UX Research
Case Study
Ponte+ Mobile App
Ponte+ is a mobile app for performing arts enthusiasts and organizations to promote, share, and log event memories. This product was ideated and created from scratch, and it will be launched in early 2021.
Methods
Competitor Analysis
In-depth Interviews
Journey Mapping
Prototyping
Team
Kilian Chan
Janet Chu
WeCreate Hong Kong
The Problem
For both arts enthusiasts and performing arts organizations, the current market in major cities like Hong Kong, London, and New York City are not easy to navigate.
Messy Experience Storage
Arts enthusiasts attend so many events and store their reviews and experience through different social media platforms, journals, or physical tickets and catalogs.
Missing Events
Event promotion is not centralized through a specific channel. Arts enthusiasts receive event information by luck via ads, social media, or referrals.
Insufficient Promotion
Arts organizations are unable to reach potential audiences as information is not centralized.
Low Response Rate
Arts organizations receive very few post-event survey and data, thus unable to generate insights through audience’s feedback.
The Approach
Market Research
We conducted an in-depth market research, including a competitor analysis to figure out what is missing and needed in the current market. The research does not only cover the Hong Kong performing arts market, but that of London and New York City.
User Research
We conducted 10+ qualitative interviews with arts enthusiasts from all walks of life, identified their pains and gains, curated personas, and mapped the user journeys. We also talked to multiple arts administrators from major performing arts organizations so as to best suit their needs.
Prototyping
We have outsourced our prototype building process to a design agency. In this stage, I work closely with UX/UI designers to ensure they are designing with the both groups of users in mind.
Database Creation
We manually collected performing arts event information from 2017–2020 under arts organizations of all sizes in Hong Kong, New York City, and London. This database serves as the base and event samples for the app.
The Results
An interactive prototype was created, with two logins and versions from both arts enthusiasts and arts organizations.
Interface for Arts Enthusiasts
From left to right: Store all reviews or personal notes; Add a review; Fill in a post-event survey; Explore events; Browse event details and buy tickets.
Interface for Arts Organizations
From left to right: Dashboard showing key data; Create event for promotion; Event page; Arts organization page.
Lessons Learned
1. Comprehensive User Research is Necessary
As we did not host a large quantity of user interviews or surveys, the data collected is not comprehensive enough to curate persona or archetypes that speak for this product or user journey.
2. Market Research is Limited
We started our market research at the world’s major cities, without taking into any 2nd tier or non-major cities into consideration. Designing the app without the universal design principles in mind makes the product less desirable for the rest of the potential markets. It also makes future iteration and expansion of the product difficult.
3. The First Step is Key
As a perfectionist, I have an intention to make everything perfect before publishing them. Through this project, I learned that products are meant to first appear as imperfect minimum viable products, and you keep adding features, iterating, and updating them to make them truly user-friendly.
