Design Process: Pynd.it
Intro
Problem
Finding great nearby events is a common problem for college students. There are many existing applications that serve the purpose of informing people about events.
One of the most popular is Facebook’s event feature. However, I find that there are two main issues with event applications such as Facebook’s. Firstly, although users are able to comment on events, this is rarely used. Users also have no real-time feedback information during the event. For example, if a student is invited to an philanthropy event on campus, it would be helpful during the event to be able to see feedback from attendees regarding how the event is going. Facebook currently has no featured designed for this purpose.
A second issue with other event platforms are they is that they are complicated. For example, Facebook is such a large application that if a user wants to take advantage of the event feature, they have to navigate through all the other distractions of the platform.
Goal
My goal is to design a event listing application that solves these issues. This app will have a simple intuitive interface that enables users to discover events. The user will also be able to take advantage of user feedback of events to decide if they would like to attend. In designing the application I will focus on creating a simple and elegant user experience.
Requirements Analysis & Knowledge Elicitation
Full script of questions and answers can be found here:
Main Takeaways
The following are the most important observations from interviewing prospective users.
Requirements prospective users want:
- Simple app for events than Facebook
- App to find parties / nightlife events
- Find academic events, career fairs, speakers on campus, etc.
- View future events as well in addition to live events
- Add future events to their calendar
- See how big the attendance of the event is
- Filter / search options
- Integrate other apps to pull in other events
- Option to view events in a list in addition to the map
- Future event reminders
- Net up/down vote as well as individual up/down vote numbers
Proposal
Pynd.it
Pynd.it is a live social event listing app. A user can drop a Pyn (map pin) at the location of an event. When a user launches the app they are greeted with a view of a map interface that displays any dropped Pyns in their area. Users at the location of an event are able to “upvote” or “downvote” each pin to represent the experience of the event (similar to Reddit or Yik Yak). This means when viewing the map interface, users can see the net vote rating of the event. This event voting feedback gives prospective event attendees a better idea of if they are interested in attending the event.
For example if a bar has a karaoke night, a user can drop a Pyn at the event and people can vote on if the event is enjoyable. If the event is awesome, it will have a high vote score. If the event is lame you a user can see it has a low score and decide not to attend. In the event info, there will also be an indication of the size of the event.
In addition to the vote feedback score, when a user taps a pin on the map, they can see comment of the event. Users can view these comments to see even more information about the event. The app is completely anonymous, to promote users providing honest feedback of events.
Users also have the option to view events in a list interface. On this interface future events will also be listed. Users can view information about the event and add it to their calendar.
Both the map and list views will have an option to filter the events being shown by category. For example if a user just wants to see nightlife events, they can select this using the filter feature.
This app will have a simple intuitive interface that enables users to discover events. The design of the application will focus presenting a simple and elegant user experience.
Low-Fidelity Prototype
Prototyping Tool: Balsamiq Mockups
User Testing: Low-Fidelity Prototype
Main Takeaways
- Users enjoyed the simple intuitive interface
- Users wanted to know where they could view future events
- Users wanted an indication of the rating of the event on the map view without selecting a pin
- Users wanted to be able to view the start/end times of an event
- Users want to search for a location
Logo
The Pynd.it logo uses the applications primary color. The logo uses a “Pyn” as the “i” to help indicate the application is related to location/mapping. A stick figure who is having a good time, represents that the app enjoyable events for the user to discover.
High-Fidelity Prototype
Prototyping Tool: Sketch
Invision Prototype
The prototype below was created by connecting the screens designed in Sketch using transitions to simulate functionality.
InVision Prototype: https://invis.io/NH9JNV8A4
Conclusion
Requirements Analysis & Knowledge Elicitation
The requirements analysis & knowledge elicitation interviews helped guide my vision of the product design to cater to prospective users.
Low-Fidelity Prototype
Designing a low-fidelity prototype with Balsamiq allowed for a relatively quick implementation of my vision for the product design. The nature of Balsamiq’s rough unrefined UI components allowed me to implement the design without the distraction of ensuring pixel perfect design accuracy.
High-Fidelity Prototype
The iterative process of designing a high-fidelity prototype encouraged me to rethink each design decision as I implemented the design in Sketch. Sketch’s realistic design helped produce a final prototype that accurately conveys the design.
Next Steps
I’m looking forward to the next step of implementing the design in a fully function iOS application. Getting the app into the hands of real users on their devices will allow me to do further user testing and gain more feedback to further improve and cater the design to users.
Thanks for reading!
Please feel free to give me any feedback by commenting below or shooting me an email at the address below:
Email: steve@stevejones.io
— Steve Jones
