Summary
Online tools are often used for planning social events, and inviting and informing potential attendees from social circles. Nowadays though, people have increasingly irregular schedules and busy lives, either because of careers or family.
Through user interviews and competitor analysis I found that there is an opportunity to improve the way people collectively organise social events using a shared calendar, to allow the creation of more successful events with less effort.
I designed and tested two key flows to a high level of fidelity. The designs rated highly in ease of use, and the overall concept was validated with participants saying it would be beneficial. However, there is also one big area for improvement: to make the product more conversational and better reflect the way people currently organise events.
Methodology
User interviews
Competitor analysis
Finding opportunities (POVs/HMWs)
Personas
Brainstorming (including storyboards)
Defining the solution & features
Information architecture (including card sorting)
User & task flows
Low fidelity wireframes
Brand design
High fidelity wireframes
Prototyping & usability testing
Revisions
Summary
Online tools are often used for planning social events, and inviting and informing potential attendees from social circles. Nowadays though, people have increasingly irregular schedules and busy lives, either because of careers or family.
Through user interviews and competitor analysis I found that there is an opportunity to improve the way people collectively organise social events using a shared calendar, to allow the creation of more successful events with less effort.
I designed and tested two key flows to a high level of fidelity. The designs rated highly in ease of use, and the overall concept was validated with participants saying it would be beneficial. However, there is also one big area for improvement: to make the product more conversational and better reflect the way people currently organise events.
Methodology
User interviews
Competitor analysis
Finding opportunities (POVs/HMWs)
Personas
Brainstorming (including storyboards)
Defining the solution & features
Information architecture (including card sorting)
User & task flows
Low fidelity wireframes
Brand design
High fidelity wireframes
Prototyping & usability testing
Revisions
User research
I chose to interview 4 people remotely:
Ages ranging from 20s to 40s
1 student, 3 employed, 2 of which at least partly self-employed
2 participants organised professional events in addition to social events
Employed in tech, retail and academia
3 of the participants had children, 1 of which had split custody
Interviews lasted between 30 - 75 minutes
I had three main areas of focus in my questioning:
The use of scheduling tools
Attendance of social events
Organising social events
User research
I chose to interview 4 people remotely:
Ages ranging from 20s to 40s
1 student, 3 employed, 2 of which at least partly self-employed
2 participants organised professional events in addition to social events
Employed in tech, retail and academia
3 of the participants had children, 1 of which had split custody
Interviews lasted between 30 - 75 minutes
I had three main areas of focus in my questioning:
The use of scheduling tools
Attendance of social events
Organising social events
Findings
Focal point
Social events often revolve around food or a cultural event, which provide inspiration or learning.
Social facilitation
Quality of social interaction can impact enjoyment of events - people often avoid certain events because they don’t want to have to carry the conversations or they think the conversations will be shallow and uninteresting.
Communication
Communications between social event organisers and invitees are often split across different channels and are direct to each invitee. People often aren’t diligent about informing others of their changes in plans.
Logistics
Logistical factors such as transport and managing children are a huge consideration in deciding whether to attend a social event. This reinforced my original problem statement.
Time management
People often have irregular schedules, and they use a variety of tools, both physical and digital to schedule their time - often for visibility and accountability. Flexibility of time is important and expected, as there are often factors beyond their control.
“Social crews”
Most people have circles of close friends they meet regularly. These regular social events don’t require a lot of upfront organisation.
Findings
Focal point
Social events often revolve around food or a cultural event, which provide inspiration or learning.
Social facilitation
Quality of social interaction can impact enjoyment of events - people often avoid certain events because they don’t want to have to carry the conversations or they think the conversations will be shallow and uninteresting.
Communication
Communications between social event organisers and invitees are often split across different channels and are direct to each invitee. People often aren’t diligent about informing others of their changes in plans.
Logistics
Logistical factors such as transport and managing children are a huge consideration in deciding whether to attend a social event. This reinforced my original problem statement.
Time management
People often have irregular schedules, and they use a variety of tools, both physical and digital to schedule their time - often for visibility and accountability. Flexibility of time is important and expected, as there are often factors beyond their control.
“Social crews”
Most people have circles of close friends they meet regularly. These regular social events don’t require a lot of upfront organisation.
