Headliner.io provides a platform that brings together those looking to book entertainment for an event, making it easier for performers to reach a wider audience and for those looking for a live act to find something truly unique and special.
THE MOTIVATION
TO CREATE PROFILE PAGES THAT ARE INFORMATIVE AND EXCITING
To communicate effectively to those looking for a live performance for their event what each artists on headliner.io offers, and create a cohesive experience throughout the platform, it is necessary to create guidelines for artists to help them set up a profile that communicates who they are in a format that is easy to replicate.
THE CHALLENGE
TO PROVIDE INFORMATION IN A FORMAT THAT WOULD CONVEY EMOTION
To help event planners to browse through a number of acts and decide which one will create the experience they are looking to achieve.
THE APPROACH
MY ROLE
As team leader, I collaborated with two UX designers. During a one day hackathon we worked on end-to-end UX design process and developed and UX strategy and design that brings into alignment the needs of the users on both sides of the market, as well as the business needs of our client.
RESEARCH AND COMPETITIVE ANALYSIS
Together, the team and I carried out industry research and competitive analysis to understand how other service providers looked to reach out to users and to to market the acts listed within their platform.
USER RESEARCH
Using UX design methodologies such as task analysis, user flows and user journeys we were able to create personas to guide and inspire the design.
DISCOVERY AND INSIGHTS
Using our research and personas, we worked to design a product that would respond to all of our users' needs with empathy, while also balancing Headliner's business goals.
EXPERIENCE STRATEGY AND VISION
Our goal was to communicate the sensory experience that each act would create at an event, allowing people to make the best decision through the Headliner platform while creating a cohesive experience throughout the website for those looking to hire a performance for an event.
PLANNING AND SCOPE DEFINITION
Working on a tight schedule, it was important to stay focused to ensure the scope of our work was clearly delineated and we were able to deliver the best design solution to the brief.
Ensuring the team moved on through each stage of the design process was very important given the time frame.
OVERSIGHT AND COORDINATION
Allocating tasks to each team member and coming together again to deliver a cohesive product and presentation of research and design.
IDEATION, VALIDATION AND DESIGN EXECUTION
With our personas in mind we executed future analysis and prioritisation to guide the design studio session from which we moved on to paper prototype for testing and re-iterations.
RESEARCH AND COMPETITIVE ANALYSIS
MAKE SURE TO STAND OUT
There are many competitors providing a similar service, helping people find and book and act for their event. All face the same problem, how to provide the information needed to make a decision when what is being bought is a sensory experience that will exist within an over all event, and how to present each different act in a cohesive experience through their own platform.
We found that each service provider is addressing this same problem in very different ways using different designs.
COMPETITORS
USER RESEARCH
THE PARADOX OF CHOICE
Given the scope of the project we focused on how event planners decide which events to book. Our goal was to deliver a design solution that will help them arrive at a decision with the information provided on headliner.io.
Planning an event is stressful and the pressure to ensure guests have a good time is big. However, given time and money resources, the internet is a great place to help the research stage, providing inspiration and information to support the decision making process.
Increasingly, people are trusting the internet to purchase goods and services that they would not have had risked before without having had direct experience of it.
A live performance is one of those high risk "purchases". However, with technological advances it is possible to help the decision making process and reduce search barriers between artists and event planners and help both parties find each other.
TASK ANALYSIS
To understand the decision making process we did a task analysis breaking down each step the users will take when browsing an deciding which live act to book.
USER FLOWS
Having analysed each task we did a user flow to show each part of the process that involved making a decision and highlight those areas where the user might encounter difficulties.
We can see below the flow from the point the user has arrived to headliner.io. For the scope of this one day project, we assume the user has decided he wants to book a live performance and is in the research stage. He has now arrived to the Headliner platform.
OUR PERSONA
We put our research together to create a persona that represented the average user of Headliner.io. Please meet Ahmed. He is getting married soon. Music is very important to him and this is the part of the wedding where he will not compromise on.
USER JOURNEY
DISCOVERY AND INSIGHTS
MAKE IT EASY
Music and entertainment are important elements of every event. Live performances can have a big effect on attendants' experiences and memories and therefore are important considerations when planning an event.
