Evenu - Event Space Finder

evenu is a concept event space finder that helps Torontonians find affordable venues for personal celebrations.

Evenu is an event space finder that helps Torontonians find affordable and appropriately sized venues for their personal celebrations.

My Role
Research & Strategy
User Interface
Prototyping
Product Design

My Role
Research & Strategy
UI/UX Design
Usability Testing
Prototyping
Product Design

Tools Used:
Sketch
InVision

Project Length:
8 weeks

Project Length:
10 weeks

Platform:
Android
WearOS
Responsive Web

Platform:
Android

Link to Prototype

PROBLEM SPACE

What's the problem?

Impactful events (i.e. birthdays, holidays) are best celebrated in an intimate setting, with people you deeply and genuinely care for. However, because of housing costs and small living conditions, Torontonians are not able to host events at home.

Hypothesis: Torontonians need to find venues to host significant events and maintain social bonds. I know I'm right when I see the creation of new event spaces.

Impactful events (i.e. birthdays, holidays) are best celebrated in an intimate setting, with people you deeply and genuinely care for in your social network.

However, because Torontonians live in smaller units due to increasing housing costs, they are limited in the opportunity to host such events.

Hypothesis: Torontonians need to find curated venues for hosting significant events and maintaining social relationships. I know I'm right when I see the creation of new event spaces.

MARKET RESEARCH

Is there already a market for it?

My criteria for the competitive analysis is based on key factors: type of business, similarity in offerings, ease of use, and presence in app store. After the research, it was clear that there was a definite gap in the market that was not being addressed.

Airbnb
Type: Hospitality
Offering: Homesharing
Difficulty: Easy
App presence: Top-rated
Verdict: Few event spaces

thisopenspace
Type: Short-term rental
Offering: Multi-use spaces
Difficulty: Easy
App Presence: None
Verdict: Expensive event spaces

Entr
Type: Short-term rental
Offering: Multi-use spaces
Difficulty: Moderate
App Presence: None
Verdict: Expensive event spaces

USER RESEARCH

Do people need this service?

Interviewing 5 individuals helped validate the fact that Torontonians do care about event hosting and much rather prefer to celebrate moments in spaces that exclude strangers. However there are many restrictions that prevent this type of event hosting.

KEY INTERVIEW INSIGHTS

Social

Social gatherings are an opportunity to be with their close friends.

Space

Events are better hosted in venues where you can socialize with all of your friends.

Cost

Cost and the hidden fees are huge factors that deter people from renting event space.

PERSONA DEVELOPMENT

How do I synthesize all the insights?

Creating Matthew helped consolidate all the insights and findings. This was a very crucial step in the process to reduce time spent finding a rationale for specific design decisions.

EXPERIENCE MAPPING

Where are the opportunties?

I then mapped out the current experience of finding an party venue, based the interview data and persona. This allowed me to find the moments where pain points were significant and detrimental to the experience.

PRODUCT FUNCTIONALITY

What are the tasks?

After referring to Matthew for where his pain points were, user stories were created to integrate product functionality. They were then grouped into epics. This process was crucial to understand what the product needs structurally.

Interested to see the full list of user stories and epics? click here

USER STORIES TO THREE MAIN EPICS

1. Discover event spaces

2. Select and see event details

3. Book event space

EPICS TO TASK FLOW

A task flow was created to add a functional flow to the epics.

LOW FIDELITY WIREFRAMING

How is it structured visually?

Sketches were created on pen and paper initially to iterate quickly to visually place my user story functions. They were then converted into a low fidelity wireflow.

USER TESTING

Did the flow work?

Two rounds of user testing were conducted - with five participants per test - to validate the design decisions. Overall, the results reinforced the decisions made, with exception of some minor issues.

Interested in seeing the test results? click here

HIGH FIDELITY WIREFRAMING

Injecting color and patterns

It was important to adhere to existing patterns and design guidelines so that the product's usability stays consistent compared to similar apps. Attributes under consideration was:

• Accessible colour choices for interactions
• Components existing in other mobile apps
• Integrating Material Design Guidelines

UI LIBRARY

Documenting the user interface

MULTI-PLATFORM EXPLORATION

Evenu on WearOS

MARKETING WEBSITE

Discovery of Evenu

A set of responsive websites in dark mode were created to help convey the value proposition of Evenu to Matthew. This approach allowed me to enhance the warmth and cozyness that parties allure in face of the dark outdoors.

INVISION

THE PROTOTYPE

REFLECTION

Key Learnings

After alleviating Matthew's pain points (finding a venue that is affordable and curated), I was able to reflect on possible scenarios Evenu might encounter.

With all the optimism, there will be moments where circumstances will arise. I will not be able to prevent them all:
• The host may sometimes act unpredicatably
• Guests can possibly act against the good nature of the event
• Venue pricing will depend on overall supply and demand

MOVING FORWARD

Next Steps

1. Help Matthew find an event planner, to allow him to socialize more than plan
2. Consider supplying resources for the event, that the venue host might not have.
3. Prototype and test a dark mode for the mobile app, to fully evoke the mood presented in the marketing website.

Selected Works