"Something New" was the first project I completed through the Google UX Certification program.
My role was to cover the entire design process, from empathizing with users, to the final high-fidelity prototype. Since this was a certification project, there was no handoff to developers. However, having obtained a graduate certificate in Web Design and Development from eCornell, I am able to communicate with engineers regarding any issues involving HTML, CSS, or Javascript.
Problem:
For many recently engaged couples, traveling to find wedding venues is a time-consuming process. They often spend their weekends traveling to and from a location only to discover that it's not the one they're looking for. My goal was to find a way for people to check out venues virtually, without having to use their free time and gas money.
Solution:
My solution was to create "Something New," an app that allows users to book virtual tours using video calling platforms. They are able to search for venues based on location, choose a date, and schedule a live meeting with an event specialist to tour the property.
Personas:
To form my personas, I interviewed five users who were either engaged or married within the last year. Using their feedback, I was able to identify common pain points they experienced when booking and touring wedding venues. From there, I created empathy maps to help me understand their perspectives. These empathy maps helped me create two personas for each of our main user segments, and were updated throughout the project as more data was gathered. The personas helped me avoid unconscious bias as I moved forward, and I was able to reflect back on them when I found myself facing a design decision that I wasn't sure about.
User Journey:
With the created personas in mind, I began thinking about user journeys. My first step was to do a competitive audit to identify was features were already available to recently engaged couples looking to tour venues. The biggest pain point I discovered with other websites was that users were unable to instantly book a tour online. I also noticed that many event locations were not forthcoming with their prices. Using that information, along with my personas, I created the following user journey. I was able to identify that users would benefit from the ability to filter results based on price and location, and that they would enjoy being able to share confirmation of their booking with others.
Competitive Audit Report
1. Competitive audit goal:
Compare the virtual touring experience of each competitor's page.
2. Who are your key competitors?
Our key competitor is Wedgewood Weddings, which offers a variety of venues to choose from and tour virtually. Hollow Hill Event Center, a wedding venue located in Texas that offers a variety of wedding sites on its property, and has a variety of touring options. Hollow Hill can be used for corporate events, but is mainly used for weddings.
Our other competitor is Hollow Hill Event Center, a wedding venue located in Texas that offers a variety of wedding sites on its property, and has a variety of touring options. Hollow Hill can be used for corporate events, but is mainly used for weddings.
Wedgewood Weddings is a direct competitor. Hollow Hill Event Center is an indirect competitor.
Wedgewood Weddings is a direct competitor. Hollow Hill Event Center is an indirect competitor.
3. What are the type and quality of competitors’ products?
Hollow Hill’s site is simple and easy to use. It lets users select the tour time, length, and date right on its landing page. Hollow Hill places a strong emphasis on being able to schedule a tour almost immediately, but doesn’t offer detailed information about the venue in general. The site’s screen reading is very jumbled, doesn’t offer alt text, and is available only in English.
Wedgewood’s site is visually more visually appealing, with a lot of information in one place and geared towards helping users navigate a large number of wedding venues. They offer a large variety of venues to choose from, but doesn’t give a lot of detail about any of them. Their site requires users to click around a great deal, and the number of choices may be overwhelming. This site does offer alt text and translation services.
Wedgewood’s site is visually more visually appealing, with a lot of information in one place and geared towards helping users navigate a large number of wedding venues. They offer a large variety of venues to choose from, but doesn’t give a lot of detail about any of them. Their site requires users to click around a great deal, and the number of choices may be overwhelming. This site does offer alt text and translation services.
4. How do competitors position themselves in the market?
Hollow Hill positions itself as being very professionally run with many accolades. They list all the publications they’ve been listed in and links to read the articles, which puts the user at ease because of all the positive reviews.
Wedgewood positions itself as a starting place for brides just starting to look for venues and may have questions. It focuses more on the overall wedding experience, but the virtual touring part is a big draw for users.
5. How do competitors talk about themselves?
Hollow Hill describes itself as “a hidden paradise.” They claim to be the perfect balance between “country elegance and comfort.”
Wedgewood describes itself as “a curated selection of wedding venues to suit your exact needs.” They claim it is their “job to make your wedding flawless.”
6. Competitors’ strengths
Hollow Hill’s strengths include:
A large offering of information
Clear links to other parts of their website
Professional and trustworthy
Wedgewood’s strengths include:
Clearly marked CTA
A plethora of options
Providing excellent accessibility
7. Competitors’ weaknesses
Hollow Hill’s weaknesses include:
Offering audio features in the app
Offering the app in languages other than English
Offering detailed information regarding the venue
Wedgewood’s weaknesses include:
Improving their navigation
Reducing the overwhelm of too much information at once
8. Gaps
Some gaps I identified include:
Competitor sites can give either too much or too little information
Competitor sites provide a limited amount of accessibility features
Navigation process isn’t clear or intuitive
9. Opportunities
Some opportunities I identified include:
Offer customization options without including too much information
Integrate our site with voice assistive technology
Create a straightforward process for venue tours
User Flow:
To make the app efficient and understand how the user will interact with the design, I created a user flow. Initially, I gave the user way too many choices, which I realized could be overwhelming for someone with low technology self-efficiency. I narrowed down the flow to two major decisions: book a tour or keep searching. My hope was that this decision would keep the user on the happy path to avoid frustration and drop off. The flow was updated as we conducted research and gathered further data.
Low-Fidelity Wireframes:
Before starting my digital wireframes with Figma, I sketched a few ideas out using graph paper. There's less commitment and it's much faster to see what works and what doesn't. I then translated those sketches into wireframes. This really allowed me to see if I needed to add anything, or if I could remove unnecessary components. For example, I ended up combining the "Settings," and "Edit User Profile" pages into one page. This streamlined the process so the user didn't have to take unnecessary steps and spend extra time using the app in ways that didn't help them reach their end goal.
Usability Testing:
Once the wireframes were complete and I tested the prototype, I came up with my research plan. I conducted a moderated user study via video conference with five participants, whose ages ranged from 18-52. They were given a link to the prototype, brief direction on how to navigate the screens, and were asked several prompts. Through these studies, I uncovered a couple of recurring themes.
Style Tile:
With the usability issues resolved, I turned my focus to design. I hopped on Pinterest and started looking at wedding color trends for 2022 and 2023. I wanted to find something modern, but still neutral. Everything that fit that description was pinned to my board, and then I went back and looked for patterns. Sage green and pink were themes that popped up a lot, but they looked very dated when put together on the app. I decided to go with a dusty blue and rose because they fit the bill of being a popular color scheme at the moment without being too trendy, and they're almost complementary colors so they play well off each other.
Design
Once my style tile was complete, I moved on to the final designs using Figma. My goal was to keep the design simple, light, modern, and romantic. I used Google's Material Design guidelines and designed for Android devices for my high-fidelity prototypes. Overall, I feel that my final design keeps the user's needs in mind and provides a needed service that isn't widely available in the current market.
Learnings:
This experience taught me so much about user experience design. In regards to hard skills, I learned more of the ins and outs of Figma, but I also realized that I have a long way to go before I become an expert. Before this project, I didn't realize how much research went into UX, but I think that was one of my favorite parts. Technology can often feel cold and impersonal, and I really like the idea that it's our job to make it feel more like a human experience. I'm excited to learn how to use more tools of the trade, understand and apply design principles in my work more effectively, and grow as a designer.
Thank you for taking the time to read my case study!
Want to work together? Feel free to contact me!
kcompher@proton.me
www.linkedin.com/in/compher
