Bookmyculture

OVERVIEW

BookMyCulture is a fictional project that I took to heart to design because it was part of a cultural opening project and facilitating access to culture.

MY ROLE

UX/UI Designer - UX Researcher

User research, wireframes, prototype low and high fidelity, user tests, etc.

Understand the problem

Booking tickets for cultural events can be complicated and confusing for many people. Reservation options often vary, ranging from online booking to buying at the box office, with sometimes difficult-to-follow instructions for ticket printing. Additionally, people struggle to find information about local cultural events.

Small-scale cultural event organizers face difficulties in predicting the number of visitors, as sometimes many potential visitors do not show up, resulting in financial losses.

To find a solution to this problem, I have created a mobile application that allows customers to easily book their tickets for cultural events. This application should be user-friendly, allow for exploring upcoming events, secure purchasing, etc. The application should be able to inform customers daily about news related to specific events. Overall, the application should simplify the ticket booking process.

Project vision and solution

After taking the necessary time to understand the problem, I was able to define several goals:

Users need a platform that allows them to easily book, manage, and pay for their tickets/reservations for cultural events around them.
A mobile application seems to be the most suitable platform since nowadays everyone keeps their phone with them.
Offering customers the option to book tickets by either paying the full price or paying a deposit, in order to protect event organizers in case of no-shows.

Research

Many applications currently offer reservation services for only one type of cultural event. Some specialize in concerts, others in art, and still others in cinema.

MARKET ANALYSIS

I researched existing applications that offer similar services to BookMyCulture in order to analyze their strengths and weaknesses.

LiveNation and Fnac Spectacle were studied as direct competitors, and it was interesting to note that one focuses exclusively on concerts while the other covers all recognized cultural events (major museums, concerts by famous artists and personalities, etc.).

Unfortunately, Fnac Spectacle only offers concerts or already well-known and recognized museums, and does not leave room for local culture (painters, musicians, etc.).

On the other hand, we find really big apps that would be considered indirect competitors because the services they offer are more diverse and further away from culture. However, they allow for much more advanced preference filtering and offer a more modern interface.

Meet our persona!

Before starting any design process (wireframe or prototype), it is important to understand the needs and expectations of our potential users. To do this, we will present the persona of Léa, a culture enthusiast who encounters difficulties in the ticket reservation process for cultural events.

NALE

AGE

JOB

INTERESTS

Leah

30 years old

Marketing consultant

Art, music, dance, etc.

ABOUT HER

Léa is passionate about culture and art in general. She likes to spend her time discovering new museums, exhibitions, and attending concerts. However, she often struggles to organize her weekends because she has to search for events on different platforms at once.

GOALS

Have an easier, faster, and more intuitive booking experience without having to spend hours searching.
Use a quality service that is convenient and has a good user experience.

PAIN POINTS

Wasting time searching on multiple websites for events.
Complicated for her to plan things in her calendar.

Architecture Information

In this information architecture, I have organized the content into 4 menu sections.

The first "Accueil" section offers the user different ways to initiate event searches (search bar, suggestions, etc.).
The second section allows users to save events.
The third section provides an overview of reservations and upcoming events the user has decided to participate in.
The last section contains all profile and account information.

Wireframes

During the design of the first wireframes, I focused on three pages: the homepage, the event details page, and the calendar tab.

To simplify navigation within the application, I decided to place the event search feature on the homepage. The user can see the number of people who have already booked tickets. This information can be useful depending on each individual's expectations: some may be looking for a quiet event without too many visitors for various reasons (social anxiety, sensitivity to noise, parents of newborns, etc.), while others may want to meet and interact with many people.

It was decided not to present the navigation tab at the bottom of the event details page to save space on the screen. This is a UX/UI decision that was made after researching competitors who also use this feature.

High-fidelity prototype

For the development of the high-fidelity prototype, I wanted to use sober colors that could correspond to any type of event. Blue was chosen because it represents sharing, escape, and calm in color theory. This represents the context of knowledge and culture well.

To provide a soft contrast between the sections of the pages, I decided to use a white/gray background and use white to highlight the information.

User tests and feedback

A short session of user testing and interviews allowed me to highlight an issue on the calendar page. We present one after the other the events that the user has booked without meeting his need to have a general view of his cultural events.

Therefore, I decided to add a calendar to this page indicating to the user at a glance which days he is already participating in events. The blue circle (April 2, 2023 in the screenshot) represents the current day and the days circled in a lighter blue (11 and 22) represent the days for which the user has booked tickets.

BEFORE

AFTER

Final design

Style sheet