Keyla Jones
HomeAboutContactMenu

My Scotland Wedding - Mobile App

Challenge: Develop a mobile experience that helps users discover scotland wedding venues from the comfort of their homes

Deliverables: Strategy, User research report, Personas, Storyboards, User Journey Map, User Flow Chart, Sketches, UI, and Prototype.

Role: Product Designer

Goals and Objectives

Develop a mobile experience that helps users discover scotland wedding venues from the comfort of their homes

Challenges

  • Time - Users lack the time commitment it takes to visit multiple wedding venues, and for those out of the country, it adds additional time needed to fly over.
  • Budget - Users have difficulty knowing what venues fit into their budgets upfront. Many venues lack up-front pricing until after interest in booking has been made.
  • Accessibility and Diversity - Many venues lack the necessary information regarding accessibility or diversity that users need to make an informed decision.

Process

I started the UX design process with preliminary user research to understand the current market and opportunities. I then turned to user research to understand pain points the users face, analyzed the findings and defined the main tasks the product should accomplish. I developed the concept into UI sketches and tested it with possible users. Using Figma, it was then converted into hi-fi prototypes.

RESEARCH

Preliminary Research

Since I was unaware of the wedding venue marketing, I conducted a competitive analysis of direct and in-direct competitors to understand key demographics, gaps in the market, and opportunities.

Visit Scotland logo

DIRECT COMPETITOR

STRENGTHS

Lots of venue options

Guides for getting married

Honeymoon ideas

Trustworthy brand

Check availability feature

Accessibility information

WEAKNESSES

Lots of clicks needed

Pricing is not clear

No catering options

Hard to find venue details

Difficult to find photos

Not an intuitive design

Destination Weddings Scotland logo

DIRECT COMPETITOR

STRENGTHS

Legal information

Personal vibe

Organized design

Sample pricing available

Clear branding

Menu is easy to navigate

WEAKNESSES

Font is hard to read

Not mobile friendly

No photos of actual venue

No layout/sqft information

No catering menu

No search feature

The Knot logo

INDIRECT COMPETITOR

STRENGTHS

Helps you keep track

Inclusive design

Photos of layout

360 tour of venues

Venue capacity information

Search by accommodations

WEAKNESSES

Not a responsive design

Not mobile friendly

Pricing is not upfront

Not an intuitive design

Wedding Wire logo

INDIRECT COMPETITOR

STRENGTHS

Track venues

Make a guest list

Wedding website builder

Fully responsive

Check availability feature

Reviews and photos from users

WEAKNESSES

Pricing is not upfront

Lacking accessibility information

Hard to find information

Navigation is very complicated

Inconsistent brand

User Research and Key Findings

To understand the key demographics within the Scotland Wedding business, I conducted a preliminary survey of those who are planning a Scotland wedding or will be in the near future. After the key demographics were determined, selected a few individuals for interviews to better understand the problem and uncover user pain points.

Personas

After analyzing the data, I created two persona to assist with communicating information gathered about the prospective end user throughout the design process.

Storyboards

To further stakeholder buy-in, I created two storyboards regarding the effects the new app will have on the end user.


IDEATION

Concept and Strategy

Using the user journey map, I was able to narrow down the main flow of the app along with potential missing opportunities. This helped create a clear navigation and user flow that will be intuitive for the user.

User Journey Map and User Flow Chart

To communicate the concept, I generated a user flow chart.

ACTION

1. Download app and search

TASK LIST

  1. Download app
  2. Input search location
  3. Set desired distance from location

FEELINGS

  • Excited to get started
  • Impatient

IMPROVEMENT OPPORTUNITIES

  • Suggest other locations based on search
  • Show top venues

ACTION

2. Filter results

TASK LIST

  1. Filter by price, sqft, accessibility needs, ect
  2. Scroll through/view list of venues
  3. Click on each possible venues

FEELINGS

  • Intimidated by all the options
  • Frustrated by multiple clicks

IMPROVEMENT OPPORTUNITIES

  • Flippable photos, videos and specifications
  • Price front and center

ACTION

3. Narrow down choice

TASK LIST

  1. Open multiple pages for venues of interest
  2. Review each specification
  3. Review videos, layout, space, accessibility

FEELINGS

  • Happy by all the possibilities
  • Stress about making a choice

IMPROVEMENT OPPORTUNITIES

  • Save venues of interest
  • Compare venue features
  • Easy checklist to see what the venue has and doesn't

ACTION

4. Contact venue for availability

TASK LIST

  1. Select venue
  2. Find contact information
  3. Contact venie about date wait for response

FEELINGS

  • Impatient about response
  • Anxious about availability

IMPROVEMENT OPPORTUNITIES

  • Easy to find contact information
  • Chatbot that can check dates and answered FAQs
  • Reserve your own dates

ACTION

5. Book venue

TASK LIST

  1. Reserve dates/check out
  2. Enter details
  3. Wait for confirmation and next steps

FEELINGS

  • Excited to be finished
  • Nervous something will go wrong

IMPROVEMENT OPPORTUNITIES

  • Costs front and center
  • Down payment expected
  • Instant confirmation and next steps for ease of mind

Lo-Fi Sketches

I sketched many options for each screen, constantly referencing the target audience, user pain points, and design objectives to create an intuitive experience that will allow users to virtually tour and reserve Scotland wedding venues from the comfort of their homes.

Based on my research insights, I prioritized three main objectives:

  • Provide a platform where users can easily narrow down and search for desired venues;
  • Provide a platform with up-front information for each venue with the option to tour it virtually;
  • Provide a platform where users can easily reserve the venue straight from the app.

PROTOTYPE

Hi-Fi Prototype

During this stage, I iterated on my design based on the Lo-Fi usability study findings. I discovered that there was confusion around reserving the venue and checking out, misunderstandings of what the blog post section was, and how to access the user profile. Therefore, I focused on improving the above while finalizing the UI design.

Clickable Prototype

The clickable prototype was created to test and validate the design. It was very useful in understanding how real users navigate the app and I gained realistic insights on what worked well and what required further improvement. The prototype only includes the aspects that I planned to get users on.


VALIDATE

Conclusion

After reaching back out to our original research participants to share the final designs, I received many compliments on the innovation of this app. Many users shared that they felt many of their pain points were successfully addressed and that they would love to use the app to plan their wedding.

“This app would be very helpful to planning my future wedding. I would like to have all the information upfront so I can make the best decision!” ~ Usability Participate

Below is the results from our Hi-Fi usability study:

  • (20% increase) 4 out of 5 users were able to virtually tour a venue
  • (60% increase) 5 out of 5 users were able to successfully search for a venue.
  • (60% increase) 5 out of 5 users were able to successfully reserve a venue.
  • (60% increase) 4 out of 5 users intuitively knew what the blog section was, with the name change.

After Thoughts

This UX case study was very insightful for my first project. At the beginning of this project, I found it difficult on how I was going to fit all the needed content in a way that wouldn’t be overwhelming while also being intuitive. However, I feel that starting with Lo-Fi sketches gave me the room to try different placements before investing time into creating a Hi-Fi product. Additionally, I gained valuable feedback from my usability studies that really helped ensure a great user experience.

Note: This UX study was done as a learning experience. My Scotland Wedding is not an actual company.