Shindig
Jul - Aug 2021
Background
The Problem
The Solution
My Role
Event-based social network (EBSN) products fill a unique space that lies somewhere between the virtual and physical realm. These brands offer a convenient way for users to virtually discover in-person events that align with their interests. Unfortunately, the ease of responding to online invites and RSVPs often leads to disproportionate numbers of perceived guests to actual guests. Enter Shindig, an EBSN app that rewards user participation both on- and offline.
Location data indicates that on average only ~20% of those that digitally RSVP for offline events actually attend them. I set out to identify the root of this misalignment in order to rectify it.
I created Shindig, an EBSN app that follows industry-standard UI patterns with the exclusive feature of rewarding users for RSVPing for, sharing, and attending events as well as joining various interest groups.
I owned project planning, researching, designing the UX and UI, and conducting usability tests. Following a Design Thinking framework, I broke up the project into phases, spending the bulk of my efforts in the Ideating and Testing stages.
Intel From the Competition
Before diving into my own scholarly research, I first studied three industry leaders - Facebook Events, Meetup, and Eventbrite - who were already facilitating EBSNs. My goal was to understand how these widely popular services effectively (or ineffectively) encouraged users to discover and attend events. I worked through the flows of finding and RSVPing for an event on each, recording what I liked, disliked, and actions items for the design phase.
Conceptualizing a Brand
My next step was to establish a brand and visual style - name, UI style, and color palette - that felt familiar yet still memorable and engaging. I began brainstorming brand names through a word association exercise, eventually landing on "Shindig" a colloquialism for a gathering of friends. Given the tight timeframe for this project, designing each UI element from scratch wasn’t feasible, instead, I explored premade UI Kits and customized their components for Shindig. Lastly, I nailed down the color scheme, which took several hours longer than expected as I struggled to find colors that complimented and softened the main color's energetic tone.
Determining Deliverables & Deadlines
To ensure I adhered to the project's firm 90-hour budget, I cooked up a project plan. First, I mapped out what deliverables I would create and then defined the processes leading up to each one. However, the trickiest part was gauging how best to allocate my limited time. I opted to spend the majority of my time fine-tuning the designs themselves given that an abundance of user and scholarly research was readily available.
Discovery Through Research
My secondary research became less of a chore to find information than a weeding out of excess resources. Luckily, my research plan acted as the perfect homing beacon to keep my exploration moving forward. Since copious amounts of data are only beneficial if they’re properly analyzed I did some affinity mapping to identify trends.
My research indicated that users are more motivated to attend an event if they have some sort of accountability and/or if they fear their absence will negatively impact the virtual persona they have built.
A Map Through Shindig
While I had a rough idea of the happy path users would take to discover events and groups, mapping out the primary user flow gave me a better idea of essential features and the screens they would be located on. At this point, I was particularly focused on giving users event-specific notifications to ensure scheduling errors were not a cause for lack of attendance.
The Designing Commences
With my user flow as a guide, I moved on to building out wireframes. My designs aimed to address the action items from my industry study such as giving users the option to enable event-specific notifications or add an event to their calendar. Additionally, I created a clear visual hierarchy that highlighted other attendees and a discussion forum, thus applying a bit of social pressure and fostering that sense of community users crave.
Testing the First Iterations
I centered the usability test script around the following three tasks as I believed that if users could complete them with even mild enthusiasm, it would confirm that I had solved our attendance issues.
Those tasks were to:
find an event by browsing through categories
RSVP for an event and enable event notifications
discover and engage with chats
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This first round of testing resulted in a rather dramatic pivot in my approach, partly because I struggled to truly verify if users would attend the events they signed up for on the app given that our product toed this virtual-physical-line. Mainly, I discovered that the experience lacked a clear distinction from other similar services and thus failed to make a substantial enough impression on users. Once testing concluded, I worked up a usability test report that outlined and prioritized the identified usability concerns.
Back to the Drawing Board
I moved forward with incorporating the color palette and fine-tuning the UI elements, but still felt like Shindig failed to differentiate itself from the competition and incentivize offline engagement. I returned to my research and analysis in search of the missing pieces, it was then that I realized Shindig needed a secondary flow to verify user attendance. As I designed the flow, I opted to add gamification strategies but concerns about cognitive overload creeped in so I kept them rather minimal with the first high fidelity iteration.
And Again We Test
Round two of user testing also started with the devising of a usability test script, except this time, I shifted the last task to involve checking in at an event. The check-in option allows users to record their attendance via location-based services at which point users would receive virtual badges. Nearly all testers cited that they would likely not remember or bother to check in at an event, thus proving the current game features did not create enough incentive for users. Another key insight from this second set of tests was that the home screen fell flat, it lacked the je ne sais quoi to energize and excite users.
Returning to the Drawing Board Once More
Strangely enough, it seemed that my fear of sensory overload brought on by gamification was misinformed. Users were intrigued by the badges but they didn’t have much opportunity to interact with the game-like features nor were badges compelling enough rewards. As I revised my high fidelity mockups, it dawned on me - a point system could be the missing piece of the puzzle, the answer to my concerns about differentiation from competitors and energizing the home screen but most importantly, to encourage offline attendance. Following this same thought process, I expanded to make the points exchangeable for rewards and include a dashboard-style home screen so users could track their point balance.
Transformation of the home screen
Screens added to the final iteration which further expanded upon the gamification with rewards & points
Moving Forward
Shindig should undergo a third round of usability tests to verify that the integrated gamification provides enough motivation for users to attend events and engage with their virtual communities offline as well. As the events in the prototype are fictitious, it is unclear if my work will lead to increased event attendance but I am confident that the distinct reward system and fresh UI are a step in the right direction. Assuming the next series of tests go smoothly, shipping Shindig while closely monitoring location data and RSVP-to-Check-in conversion rates will confirm the success of this project.
Final Thoughts
This problem space resonated with me because I had recently moved to a new city and struggled to find a community using event-based apps. I erroneously allowed my own experiences with competitor products and personal preferences to guide my initial design decisions. In the future, I will carve out time to conduct user interviews and form personas, especially in spaces where my assumptions are clouding my judgment.