"No ushers?

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Project Overview

Project Prompt

Add a feature to an existing product

My role

UX / UI designer

Ticketmaster Entertainment, Inc. is an American ticket sales and distribution company based in Beverly Hills, California with operations in many countries around the world. Through exclusive partnerships with thousands of venues, artists, sports leagues, and arts and theater tours, Ticketmaster delivers unparalleled access to the most iconic live events to millions of fans worldwide.

Background

Let’s say you are at Chase Center now and going to Coldplay’s concert. You have just passed the security checkpoint and had your mobile ticket scanned, bought on Ticketmaster. This is your first time here, and it’s a bit overwhelming just being inside the stadium as you try to figure out the right direction to go. The ticket information only gives out Section #, Row #, and Seat #; you want to find your seat and meet up with your friends soon.

Rise of the Problem

As an occasional concertgoer, I want to find my seat quickly when I’m in a stadium. However, I get lost easily in any big venue because my sense of direction is pretty bad, which makes me feel helpless every time I lose my way in a new place.

Problem Statement

To provide users with an integral purchasing experience. The ticket gets the user in the door; the wayfinding will guide the user to the dedicated seat.
The current app's interaction with the user ends at the ticket screen. Adding a feature of wayfinding within the Ticketmaster app will allow users who need directional information while they’re inside the venue. The wayfinding feature will use the user’s real-time location and user inputs (level info, for example) to provide the best route to anticipated destinations.

Design Goal and Objectives

On average, it takes about 15-22 minutes for a person to walk a mile. It could be common to take 5-20 mins for someone to look for seats in an arena or stadium. Taking care of the user’s ‘Last Mile’ from the entrance of the venue is the mission of the wayfinding feature.

Taking care of the 'Last Mile'

In 2010, Ticketmaster and Live Nation merged to create Live Nation Entertainment. With 500 million tickets sold annually within 29 countries, they’re the world’s leading ticketing platform, helping artists, venues, festivals, major sports leagues, theater groups, and more get millions of tickets into the hands of fans. The user experience improvements could potentially influence a wide range of users. The wayfinding feature will greatly benefit users to access large-scale venues, particularly stadiums, arenas, ballparks, etc.

Why Ticketmaster

DISCOVER

Research Goal

Learn how people find their way to the seats when they’re at a stadium.
Find out what the most important elements are to help them find their seats.
Understand what users need when it comes to wayfinding.
Learn and evaluate the existing ticketing platforms, map service, and related markets, looking for opportunities in interdisciplinary markets.

Methodologies

Comparative research to see what the current similar service offers on the market.
Competitive analysis to learn the direct competing service provider.
User interviews to learn about their previous experiences and expectations of wayfinding, discover their pain points, and how they solved them.

I have selected both direct and indirect competitors. It covers a ticketing platform (SeatGeek), a map service provider (Google Maps), an app that has a 3D interactive map for its shoppers (SIMON: Malls, Mills & Outlets), and a fan-based and venue-specific information hub for its fans and visitors (San Francisco 49ers).

Competitive Analysis

The existing products on the markets work perfectly in their own sector: the map app provides directions to certain addresses, but it won’t provide further services when you are inside a giant building; the shopper’s app provides an interactive map for users to look up their favorite stores and suggest routes; the fan and venue-based app provides news and facility information but has limited details when it comes to providing wayfinding within the venue. Did I sniff a chance to enhance the user's experience of attending live events and help their navigation while they’re at the venue?

Summary of Findings

Here, I’m proposing the following four provisional personas to represent the user groups.

Provisional Personas

The user interviews were structured in two parts. First, an open conversation about general habits of wayfinding. How’s their sense of direction? How do they locate themselves when in new places? Second, ask about their most recent experience at an event venue and how they found their seats. Below is an affinity map that I observed from the 1-on-1 user interviews.

User Interview

Key Findings

Most users will look for signage to locate themselves and find ways around.
Some users rely on their memories and common sense to find places after their initial walk in the space.
When in a new space, users want to see the overall map and know their current location.
Users want to check out the surrounding spots, e.g., food vendors, bars, restrooms, and merch stores.
Usually, the venue staff will give out brief directions after scanning tickets.
Sometimes it’s not easy to find staff to get immediate help, especially in the middle of the event.
Users want to know the best route to their seats when they arrive at the venue.
Some users want to view their friends’ current locations and interact with them if seatings are separated.
Users want to mark their parking spot if they parked at the venue’s garage.

