TIMELINE
ROLE
Product Designer
TEAM
Just me!
DISCIPLINES
UX Research
Prototyping
Branding
FINAL OUTCOME
A mobile app that streamlines the experience of attending live EDM shows, enabling fans to stay connected with their favorite artists while strengthening community engagement.
OVERVIEW
What if EDM fans had a dependable way to keep track of shows they want to attend?
There is currently no convenient and comprehensive resources fans can rely on to find and track EDM shows. This gap in the market for a reliable and user-friendly show tracker was the starting point for GlowSync.
SOLUTION
GlowSync: A complete platform for planning and organizing your next EDM experience.
Personalized recommendations and comprehensive event details.
Robust search and filter options tailored to even the most niche EDM genres and artists.
Track your commitments, genres, favorite DJs, and friends.
INITIAL OBSERVATIONS
Why is there always so many questions when planning for EDM shows?
As my friends and I are very into EDM, I get to listen to the excitement in everyone's voices when a favorite DJ is coming to town. I also incredulously observe the same planning chaos unfold every time.
Lore accurate replay of trying to organize an outing to an EDM show — every time!
Which results in a constant scramble of searching Instagram and Google over and over, scraping together the same bits of information. This made me wonder…
Is keeping up with EDM events—from discovery to attendance—more complicated than it should be?
MARKET RESEARCH
What about the existing services?
The EDM community is massive and extremely active, so I assumed there must be existing websites and apps fans already use to find shows.
After analyzing each competitor, I found that they all fell short and failed to deliver a comprehensive solution.
SPEAKING WITH USERS
There is no central resource fans can use to find and track EDM shows.
I initiated discussions with EDM fans to see if there were any frustrations around finding and keeping up with EDM shows, which led to two key pain points:
"I have to follow a dozen different Instagram accounts just to keep track of what's happening in my city. It clogs my feed and even then, I might still miss a show."
"It gets tiring checking multiple calendars or digging through social media every time I go out."
“There are lots of little details to keep straight, multiplied if you’re going to several shows. It feels like more responsibility than I would like it to be.”
PAIN POINTS
1. Keeping up is cumbersome
The fragmented resources requires extra effort from the fan to juggle logistical details, and becomes an added stressor.
2. Built up micro frustrations
When the main goal is to enjoy the show, the complicated planning process quickly becomes exhausting.
How might we create an convenient and user-friendly experience for finding and tracking EDM shows?
SCOPING
Narrowing the scope through feature prioritization
To determine the final deliverables for the MVP, I applied the MoSCoW framework to prioritize the features that are most essential to the user based on the persona frustrations and research insights.
FEATURE 01
A geo-based centralized hub for all shows.
FEATURE 02
Search curated to EDM DJs and niche sub-genres.
FEATURE 03
A profile page to keep track of personal activity.
DESIGN PROCESS
How might we design a structure that's familiar, intuitive, and complete?
Following the set of features and happy path I defined, I brainstormed the visual layout of the screens and content.
BRANDING
Capturing the essence of the EDM community
Knowing that the app's visual design should reflect the vibrant, electrifying nature of the EDM community, I gathered a broad range of inspiration from illustrations, graphics, and images to build a mood board that best reflected the product's brand.
VISUAL DESIGN
Diving deeper into the visual design choices
Knowing that the app's visual design should reflect the vibrant, electrifying nature of the EDM community, I gathered a broad range of inspiration from illustrations, graphics, and images to build a mood board that best reflected the product's brand.
IMPACT
Does GlowSync solve the pain points?
With the completed prototype, I conducted a final round of testing to validate its value for EDM fans. As a benchmark, I compared how users interacted with a competitors app vs GlowSync.
5 out of 5 participants confirmed GlowSync was a massive usability improvement from the competitor.
4 out of 5 users mentioned unprompted that they could see themselves using this app frequently.
REFLECTION
Understanding your target audience = building a product where they feel heard.
It was gratifying to see that my final product provided an immediate solution for a problem I've observed in real time over the years. By letting my research and the distinctive needs of my persona lead the way, I was able to build a product the EDM community can rely on to attend events.