About Concert Buddies
Concert Buddies is a platonic matchmaking app built to help solo concertgoers find a buddy to attend their event with them. The matching process puts the control in the user's hand, allowing them to personalize their profile and set filters to increase chances of better connections. In addition, users can explore and save a variety of concerts, find links to ticket vendors, upgrade to a premium package for exclusive features, and chat in-app.
Skills: UI Design, Wireframing, Prototyping, Testing and Research
Approach
Using Lean UX, my team had 8 weeks to design a location-based matchmaking app that focuses on concert-centered connections.
Team Lead
Tools
MS Teams, Discord, FigJam, Figma, Canva
Why Design This App?
Despite my longing to attend concerts, my friends' differing music preferences often left me solo. However, an invitation to a TWICE concert changed that, and funnily enough, we bonded with a girl who came alone. We danced to the music and sang along to our favorite songs, discussing our favorite members between sets. This experience inspired the concept of Concert Buddies, aiming to connect solo concertgoers with compatible companions. By allowing users to match based on musical tastes and interests, the app seeks to alleviate the apprehension of attending events alone, fostering friendships and memorable experiences in the process
Sprint 1
In Sprint 1--divided into Design Week 0, Sprint 1 Week 1, and Sprint 1 Week 2--my team and I filled out a Lean UX Canvas, crafted proto-personas, explored our product domain, and conducted initial interviews. While completing the Canvas, we operated as if our app were real, developing information based on hypothetical scenarios since our stakeholders and business metrics are not truly established.
Sprint 1 Backlog
The Lean UX Canvas encouraged us to embrace assumptions and remain adaptable to change, even if it meant abandoning ideas.
Design Week Zero
Deciphering metrics proved to be a significant challenge, requiring us to delve into understanding key indicators like what observable behaviors indicate user satisfaction. We navigated the Canvas progression and app development, shaping hypotheses and solutions to address our identified challenges. This analytical approach informed the creation of our proto-persona and MVPs, guiding our evaluation of user needs and barriers.
Ultimately, we felt it was necessary to prioritize:
Filters and messaging safety features – we want the user to gain satisfaction through a sense of control of their experience
Shareability – we were unsure how user’s felt about sharing the usage of Concert Buddies to social media, so we wanted to gain insight on this
Matchmaking system – we knew the matchcards would be a core feature but needed to know how they would help user’s build (and go through with) a connection
Week One Interviews
There were three interviews conducted through MS Teams. All interviewees were asked general questions pertaining to our domain. Two of our interviewees tested a low-fidelity wireframe of our chat feature where they were asked to successfully report/block a user. This helped us measure whether reporting and blocking a user to feel a sense of safety, satisfaction, and/or control of their Concert Buddies experience.
Key Takeaways:
Users would like to filter their location to see attendees in their area
Users would like to know whether attendees will participate in pre- and/or post-concert activities
Users feel an icebreaker prompt and list of non-concert related interests would help them initiate conversation/strengthen connection
Users don’t care much about sharing Concert Buddies to social media, but they do care what concerts previously matched buddies are attending/interested in
Users want to set an age range and group limit for the match process
Users successfully found the report/block feature and felt it gave them control of their app experience
Week Two Interviews
All participants (within the young adult to middle-aged range) engaged with a low-fidelity wireframe of our app's core features, including home, chat, profile, and a brief onboarding process. Surprisingly, participants expressed reservations about the concept of "Followers," viewing it as potentially fostering judgment and inauthenticity. Instead, they emphasized the importance of a feature allowing users to review previous connections' activity, prioritizing genuine connection over online popularity.
Key Takeaways:
Users dislike the idea of Followers and “friend requests”
Users found the time stamp and “4” on the chat page to be unclear/confusing
Users emphasized the usage of filters to set their matching preferences
Users want to mark the type of behaviors and habits their seeking in a buddy (ex: no drinkers, no smokers, etc.)
Users like the idea of a time limit to send/receive a message from a new match
Our interviews made us realize the profile page needed to be reworked. The original page was crafted with the intention of users exploring profiles and sending friend requests. We abandoned this idea, planning to limit the profile page to be a place for a user to edit their matchcard – the cards displaying information users will sort through to decide whether to swipe left or right on a potential buddy.
Before
After (Empty)
After (Filled)
Lo-fi Wireframe and Style Guide
The goal of this wireframe was less about aesthetic and more about the arrangement of elements on the page. Focusing on placement of the content and what elements we expect users to interact with on each frame.
