to his work.
Background
Age: 42 Education: BA
Hometown: San Francisco, CA
Family: Married
Occupation: Writer
Goals
• Stay true to himself
• Publish his first novel
• See more bands play
Frustrations
• Doesn’t trust big brand ticket sites
• Tickets are expensive, fees are buried
• Want's recommendations for bands
Problem Statement
User Journey Map
Affinity Diagram
Key pieces of information from the user interviews was used to create an affinity digram. Data was organized into groups of pain points which were further organized into high level goals for improvement.
Starting
the design
• Paper wireframes
• Digital wireframes
• Low-fidelity prototype
• Usability studies
Paper Wireframes
Demonstrating that there are lots of great options for the user to see live music soon on the home screen was very important. Drafting different design options on paper provided a quick way to to compare and decide on the best design to use in the digital wireframes.
Digital wireframes
Most ticketing sites and apps provide little to no information a user might want to help them decide on whether or not they will see a band play live.
Low-fidelity prototype
The home screen provides a list of bands playing soon near the user. The user can then learn more about a band and purchase tickets to see that band play live.
View Lo-Fi Prototype
Usability study: findings
I conducted two rounds of usability studies. Findings from the first study helped guide the designs from wireframes to mockups. The second study used a high-fidelity prototype revealed what aspects of the mockups needed refinding.
Round 1 findings
Users want to see more detailed seating information
Users want to see payment process detailed
Users want to to know about transportation & parking as well as food and beverage availability.
Round 2 findings
Users want to know more about the bands
Some users would like to see videos of the performers
Users need even more clarity on seating
Refining
the design
• Mockups
• High-fidelity prototype
• Accessibility
Early Mockups
Users were confused about show details. When producing the Hi-Fi mockups an additional screen was added just for information about the performance.
Before
usability study
After
usability study
Refined Hi-Fi Mockups
Hi-fidelity prototype
A clickable prototype was created in Figma. This allowed for better user testing and will serve as a useful tool for developers as the application goes into production.
Later iterations include the addition of buttons on the bottom of the screen so users don't have to dig around in a hamburger nav and swapping out the peach color for a punchier red.
Accessibility considerations
Fonts were checked to make sure size, style and contrasts meet standards of clarity for the visually impaired.
Alt text is added to images and graphics for people using screen readers.
Consistent layouts and simple gestures are used.
Every event page has a link to accessibility information for the venue of the event.
Going Forward
• Takeaways
• Next steps
Takeaways
Impact
An easy to use experience and more information about the bands and venue makes folks feel like This Happens cares about them.“It’s super easy, very user friendly, and really intuitive. I like how on the homepage you have all the options, and it walks you through the process.“
What I learned:
While creating this app I better learned that what I think I know should not guide the function of a product. Empathy and UX process will guide the way to creating an app that works best for the greatest number of users.
Next Steps
Visual design refinements, interaction design refinements and copy editing.
Conduct an additional round of usability studies to demonstrate whether existing issues have been addressed and no new pain points have come to surface.
If no issues are found it’s time to proceed with development.
Thank you!
I appreciate your taking the time to review my work on the This Happens app!
Reach out to me using the form below if you’d like to get in touch.
