Work

About

Work

About

Davis After Dark

Simplifying the discovery of nightlife events in Davis

Role

Designer

Team

4 Designers

Berlin

1 Project Mentor

Berlin

Timeline

6 weeks (Spring 2024)

2010

Tools Used

Figma

50-101

Awards

Audience Choice

50-101

Challenge

Due to a lack of centralized and up-to-date information, students, residents, and visitors often remain unaware of all the social events and opportunities that Davis has to offer after dark.

How might we effectively promote nightlife events to the Davis community while also simplifying the process of discovering these events?

Results

Our team designed an app that personalizes the process of finding nightlife events. We focused on accommodating different interests and on making events easy and quick to discover. Our app features a homepage that filters and recommends events based on each user's preferences, a profile page that makes it convenient for users to view their saved events and add new friends, and a chat page that encourages users to form connections.

At the end, we presented our project to an audience, including a judge panel of UX professionals. The audience voted on their favorite design of the night and our team won the Audience Choice Award.

Research Goals

We conducted user research using a literature review, surveys, affinity mapping, user personas, and user interviews.

Our goals were to find:

1) What do people look for in nightlife?

2) How do people feel about the nightlife scene in Davis?

3) How do people find out about nightlife events?

Survey Findings

61 respondants

88%

prefer getting dinner on a night out

25%

prefer going clubbing on a night out

84%

prefer going to a frat party on a night out

We were surprised to find that most people preferred going for a casual dinner than partying on their nights out. This made us realize that people have different ideas of what "nightlife" is. In our design process we made an effort to accommodate these different interests.

86%

find events through friends

74%

find events through social media

We also found that most people find nightlife events through their friends or through social media. From this, we knew that we knew that users could benefit from an app that consolidated events since currently events are scattered across multiple social platforms.

Interviews

5 users interviewed

“It would be cool to have categories for specific communities to see events you want to attend. (ex. POC Community Parties)”

“It’d be nice to for others to have an app to centralize around finding people to go out with similar personality styles”

From our interviews, we noticed that there was a demand to be able to find events easily that catered to user's individual interests. Additionally, users wanted a way to find and connect to new people that they are similar to.

Pain Points

We summarized our user research into a few main pain points.

1) People lack a way to easily find events that pertain to their interests

2) Events are advertised across multiple social platforms, making them difficult to discover

3) People find out about events too late and aren't able to attend

4) Some people don't have friends with similar interests that they're able to go out with

Pain Points

We summarized our user research into a few main pain points.

1) People lack a way to easily find events that pertain to their interests

2) Events are advertised across multiple social platforms, making them difficult to discover

3) People find out about events too late and aren't able to attend

4) Some people don't have friends with similar interests that they're able to go out with

Pain Points

We summarized our user research into a few main pain points.

1) People lack a way to easily find events that pertain to their interests

2) Events are advertised across multiple social platforms, making them difficult to discover

3) People find out about events too late and aren't able to attend

4) Some people don't have friends with similar interests that they're able to go out with

Pain Points

We summarized our user research into a few main pain points.

1) People lack a way to easily find events that pertain to their interests

2) Events are advertised across multiple social platforms, making them difficult to discover

3) People find out about events too late and aren't able to attend

4) Some people don't have friends with similar interests that they're able to go out with

User Personas

To better understand the needs of potential users, we created two user personas.

Solution Sketches

We sketched out ideas for a home page, event page, chat page, and a profile page while keeping our pain points in mind.

Solution Sketches

We sketched out ideas for a home page, event page, chat page, and a profile page while keeping our pain points in mind.

Lo-Fi Wireframes

From there, I created low fidelity wireframes of our sketches to get a sense of the structure of our app.

Lo-Fi Wireframes

From there, I created low fidelity wireframes of our sketches to get a sense of the structure of our app.

Lo-Fi Wireframes

From there, I created low fidelity wireframes of our sketches to get a sense of the structure of our app.

Mid-Fi Prototyping

As we created more ideas for our app, we moved onto making mid-fidelity prototypes so we could test our ideas with users.

Mid-Fi Prototyping

As we created more ideas for our app, we moved onto making mid-fidelity prototypes so we could test our ideas with users.

User Testing

We tested our prototypes with 5 users. We received constructive feedback and decided to remove the bio from the profile, change our save icon to a bookmark button instead of a heart, and to create an option to view events by day, week, month, and all time. We also learned that users enjoyed our filter/tag options and that they felt like our user flow was easy to navigate overall.

User Testing

Design System Pivot

Originally, our app featured a different gradient background and teal accents on each page. However, after getting feedback from other designers we realized that this color scheme was visually overwhelming. We decided to pivot and completely started over with our design system. We landed on a softer gradient background that we used sparingly. We also replaced the teal accent color with purple. We ran the purple through a contrast checker and found that it passed, meaning it would be more accessible for users.

Design System Pivot

Final Design

Homepage

For You page that recommends events
Can select filters to find events
Drop down button to filter events by date

Homepage

For You page that recommends events
Can select filters to find events
Drop down button to filter events by date

Homepage

For You page that recommends events
Can select filters to find events
Drop down button to filter events by date

Homepage

For You page that recommends events
Can select filters to find events
Drop down button to filter events by date

Event Page

Shows event details such as date, time, description, and host name
Can see if friends are attending the same event
Can be bookmarked and shared
Can RSVP for free events or purchase tickets for paid events

Chat

Can chat with friends and create groupchats
Can join groupchats for specific events and organizations

Adding Friends

Accessed through the profile
Friends are suggested based on mutuals and shared organizations
Can view your existing friends
Can view friend requests

Settings

Can edit user information
Can retake the personality quiz
Can view event history

Profile

Can add and remove tags
Can view all events that the user is attending, saved, or is hosting

Challenges

Creating an effective design system that was unique from existing nightlife apps
Defining what "nightlife" is
Learning Figma prototyping tools

Challenges

Creating an effective design system that was unique from existing nightlife apps
Defining what "nightlife" is
Learning Figma prototyping tools

Challenges

Creating an effective design system that was unique from existing nightlife apps
Defining what "nightlife" is
Learning Figma prototyping tools

Challenges

Creating an effective design system that was unique from existing nightlife apps
Defining what "nightlife" is
Learning Figma prototyping tools

Next Steps

Expand on our branding, including our personality result characters
Introduce features that encourage users to interact with each other
Design a page for creating an event
Conduct more user testing

Next Steps

Expand on our branding, including our personality result characters
Introduce features that encourage users to interact with each other
Design a page for creating an event
Conduct more user testing

Next Steps

Expand on our branding, including our personality result characters
Introduce features that encourage users to interact with each other
Design a page for creating an event
Conduct more user testing

Next Steps

Expand on our branding, including our personality result characters
Introduce features that encourage users to interact with each other
Design a page for creating an event
Conduct more user testing

Thanks for looking at my case study!

You found a bonus part of this case study! Another result of this project was the friendship our team formed. Here is a photo of Team Nightlife during a trip we took to San Francisco. 😊🌁

Thanks for looking at my case study!

You found a bonus part of this case study! Another result of this project was the friendship our team formed. Here is a photo of Team Nightlife during a trip we took to San Francisco. 😊🌁

Thanks for stopping by, let's connect! 💌

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