Competitor analysis
I performed a competitor analysis, looking at 4 different products, including direct & indirect competitors and adjacent products:
Facebook Events
Google Calendar
Meetup
Humanitix
I found the tools fit into three contrasting categories:
Professional event management - these include admin/ticketing and aren’t suitable for social events
Work events - these include some negotiation capabilities, but aren’t aimed at social events
Personal social events - these have limited capabilities and run on social networks which people are increasingly wary of
Competitor analysis
I performed a competitor analysis, looking at 4 different products, including direct & indirect competitors and adjacent products:
Facebook Events
Google Calendar
Meetup
Humanitix
I found the tools fit into three contrasting categories:
Professional event management - these include admin/ticketing and aren’t suitable for social events
Work events - these include some negotiation capabilities, but aren’t aimed at social events
Personal social events - these have limited capabilities and run on social networks which people are increasingly wary of
Finding opportunities
From POVs and HMWs I found two key opportunities:
Helping busy people make better use of their free time for social events
Helping busy people manage the logistics of organising and attending social events
Finding opportunities
From POVs and HMWs I found two key opportunities:
Helping busy people make better use of their free time for social events
Helping busy people manage the logistics of organising and attending social events
Defining the target audience
Based on my research, two clear archetypes emerged:
Anne, the creative collaborator
Wants to attend more enriching/engaging cultural events
Wants to be more inspired
Wants to spend more time with friends and potential collaborators
Wants to make better use of her time
Chris, the family man-ager
Wants to spend more time socialising with friends
Wants to spend less effort organising social events
Wants to reduce stress
Wants to be involved in his friend’s lives
Defining the target audience
Based on my research, two clear archetypes emerged:
Anne, the creative collaborator
Wants to attend more enriching/engaging cultural events
Wants to be more inspired
Wants to spend more time with friends and potential collaborators
Wants to make better use of her time
Chris, the family man-ager
Wants to spend more time socialising with friends
Wants to spend less effort organising social events
Wants to reduce stress
Wants to be involved in his friend’s lives
Defining the solution
Based on my research, two clear archetypes emerged:
Based on my research, two clear archetypes emerged:
"Hangtime"
Users import their calendars into the app, and it identifies what times you and all your friends are free at the same time, enabling them to easily organise social events during those times.
"Friendscore"
Users can rate upcoming public events with their friends so they can build consensus about which public events they attend together.
The combined solution
Defining features
I designed the information architecture to prioritise the core features below.
Card sorting validated the overall concept and nomenclature.
Required for MVP
Shared calendar
Event proposals
Friend circle
Notifications
Communications
Next in priority
Venues
Public events
Rating venues & events
Personalisation
First-time experience
Defining features
I designed the information architecture to prioritise the core features below.
Card sorting validated the overall concept and nomenclature.
Required for MVP
Shared calendar
Event proposals
Friend circle
Notifications
Communications
Next in priority
Venues
Public events
Rating venues & events
Personalisation
First-time experience
Key flows
I diagrammed key flows unique and core to the solution:
Proposing a social event to your close friends based on the shared calendar
Suggesting an alternative venue for a proposed social event
Proposing attending a public event with your close friends
Diagramming the flows enabled me to resolve specific implementation details, in a way that made sense to the user.
Key flows
I diagrammed key flows unique and core to the solution:
Proposing a social event to your close friends based on the shared calendar
Suggesting an alternative venue for a proposed social event
Proposing attending a public event with your close friends
Diagramming the flows enabled me to resolve specific implementation details, in a way that made sense to the user.
Prototyping & usability testing
I created interactive prototypes for two of the three key flows:
Proposing a social event to your close friends based on the shared calendar
Suggesting an alternative venue for a proposed social event
These were then tested with 5 potential users.
Users rated the flows highly for ease of use (6-7 out of 7 for ease of use).
Users also mostly understood the concept behind the solution and thought it would be highly beneficial to people like them.
Prototyping & usability testing
I created interactive prototypes for two of the three key flows:
Proposing a social event to your close friends based on the shared calendar
Suggesting an alternative venue for a proposed social event
These were then tested with 5 potential users.
Users rated the flows highly for ease of use (6-7 out of 7 for ease of use).
Users also mostly understood the concept behind the solution and thought it would be highly beneficial to people like them.
Priority revisions
Some users were confused about how the shared calendar worked.
→ I made revisions to clarify the logic and behaviour of the shared calendar.
Users wanted more information about locations and travel times to venues as it impacted logistics.
→ I added additional information to the venue screens and filters for distance.
Some important information was missing in certain places (such as event approvals and names not just avatars of friends).
→ I adapted the UI to make those available.
Priority revisions
Some users were confused about how the shared calendar worked.
→ I made revisions to clarify the logic and behaviour of the shared calendar.
Users wanted more information about locations and travel times to venues as it impacted logistics.
→ I added additional information to the venue screens and filters for distance.
Some important information was missing in certain places (such as event approvals and names not just avatars of friends).
→ I adapted the UI to make those available.
The future
Usability testing also indicated one big area for improvement:
It should be more conversational
It should more closely reflect the way events are currently organised by people
Users indicated a need for more nuanced responses to events (not just approve/disapprove)
The “why” behind a particular response may drive other decisions
Chat should also be deeply integrated as part of consensus building
This would require revising the solution from the key flows.
The future
Usability testing also indicated one big area for improvement:
It should be more conversational
It should more closely reflect the way events are currently organised by people
Users indicated a need for more nuanced responses to events (not just approve/disapprove)
The “why” behind a particular response may drive other decisions
Chat should also be deeply integrated as part of consensus building
This would require revising the solution from the key flows.
