Indiana University - Assignment
Product: Sportify
Community Building through a Ticketing Platform
As we age, our schedules get busier, limiting opportunities for new experiences and social connections. Our team is committed to addressing the importance of community building by developing an innovative Community Building Ticketing Platform. This platform aims to integrate community building among sports fans effectively without disrupting the existing system.
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Our project's primary objective is to design a user-friendly, hybrid solution that empowers users to explore events, access detailed event information, and seamlessly become part of interest-based communities.
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THE PROBLEM: Lack of legit ticketing platforms and finding people who want to attend similar events
THE SOLUTION: A sporting ticketing platform with community building
Timeline -
5 weeks
Tools Used -
My Role in my Team -
Problem Synthesis, Understanding users, Data gathering, Data Analysis, Brainstorming, storyboarding, User flow, Information Architecture, Low and High Fidelity Prototypes, Evaluation and Testing.
Problem Statement
“How might we create one cohesive and comprehensive solution for the crowd that caters to community engagement?”
Research
DESK RESEARCH
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Our Desk research, we found that the perfect target audience would be young adults - Mid 20's and later. According to a recent study by scientists from Aalto University in Finland and the University of Oxford in England, "Soon after your mid-20s, your social circle shrinks" [Reference]
​When considering the most effective way to target users, we discovered that individuals within this age group often have demanding work schedules. As a result, they tend to seek connections with others who share similar non-work-related interests. These connections serve as a means of taking their minds off their busy schedules and fostering meaningful interactions.
PRIMARY RESEARCH
As a part of our primary research, we held a productive semi-structured interview with 8 sports fans and people who are trying to make new friends, resulting in valuable insights from the discussion. We also conducted a survey to understand the user demographics.
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We conducted a survey asking people about what they would prefer doing on a weekend or in their free time, and we got 145 replies.
The majority preferred to attend a sporting event or a concert/fest, while a few others preferred to attend comedy shows, travel, or simply read a book or watch movies.
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(The survey was an online poll on Instagram where we asked everyone what their perfect weekend looked like. We selected Instagram for our survey because our target audience is people aged 18 to 35, and the majority of our Instagram friends are the same age. It was also the quickest and simplest method for us to get an accurate and personalized response from the users.)
audience are in their mid-20's to mid 30's of age, we conducted a quick one day pole on Instagram.
Research Analysis
02
After reading several articles and conversing with a few individuals, we have gathered crucial insights to establish a strong foundation for our project.
PAIN POINTS
Not being able to get sufficient information about the event
Not finding a right platform to buy tickets from
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Not finding someone to attend the event with
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TARGET AUDIENCE
Sports Fans
Ticketing platforms
People who are looking for other people to connect with
Design Solution
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A platform that is dedicated to the sports domain -> users can book tickets for a sports game and be a part of the sport’s fan club.
Sports events happen every year, there are a lot of teams all over the world (though we are only working on sports teams in the USA currently) and there are plenty of fan clubs for the same. Our main focus is on getting these fan clubs together and making their experience better right from searching for events to attending the events.
IMAGINE A SCENARIO
INFORMATION ARCHITECTURE/ USER JOURNEY
In short,
USER FLOW
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User logs in or signs up.
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They access the homepage.
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Browse events.
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Select an event and view its details.
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Choose ticket type and quantity.
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Proceed to checkout, enter payment details, and confirm the purchase.
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Receive an event QR code.
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Optionally join a group
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Select team.
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Access chat rooms.
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Alternatively, return to the homepage.
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Access purchased tickets in "Your Events" and explore chat rooms in "Chat Rooms."
The Prototype
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INTRODUCING
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#C0213B
LOW FIDELITY
THE PROTOTYPE
Verify ID
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Buy
Tickets
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Join
Communities
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Try me
INTERACTIVE PROTOTYPE
Evaluation
05
COGNITIVE WALKTHROUGH
Initially, we performed a 'cognitive walkthrough' with the evolving low-fidelity prototype. We assessed the app's user flow and navigation for simplicity and intuitiveness. We also evaluated the 'chatroom' feature to encourage ongoing engagement and a sense of community post-event, streamlining functionality for efficiency.
Task Description - Account Verification
Task Description - User Search for Events and buys tickets
To summarize the walkthrough process, we could ask and answer some questions:
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1. Will users try to achieve the right results?
Yes, the users understand the actions at hand, which are needed to reach their larger goal.
2. Will users notice that the correct actions are available?
Yes, the interactive element that achieves the step is visible and easily findable.
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3. Will users associate the correct actions with the results they’re trying to achieve?
Yes, the app does what it says it will do.
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4. After the actions are performed, will users see that progress is made toward the goal?
Yes
However, the app has many pop-ups indicating success and asking many questions, which we found could be slightly distracting.
HEURISTIC EVALUATION
The evaluation strategy we chose was Heuristic evaluation. We conducted the evaluation using "Jakob Nielsen's 10 general principles for interface design" with the help of an expert and a friend (user). The latter gave us insight into the user group, the expert was knowledgeable about the evaluation techniques and could offer quick suggestions.
With the help of the Heuristic Evaluation, we could conclude that the overall experience is seamless and easy for the user. However, there were a few major errors discovered, such as a few screens missing, some buttons not working, and some actions not providing feedback to the user.
As our next step, it is crucial to address these errors and fix them, as they can greatly impact the usability of our product. For instance, the actions that do not provide feedback will leave the user confused if they have completed the action successfully or not. We aim to conduct more testing and ensure that our app is functioning properly and providing the best user experience.
Refelction
06
As we grow, our interests and social circles expand. Many people move away from their hometowns for various reasons. This solution provides a safe way to meet new people with similar interests in public settings, offering a secure and potentially temporary way to build new connections.
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This was one of the initial projects I worked on, involving extensive research and analysis. It stands out as one of the few projects that progressed seamlessly without any disruptions.
who made this project a success.
MEET THE TEAM
