Event Management System
Event management is a complicated and time-consuming endeavor that often requires the utilization of multiple methods and applications to complete the planning and execution of the event. My team and I aimed to simplify this process by creating an all-encompassing event planning and management system. Focusing on the venue’s side of the system, we established a central hub for communication between all parties involved with an event (i.e., the venue, the client, and the outside vendors) through an integrated messaging feature. The system also supports the booking and event customization process and the tracking of pricing and budget for both the client and the venue.
For this project, our team partnered with GravityDrive, an experience design consulting company that is located in Fishers, IN. With the guidance of GravityDrive, we conducted vigorous background research, site visits, and in-person interviews, that helped us gain a deeper understanding of the event management space. Using this new-found understanding, we created a high-fidelity prototype that was utilized in usability testing. The resulting findings from these usability test sessions allowed for the validation of our design work and the identification of areas for future work and improvement.
// The Client
// Project Duration
7 months
// Project Year
Fall 2023 - Spring 2024
// My Role
Project Lead, UX Designer, UX Researcher
UX Research > Ideation > Task Flow > Prototyping > Usability Testing > UI Design
// The Process
Phase 01 — Research
In our initial project meeting with GravityDrive we learned about the company and their vision for the event management system we would be working on. We were tasked with developing an all-encompassing venue-facing event management system that included the following functionalities:
The handling of client reservations.
The facilitation of design and customization for events.
The management of venue operations.
The efficient coordination of external vendors.
// Project Kickoff
To kick off the research phase of the project we reviewed academic literature to learn about the event management industry as a whole. We focused our literature review on the use of technology within the industry to learn about its integration and uses. We found that technology-driven event management offers innovative tools and solutions that enhance the efficiency of event management and streamline the planning process.
// Background Research
We also conducted a competitive analysis where we looked at seven potential competitors whose products included features that would be useful for an all-encompassing system. Focusing on the functionalities that our partner wanted to be included in our system, we explored these products, looked at customer reviews, and created a comparison chart to look at the major features and functionalities offered by these competitors.
Competitive analysis created by our team during our background research. The green circles denote fully functional and integrated features/functionalities, the yellow circles denote partially functional or integrated features/functionalities, and the red circles denote a lack of this feature/functionality.
// Field Research & User Interviews
To further our understanding of event venue operations we contacted five different venues and set up site visits. During these visits, we conducted walkthroughs of the venues, captured photos and videos of their set-up, and then sat down with the venue owner or an event manager for an interview. Our team created an interview protocol to structure these interviews with questions focusing on how they currently manage events at their venue, how they contact vendors and clients, the systems they currently use to manage their venue, and the pain points associated with each.
Streamlined Digital Booking
4 of the 5 venues we visited used Excel sheets and digital calendars to keep track of upcoming events. They expressed a need for a more organized and user-friendly booking and booking management process.
Venue Resource Management
All of the venues we visited offered a wide range of customization and in-house services, with 4 of the 5 allowing clients to bring in outside vendors. Keeping track of and coordinating specific customization options and outside vendors is a time-consuming, and sometimes frustrating, process for event managers.
Efficient Communication
All of the venues we visited use email as the primary form of communication with their clients. They faced challenges with navigating these long email threads and finding important communications and documents.
Budget Tracking
4 of the 5 venues expressed interest in a system that could communicate the budget constraints of their clients. They noted the importance of budget in many of their hosted events and the difficulties that come with communicating changes that effect the overall event price.
We used our findings from our field visits to create two personas. These personas are representative of the five users we spoke to during our interviews (3 event managers and 2 venue owners) with their goals, interests, and pain points summarizing the key findings from our research phase. These personas were used to remind our team of the main issues we wanted to alleviate within our system and allowed us to humanize the problem as we kept our target users in mind through future project phases.
// The Personas
Our team’s event manager persona - Sam Reynolds.
Our team’s venue owner persona - Olivia Mitchell.
Using the results from our background and field research, we outlined the functional requirements for our event management system.
// Functional Requirements
Planning
Enter and manage essential event details such as date, time, purpose, and booking information.
Customization
Select and manage themes, decorations, and other event-specific options.
Space Selection
Filter venues based on preferences and allocate space within venues for specific events.
Communication
Communication channels between customers, planners, vendors, and venue staff.
Venue Visualization
Manage, visualize, and customize the layout of the event space.
Phase 02 — Ideation
With our background research concluded and the functional requirements for our system identified, we moved into the ideation phase of this project. We began this phase by compiling a list of design goals that we wanted to accomplish with the design of our system.
// Design Goals
Over two months, our team used pen, paper, marker, whiteboard, and sticky notes to design our event management system. Working closely with our partner, GravityDrive, we conducted ideation sessions in-person and online—both with and without our partner present. These sessions allowed our team to sketch out the entire system, focusing on specific parts and eliciting stakeholder feedback as we progressed. After this two-month ideation period, we had laid the framework for our system.
// Ideating on a Design
Images of some of the screens we created during our ideation sessions. The whiteboard sketches were completed during in-person team sessions, the notebook sketch was done by me during an at-home ideation session, and the sticky notes were used in a feature prioritization session.