For the style guide, our primary inspiration were apps like Bumble and Tinder, wanting to create something the average user would be familiar with while still adding our own twist. I also led a meeting where we voted and discussed our favorite, combining our ideas to craft the final product. Once a logo, palette, and typography were decided, I made a style guide for our members to reference during prototyping.
Sprint 1 Retrospective
At the end of each sprint, our team reflects on what went well, what could’ve gone better, and what we plan to try next Sprint. This reflection makes sure the team continues to be on the same page throughout the creation of Concert Buddies.
Main Takeaways:
We did well adjusting our prototype to include user feedback
Our outcome-to-impact mapping should have a more sensible flow
We should have added more variation to our interview questions
For Sprint 2, we should consider eliminating our Ivy proto-persona since none of users seemed to exhibit her traits/behaviors, needs, or obstacles
Sprint 2
We decided to change our metrics to focus on customer satisfaction and revenue, eliminating growth. We felt the measured behaviors for growth applied better to satisfaction and the addition of a Concert Buddies premium package allows our company to gain revenue.
We went through with the elimination of our Ivy proto-persona. She was made with the concern of users have budgeting and financial limits in mind--our interviews showed that obstacle was not significant.
We updated our Sprint 2 Product Backlog and Sprint Backlog to focus on three primary features: matchcards, home page, and a quick match/premium page.
Sprint 2 Backlog
Week One Interviews
All interviewees tested the first pass of our higher-fidelity prototype with an emphasis on their onboarding experience. This allowed us to witness the choices and behaviors a real person with these traits may display when interacting with our app.
Key Takeaways:
Users enjoyed our color palette, design choices, and easy navigation
Users found the onboarding process to be easy and feel natural/typical of apps in our location-based matchmaking domain
Users did not understand the time limit rings until explained by moderator – once explained, they felt it was a necessary element but suggested we explain the meaning during onboarding
Users want to be able both archive and delete their notifications
Users want to be able to either compare ticket purchase prices or have a link to ticket vendor sites within the app
Week Two Interviews
All interviews tested an updated iteration of our hi-fidelity prototype in full, playing around with it while discussing their experience. In addition, we asked them about their feelings regarding specific interactions and flows. Again, we had an overall positive response with compliments on the cleanliness of Concert Buddies. "Lynn," who had seen multiple iterations of Concert Buddies, was pleased to see her feedback be used to improve our app.
Key Takeaways:
Users enjoyed the aesthetic and feel of our app, noting it’s ease of use
The added explanation of the 48hr time limit cleared up previous confusion
Users felt we should add the artist names to our “Top 5” category
Users enjoyed the advanced filters and matchcards; however, they thought the match choices should relocate to the bottom of the page
Tested Hi-Fi Frames
Matchcards Component
I created the match card component, tweaking it multiple times to implement user feedback and prototype a swipe left/right function for each card. We considered the matchcards our core feature because they would be the start of all buddy connections. We wanted each card to include the user’s bio, interests, behaviors, favorite artists, most recent concert, and a prompt question; however, group matchcards would ditch the prompt question and recent concert elements to show the current members.
First Iteration
Second Iteration
Final Iteration
Sprint 2 Retrospective
Despite there not being another Sprint, we still considered what we would try next and decide whether we need to modify our proto-personas. While we didn’t change our personas, we did elaborate on their needs and obstacles.
Main Takeaways:
We did well keeping our adjusted business outcomes and metrics in mind during the design process
While we applied feedback well, we should have implemented it in a more timely manner so we didn’t have interviewees experience the same issues
We could have dug deeper with our interviewees and pressed for more elaboration on their feelings
Refinement
The primary focus of refinement week was consistency and clean up. I went back into each frame and made sure elements adhered to our style guide. I fixed margins, file hygiene, and tweaked various screens to ensure we had a cleaner, cohesive product.
Pre-Match Lobby
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After
Notifications
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After
Settings
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After
Filters
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Lessons Learned🤯
Lean UX forces designers to put their egos aside to achieve the best outcome in a fast, efficient manner.
I had to become comfortable with presenting something I may dislike and open to my team or users shutting it down. The emphasis on continuity and collaboration can be daunting because you are expected to always be working on something, so you can’t become married to your own ideas—you must evolve with them.
Iterate. Iterate. Iterate.
Iteration is a continuous process that requires you to be open to change, and abandonment, of ideas. Sometimes the best counter to overthinking is to just do–and then build on what you’ve done.
The power of effective coordination and preparation.
A good interview guide can keep the conversation going and result in better quality feedback. In addition, by using task boards, progress trackers, and stand-up meetings, our team maintained steady progression, cohesion, and efficiency.
Our completed features taskboard