Finding Inspiration

When I think about what goes into planning an event; I want to solve the problem of communication issues that arise before, during and after an event takes place. By creating a unique platform where everyone can have access to all the information needed for each event, like the permits required, catering information and last minute venue changes so everyone gets the same information seamlessly. I even thought of adding an “offline” feature for anyone working in the festival environment where WIFI is spotty. Adding a Walkie-Talkie feature would help keep people in instant contact as well. Never miss a phone call again. 

INTRODUCTION

I am the sole designer of a platform to help keep communication issues from affecting the main goal of creating professionally crafted events that run smoothly

This platform will help ease friction with communication issues during event planning by having a task bar to access and offline features to continue communication without wifi and also a walkie talkie feature to instantly connect with team members,

The Role of the Platform 

The user and audience is anyone who has ever planned an event before, anyone who has had problems with making sure everyone has the proper information. On a personal level anyone planning a birthday party or small wedding. The role is to create an easy way for all team members to have access to the same information through the multiple chat channels that can be created so each discussion point has its own message thread. This helps streamline the process of trying to find that information later. 

Through the Duration of the event  the OFFLINE wifi access aimed to appeal to festival workers or even festival goers who all planned to attend a certain event together but still wanted to stay in touch about which stages to meet at or where to meet of food or anyone coordinating a wedding and wants to keep everyone updated

RESEARCH

Throughout my Research and Interviews;  the problem  that kept coming up was in communication.

So the main issue I am focusing on solving is the lack of communication between team members during festival events.

I conducted 5 Interviews as my main method of research because talking first hand with people in the industry was important to me. I interviewed people from many industries. I wanted to hear first hand what problems happened in each industry and I found that the common issue was the same in all fields. Some were in person and some were remote.

I recorded each interview then I was also able to go back to the interviews later to re-listen to them and make sure I didn't miss anything that was being conveyed.  When Interviewing Dani who is a wedding planner, she mentioned needing a quick way to relay last minute changes on the day of the ceremony.

When reviewing the interviews I started to do some Card Sorting and Affinity Mapping to group my findings together to see a pattern emerging. I found that last minute changes usually fell through the cracks and that information did not end up being relayed to all members it would affect and that creates friction and a potential for issues to arise.

From all the information I found in my interviews I created a few personas to embody this. One is an owner of a company trying to relay messages to multiple team members over multiple events and needs one platform for all events and a way to communicate after the events to give feedback and even payroll. His needs were my main focus since I feel embodied using all aspects of the platform I was creating. 

DEFINE

I choose the double diamond path by Discovering the problem, Defining it as communication, Developing ways to solve it and Delivering the concept. Some of my interviews were sprinkled in between some parts but besides that everything was linear.

Creating a Site Map, User/Task Flows  and the use of Card Sorting helped me figure out what elements are essential to the design flow and what parts I could leave out  which helped make building out my wireframes easier to do.

Working on finding my Color schemes and making a Vision Board and finding other sites for inspiration helped me narrow down how I was planning on achieving the vision I had for my site in my head.

With every feedback I got I ended up making changes. 

DESIGN

I wanted to add all the design elements right away but I found that if you just work slowly from the ground up and make sure everything is working right and where it needs to be and then you can add all the last minute designs but it's a long road to get there.

So I worked on my Low FI versions of the Responsive Mobile Site first so I would have a good foundation to build upon.

After the vision was starting to take shape I worked on the Mid FI Version and started to add some colors to play around with and I made the Responsive Website versions of the pages.

Next I really needed to work on my HIGH FI and bringing my whole vision to life.

I used discord as my inspiration because I love that there are different channels that could be utilized in my CrewSync project.

Ultimately I went with a brighter color palette and used the colors of a vibrant sunset. I feel like it is very inviting to the eye and draws you in more than just a dark basic background would.

My favorite part of designs is always adding the color schemes and the typography and watching a mid fidelity turn into a high fidelity responsive design. Adding vibrant photos to the backgrounds really helped make my vision come to life.

USER TESTING

I tested my high fidelity model with a 5 people and was able to quickly sort out any bugs that came up and I pretty much revised it with every prototype test that occurred since most issues were only minor bugs that were easy to fix.

Crew Sync Usability Test. 

Product: CrewSync event planning site. 

Testing phase: Mid Fidelity usability site testing .
Method: In person or remote testing 

Session length: 30-60 mins depending on how long it takes them to complete the task.

Participants 5-8

Goals: See how long it takes to sign up for the page and to create an event. Looking for feedback about accessibility as well. 

Tasks flows and main objectives 

Task flow 1: Create an account with Crewsync 

How easy is it to navigate the website?

How easy is it to sign up for crewsync?

How easy is it to create a profile?

Make sure there are not any errors throughout the task flow 

Task flow 2: Create an event 

After creating a login for the site, how easy is it to create an event?

Does the flow seem natural and easy to navigate?

Is the event easily seen after it is created?

Can you start adding team members immediately?

Make sure there is no confusion during the process 

At-a-Glance Summaries

Most participants did not have an issue with navigating through the site.

My task flow was for picking between a free personal or pain professional version of an account and signing up for it and landing on the main profile page or navigating back to a new login page for people who already have accounts. 

There were a few times when the site did something weird like slide all the text to the far left in a frame but they were minor issues I was able to fix quickly

I was afraid people would not like the color scheme or find it unprofessional but that was not the general feedback I was given. Most people really enjoyed the colors and felt they were inviting and engaging. 

Definitions of Success

Most of my feedback was positive and everyone really loved the color selection. I was afraid it might not come across as professional enough but I did not encounter that feedback at all. It was rewarding to see my hard work play out and turn into the polished finished product that it became. 

Recommendations for Iterations

I believe adding a back button and possibly changing the font to be a bit more cohesive with the Logo font and larger on the profile page  will be the main items I focus on in iterations.

My LOW FI AND MID FI DESIGNS

CONCLUSION

I truly enjoyed working on this capstone project because I got to work on an issue that directly affects my life and it's rewarding to see people enjoy your idea and want to be a part of it.

I definitely felt out of my element in the research part of the process since that is more foreign to me but I know it's a skill I will rely on heavily once I am in the field. I feel more confident in my research skills now and I am very proud of how far I have come and how much more of an understanding I have for the entire design process from start to finish. I am looking forward to continuing to work on this project to try to make it before reality. I do believe this platform could help lots of people communicate better during the event planning process.