Once we had concluded our ideation phase and sketched out the entirety of our system we began to lay out the information architecture. Our team used the information architecture to understand where the different parts of the system would connect and it also allowed us to better understand the key parts of the system to focus on. It also helped with sizing our system for the prototype, assitiing us with the amount of screens we would need and the depth of certain system parts.
// Information Architecture
The information architecture our team created at the conclusion of our ideation phase.
Phase 03 — Designing & Prototyping
We moved into the next phase of our project with the goal of creating a high-fidelity prototype of our system that could be analyzed in user testing. We began this phase by creating a design system that we would use, and update, as we progressed through our design process.
// Design System
Our team’s design system that was used for the creation of our event management system.
// Final Design
The Dashboard
See important details about venue operations. The customizable dashboard allows venues to add the key widgets they need to find important to their day-to-day business operations.
Event Overview
View key information about the event—directly from the client. Important event details are displayed throughout the event overview flow.
Event Layouts
Allocate spaces for event decor and activities. Create layouts using chosen decorations and keep all parties informed of how the event will look.
Customizable Decor
Add decorations from the online catalog, allowing clients to customize their event to their liking and simplifying the set-up process for the venue.
Vendor Management
Booking of preferred vendors happens within the system, allowing for easy collaboration between all parties. Update orders, view costs and ratings, and compare multiple vendors.
Budget Tracking
Keep track of all event financials with the dynamic client budget tracker. View cost breakdowns and update details to keep events within the allocated budget.
Communication Channels
Keep all event-related communications within one channel. Have both private and group chats, ensuring that everyone is informed about the event.
*The information and images in this case study has been shared with the express consent of GravityDrive.
We used our prototype to conduct five usability test sessions. These sessions took place in person at venues we had previously visited during our interview phase. Our participants had the job titles of event manager, wedding planner, and member experience specialist. We created a study protocol that was used to moderate each session and used Zoom to capture audio and video of the participants and their actions on screen. Each session began with a pre-session questionnaire consisting of open-ended questions, followed by five tasks for the users to complete, and then concluded with a post-task questionnaire consisting of Likert scale rating questions and open-ended questions.
// Usability Testing
After conducting the five usability test sessions, our team spent a week analyzing the data we had collected. Looking at both the qualitative and quantitative data, we organized and grouped the results by themes. After our analysis, we identified the issues with our system, the things that participants liked, and areas for future work.
// Results
Discovered Issues
Navigation Mistakes
Inconsistencies between the use of icons and words for navigation buttons confused participants. Changing the navigation to be coherent across the system can alleviate this confusion.
Event Association
Participants struggled with linking different areas of the application (i.e., event channel chats) with the associated event. Creating a clear path for the participant to follow, and drawing attention to the related events, would help users orient themselves within the system.
Finding Information
Users struggled to find information when hopping between different system flows and event pages. They requested a ‘universal search’ feature to assist them with finding information.
Information Overload
The amount of information in the system, specifically within the ‘Messages’ feature, overwhelmed users and created confusion. Trying alternative layouts that break up the information could alleviate the information overload.
What Participants Liked
All-Encompassing
The system we created encompassed the main needs of their venue. They liked that they didn’t have to hop between systems and were impressed with the usability.
Easy to Use
Despite some difficulty with finding information, users rated the system as being highly usable. They believed that the system became easier to use as they got used to its layout and functionalities.
Event Customization
Users were impressed with the ‘Event Customization’ section and its arrangement of important event information. They noted that the integration of vendors in this area would make events at their venue easier to plan and execute.
Phase 04 — Project Wrap-Up
As our team wrapped up this project and handed off our work to GravityDrive, we identified areas of the system that would benefit from further work and the next steps that we would take if we could continue with the project.
// Future Work
Refine Navigation - Revise unclear wording and UI elements to create a more coherent navigation experience.
Alternative ‘Messages’ Designs - Redesign the ‘Messages’ feature to decrease the feelings of information overload and better connect the channel to its corresponding event.
Comprehensive Onboarding - Alleviate the learning curve that users faced by better onboarding them to the functionalities of the system.
Flesh Out the System - Complete the “placeholder” areas of the system using data gathered from test participants.
Iterative User Testing - Iterate on designs based on findings and conduct multiple rounds of user testing.
My time spent working on this project was an eye-opening experience — it was my first opportunity to work with a team on a project spanning seven months. We were able to truly dive into the content of this project, having ample time to conduct background research, iteration, design, and user testing. One of the biggest takeaways I found was how time-consuming the design process can be. When I started this project I thought “Seven months? That’s so much time to work on this!” I was naive in thinking this as this project was a huge undertaking. Taking the time to understand the user, set up site visits, interviews, user test sessions, and the overall work that went into designing a system from scratch was eye-opening. I learned just how important it is to efficiently allocate my (and my team members’) time to complete the work that needed to be done. I had to trust in the abilities of my team members as there was no way for me to complete everything on my own. We had to find compromises, discuss decisions, and find ways to work together. I also got first-hand experience with the difficulties that come from scheduling participants for user testing. I found that people are more than willing to help us out and participate in testing sessions, but that the difficulty lies in finding times that work for them and for your team. Overall, this project taught me about the importance of time management and gave me experience working through an entire project on a more realistic timeline when compared to past projects.