Venue Preview App
This project was for a fictional wedding venue that wanted to better meet the needs of the clients. The project included learning user's pain points and creating an app to address those concerns.
My Role:
Sole UX/UI Designer
Project Duration:
September - November 2023
The Problem:
Many people planning a wedding find the venue selection process to be frustrating. They struggle to find key information about the venue and to understand if the venue matches the atmosphere they are looking for.
The Goal:
The creation of this venue app serves to let users quickly find the key details about the venue to determine if it matches their goal. The app allows utilities a mood board to let users preview the atmosphere of the venue.
Understanding the User
User Research: Summary
I began the initial user research with the goal of understanding what frustrations users had with the venue search experience. Using both a scale grading system and interview questions, I was able to uncover key issues that users face. Some of these issues aligned with my initial assumptions about user needs, but some were new and helpful insights.
User Research: Pain Points
1
Details
Wedding planners often struggle to find key details when they access a venue’s site. They either have to go through multiple pages or contact the venue to answer their questions.
2
Pictures
Wedding planners want to know what the venue looks like to determine if it’s a good fit for them. Venues often don’t provide adequate photos or it is hard to find them.
3
Diversity
Diverse wedding planners often worry that a venue won’t accept their LGBTQ relationship or cater to members of their race and culture.
User Personas
Problem Statement
Venus is a busy, detail-oriented non-binary person who needs to quickly see the key details for a venue because they don’t have time to comb through endless pages only to find the venue isn’t LGBTQ-friendly or out of budget.
Problem Statement
Shelby is a creative bride-to-be with a dream vision of her wedding day who needs to see if a venue can capture her dream wedding vision so that she can picture her special day there.
Competetive Analysis
I researched several other wedding venues to identify and compare factors that cause clients stress versus enhance their planning experience.
I found that strong photos and branding across the site helped communicate the atmosphere to users. Some of the sites had key details that were easy to find, while others required further contact to find simple answers. This research guided my design as I aimed to create a clean, stress-free experience for clients.
Starting the Design
Wireframes
​I began with paper wireframes to ideate on the initial designs. Once I had settled on the top choices for the screens, I created a low-fi wireframe and prototype.
Refining the Design
Usability Study
I conducted a usability study on the low-fi prototype to identify any issues and room for improvement. This research was an unmoderated usability study in which researchers recorded themselves completing a set list of tasks and then answered a survey about their experience.
Research Insights
1
Formatting Issues
I found users struggled to find the navigation menu due to formatting issues across devices.
2
Wording
Some users found the wording across the app to be confusing.
3
Navigation
All users rated the navigtion tasks a 1 or 2 out of 5 difficulty, which shows the design was on the right path, but had slight room for improvement.
Before
After
Before
After
UI Sticker Sheet
Mockups
Considering all the findings from the usability study, I created a high-fidelity mockup for the venue app.
Prototype
​After final usability testing, I turned the mockups into a prototype.
Summary
Accessibility
1
High Contrast
All color choices were tested to ensure they exceeded the contrast requirements based on WCAG guidelines.
2
Clear Text
Text was formatted in a simple, straightforward manner to work optimally with screen readers.
3
Diversity
The photos used on the website featured marriers of multiple races, abilities, genders, and sexualities.
Impact
While this project is for a fictional venue, the design is created to solve really issues presented by users. All user participants thought the mood board feature would help them make a more informed decision about the venue. The app also prioritized solving the frustrations users faced, specifically in regards to not being able to find pricing and availability, as well as concerns that venues wouldn't work with people of their sexuality, race, etc.
Takeaways
I grew a lot as a designer over the course of this project. While I gained many technical skills, such as better utilizing Figma, crafting a color palette, and creating a usable prototype, my main takeaway is that the key to good design is listening to the users. From the beginning, I shaped my design based on my research findings. The usability testing revealed concerns I hadn't considered. A successful product means the users' needs, and through this project, I learned how to do that.