IceBreaker
Designing an event/meetup mobile app seeking to solve the issue of lower than expected attendance at planned events and meetups.
Project Goals
Design a mobile app that incentivizes users to actually attend the events and/or meetups that they RSVP in the affirmative to
Challenges
Users who RVSP that they will attend may experience anxiety about attending events with people they’re unfamiliar with
Event hosts don’t always include adequate information which may lead prospective attendees to change their minds about attending
Process
Market research/competitive analysis
Secondary research
Visual design
Low- and high-fidelity prototyping
Usability testing
Result
Designed a working mobile app prototype that seeks to address the issues of less event participants than expected from RSVP results. See the prototype here
IceBreaker Project Background
Throughout our lives, many of us have experienced the emotional sting of planning parties, inviting a number of guests, and having only a small number (or nobody) show up the day of the party. In both our personal worlds and the business world, this lack of attendees can cause more than just an emotional sting; having only a small portion of individuals showing up can hurt a pretty penny when seating, refreshments, and accommodations are made for larger numbers. A recent study conducted about event attendance showed that an average of 20% of participants RSVPing their attendance end up skipping out on their planned events. With the IceBreaker mobile app, I sought out a way to minimize such incidents while providing both users and event hosts the most optimal experience possible.
This was a deadline-driven project intended to span the course of two to three weeks. As a solo designer creating this app, I found that it took the ideas and suggestions of many to build what I ultimately submitted as my solution to the problem being addressed. In the end, the real-world impact of a product such as IceBreaker would remedy the issue of low event attendance by breaking down the barriers that prevent potential attendees from going to their selected events.
Users and Audience
Seeing that the issues surrounding lower than expected event attendance weren’t due solely to users or event hosts, I designed IceBreaker for both sides. Event hosts would include more information that would draw users to attend, and users could be prepared and be more confident about attending their events.
Scope and Constraints
As this project was created during the COVID-19 pandemic, all interviews needed to be done via Zoom, and all user testing needed to be done through moderated Zoom meetings with the Invision app for prototyping.
Roles and Responsibilities
As the sole designer/creator of the project, my responsibilities were to gather and research the data required to tackle the problem as well as creating and testing my screens with test participants in order to gain the most useful information and insights as possible.
As a one man team, I acted as the product manager, UI/UX designer, UX researcher, and test moderator.
The Process
As a UI/UX designer working solo on this project, I conducted my own research which would eventually guide my design process.
Research
Competitive Analysis
The first step in my process in addressing the problem was to observe how the current industry leaders in event planning go about disseminating information about events on their platforms.
I downloaded and went through Eventbrite, Meetup, and Facebook in order to gauge what worked and what could be improved upon. In doing so, I hoped to avoid the few shortcomings of each while emulating their most effective aspects in order to create a seamless/painless user experience.
Facebook, EventBrite, and MeetUp are the three leading event planning and booking platforms. Analyzing each platform’s strengths and weaknesses helped in planning a product that would elevate what the competitors do right while avoiding each platform’s downsides.
Secondary Research
Once I’d identified the key issues dealing with event RSVP responses versus actual attendee turnout, I searched for and found three different research studies conducted in 2011, 2014, and 2018.
Though apps and technologies might have evolved over time, the earliest paper from 2011 still highlighted attendance issues discussed in the 2018 paper as well. I initially felt that a ten year old paper relating to the tech industry would be ancient history, but the findings from the 2018 paper helped dissuade that myth.
Design
App Name
For an app addressing the issue of events seeing less attendees than expected, I felt the appropriate name would be IceBreaker.
When interviewing certain individuals about their ideas and feelings about attending events or meetups, I found that social anxiety and the reluctance to meet new people were driving forces in said users changing their minds. In order to “break the ice” for these on-the-fence individuals, I wanted a name that would reflect that.
Evoking the name and color palette of real-world icebreaking ships, the IceBreaker app seeks to shatter the barriers between prospective event participants and the events they sign up to attend.
UI Kit and Color
In browsing various existing UI kits, I found the Airbnb one most useful as it allows for easy and clutter-free visual browsing. After the first round of testing, I found that this UI kit needed more, so I used the Airbnb UI kit as the foundation and added a few of my own functions on top. Using ColorHunt.co, I was able to find a color palette that reflected the usual color of icebreakers and the icy conditions they work in.
I felt that the UI kit/visual layout of an already highly successful mobile app would prove beneficial in my own design
Logo
I created a logo that would resemble both a seagoing vessel and a blade (to break the ice!).
User Flows
Bypassing the usual design process involving affinity mapping, creating personas/mood boards, and more due to the rapid schedule and deadlines for this project, I went straight to creating what I envisioned would be the eventual user flow/red route associated with my app.
I imagined a visual and straightforward interface in which users see their groups, upcoming events and/or suggested events. A simple user flow would allow for a quick transition from users finding events and deciding whether to attend.
Similar to other event planning mobile apps, the path toward finding events would be simple: find events either through calendar or searching by group.
Prototyping
Low-Fidelity Prototype
After figuring the user flow and the screens required of it, I set to work creating my low-fidelity screens. These were drawn on notebook paper with pen. In trying to emulate the Airbnb UI kit appearance, I focused heavily on images and less text on the screens. For this iteration, I created the home screen, group pages, event pages, and subsequent payment screens for events that required fees.
For this round of testing, I asked four test participants to show me how they would use and navigate the IceBreaker app. One test was particularly hampered by the fact that the participant was unable to clearly read the handwriting. Fortunately, the other tests went without issue.
I took the opportunity during this round of testing to ask about the participants’ event browsing/attending habits and what would make them more likely to attend said events. The majority stated that a better idea of what to expect, what to bring, and seeing which friends would attend would be major deal breakers in whether they ultimately follow through with their RSVPs.
High-Fidelity Prototype
After gathering my findings from the first prototype of the IceBreaker app, I found that most participants were deviating from my intended user flow and going about their own ways of finding and attending events. Most importantly, they wished for a prominent search bar in order to look up events or groups they already had in mind. A few were content with logging onto the app and letting the homepage and suggestions take hold.
After testing the high-fidelity prototype and making final adjustments, the final iteration came into place. In addition to the added search bar, the messages and scan icons were switched due to participant input. On the event pages, participants asked for the option to contact event hosts for personal/private questions. A confirmation page was added after the “attend” button is clicked in the event of accidental clicks.
After testing the low-fidelity sketches with several users, I took their insights and developed high-fidelity screens for another round of testing.
Outcome and Lessons
After the multiple rounds of interviews and testing, I learned as I always did with prior projects that the final iteration is seldom close to the original idea. It is always quite difficult to create a low-fidelity prototype (let alone sketches) in which all pain points are addressed. Testing these ideas will always prove vital to the success of the final product.
The process of creating this product differed from previous projects in which more time was spent meticulously researching, testing, and running exercises to gain a better understanding of how to address the problems at hand. In the end, this quicker process helped to achieve a product of similar complexity to those in the past.
Final versions of the IceBreaker screens after final round of user testing.