There are many things that form part of the decision making process, but the most important is, what kind of experience will it create. How will it sound, how will it look, how will guests experience and enjoy the performance, and how will it sit within the context of the event.
Our research allowed us to find a hierarchical pattern in the decision making process to guide our design.
Genre, set list, and availability date, user reviews and information about how the performers look, behave and interact with guests, are deciding factors when booking. After this the next consideration is price, and then there are also the logistics to think about.
It is important to ensure the user is able to make a decision as easily as possible by helping them gather and store inspiration and helping them decide which performer is best for them.
EXPERIENCE STRATEGY AND VISION
INSPIRE AND ENCOURAGE DISCOVERY. FACILITATE DECISION MAKING
We developed a product that would create a great experience for those looking for a live performance for any event and help the decision making process in a one stop platform.
Our goal was to provide the information needed to make a decision in an exciting way and remove information overload.
Each act will be clearly represented, conveying a sensory experience that is easily replicable for each artist, providing a cohesive experience throughout the website.
It was important for us to provide a feel of the experience that would be created by each act from the outset, to really communicate not only the music and the live performance sound, look and feel, but also the personality of the artists.
Information architecture principles were used to supply all the important information using a clear hierarchy to inform and support the decision making process. It was important for this information to be conveyed in a way that would sit well with Headliner's branding.
All profiles need to effectively communicate the artists brand, and be informative for the event planner, both in an emotional-sensory way. and in a conceptual way
THE FINAL DESIGN
START WITH THE MUSIC
Our final design prioritised the artists music and live performance.
We added a quote form reviews at the top so this is sone of the very firs things the user sees. User reviews was very important thing users so we also added average review rating under the image of the musician. This is a clickable link that will take the user to the reviews further down the page.
We placed a playlist at the centre of the page as this is the most important thing for the user. Next to it we placed a clear call to action, this is located underneath a calendar showing dates available.
We moved the original bio and replaced it by a smaller more condensed version located under the average rating. Underneath this, we placed the artist's links to social media including SoundCloud.
A video of the live act was included. Our research indicates that after having decided for genre and over sound style, the next step is to know how does the artist look/behave when performing.
As the user scrolls down the page there are increasing levels of detailed information. We included a gallery of past performances and then user reviews.
After the gallery we placed all the information the user will be interested to know if has decided he wants to indeed book the act. We placed this under a clickable menu labelled "Booking Information”.
Under the "Booking Information" menu we included information such as how long does the performance usually last, price, who is part of the act, such as singers, musicians, back singers, and also if the musicians have a set list or one can be requested.
We also included information about set up requirements and what type of music they play in addition to what has been listed in the main page.
HOW WE GOT THERE
FEATURE ANALYSIS AND PRIORITISATION
Using our research we carried out feature analysis and prioritisation. ensuring information was given to the user in accordance to the hierarchyof the decision making process
THE FUTURE
THERE IS ALWAYS ROOM FOR IMPROVEMENT
If I was able to continue to work on this project, it would be interesting to look at the artists side. What do they do to get bookings, and what platforms they use to market and why. I would like to know what problems do they commonly encounter and where.
It would be also interesting to investigate form their perspective what information they believe is important to convey to their potential clients and why do they chose to complete their profiles the way they do at the moment.
I would conduct interviews with users and produce profile set up guidelines for testing.
We could also execute low fidelity, annotated wireframes as well as a mock up of the final design.
WHAT I LEARNT
INFORMATION CANNOT ONLY COMMUNICATE CONCEPTS, IT ALSO CONVEYS EMOTION
Live acts are important int he atmosphere and over all experience created at events. Choosing an act can be stressful, and to succeed, it is important to be able to remove some of the difficulty from the decision making process allowing users the confidence to make a decision with the information provided online.
If I was able to continue to work on this project, it would be interesting to look at the artists side. What do they do to get bookings, and what platforms they use and why. I would like to know what problems do they commonly encounter and where.
I would conduct interviews with users and produce profile set up guidelines for testing. We could also execute low fidelity annotated wireframes as well as a mock up of the design.