DEFINE

Michi and Damien were created to represent two different types of user groups. Both love attending live events, while Michi’s sense of direction at large-scale venues is not so good. She needs additional help when it comes to finding places for seats, restrooms, bars, etc. Damien considers himself pretty good at directions, and thinks it’s a good habit aware of the surroundings.

Persona

A girl who loves attending concerts but could easily get lost in a stadium and needs to find her way to the seat by herself because she’s running late and needs to join her friends’ group soon.

POV Statement

How might we provide users with critical information that helps them find their seats in a large-scale venue quickly?

How might we…

Design Decisions

Provide an overall map and show the user’s current location.
The map shall show the best route from the current location to the seat/destination.
Build the route navigation and show the status.
Show on the map surroundings and categories navigation of the spots.
Provide a list of spots and general information if possible.
Work on the UI elements, use brand assets, and follow the styling guide.
Consider incorporating the map of the venue garage/parking lot and let users mark up their parking location.
Consider integrating a feature that lets friends share their current location.

DEVELOPE

The design process centered around integrating the wayfinding into the existing product and providing step-by-step instructions for route directions. Therefore, on the existing ‘My Events’ page, a ‘Venue Map’ button has been added right below the individual event item. The button ‘View Seat in Map’ on the ticket detail page will take the user to the route page showing the suggested route to the seat.
The map view provides several key pieces of information: the search bar, the category, the level information, finding seat, and exit. The ‘Find Exit’ button was created to help users enable immediate access to view the route to the closest exit in case of an emergency as well as exiting the venue after the event.
For the navigation, the directions are presented in both text and map view. It gives out example signage pictures for users to identify their exact locations. When the user arrives at his/her section, the instructions rely more on text descriptions to identify the row and seat locations. The audio instruction and wheelchair-accessible route are also available throughout the navigation.

Sketching

Low-fidelity Wireframes

Followed the brand book on every aspect to stay consistent with the existing Ticketmaster App.

High-fidelity Wireframes

DELIVER

Participants were given 2 separate tasks to perform: to access the venue map from the events page and use the navigation after scanning the digital ticket. These tasks were designed to test the accessibility of the feature and the navigation flows. Following the tasks, participants were encouraged to share their thoughts on how they would utilize this feature at the venue.

Usability Test

The participants were able to finish the tasks and navigate through the wayfinding steps. Users appreciated the intuitive access to the map function and clear navigation instructions throughout this feature. Many of them consider this feature could help them to find their way in live event venues. In response to showing the hierarchy of action items on the ‘My Events’ page, the ‘Venue Map’ button has been revised to a secondary button. In this way, the ‘View Ticket’ button stays primary with solid brand color.

Takeaways and Improvements

The experience of buying event tickets online seems to end at the payment has been made successfully. However, by the time the users arrive at the venue and get their tickets scanned, the next thing that pops into their heads immediately probably will be “where am I going?” The chances are, the staff who just scanned your tickets might offer initial direction to get you started. For the rest part, you are on your own. The event venue could be enormous, and probably there are already tons of people inside. Sometimes, it could be overwhelming on arrival. With the wayfinding feature being provided at this moment, the users will have instant access to see their current location at the venue, where their seats are, and what’s the best route to get there. It could greatly help the user to get in the mood for the event rather than worrying about where to go first.
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From the accessibility standpoint, this wayfinding feature provides audio and wheelchair routes for those with different needs. Where is the nearest elevator? Where’s the ramp to get to that platform? Can I listen to the directions instead of looking at my phone? We got you!Coming from a background in architectural design, I had to provide direct access for the users to find the closest exit at all times. It could also work as the access to find the way out when the event is over or just to have peace of mind about where to go in case of an emergency. The signages and safety exit routes at large venues could appear very limited when you’re surrounded by crowds of people. Being able to access that information on your screen over a few taps could enhance public safety greatly.
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Buying digital tickets is a virtual experience; you are paying for the live events that you are about to see in reality. Getting your tickets scanned is just the beginning of all the excitement and happiness. Let the wayfinding feature be your usher and take you to the place where the magic happens.

Project Reflection

What needs to happen next will be running feasibility checks with developers during synthesis, collecting a larger quantity of usability feedback, and sharing usability test results with stakeholders. In that way, I can learn about how the developers might handle the situation.
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From the indoor map development aspect, there are existing indoor map services available on the market. For example, Google Indoor Maps, Mappedin, Point Inside, Visioglobe, MapsIndoors, Navigine, etc. Does the team want to develop the in-house map library or utilize existing services? With over 150 venues across North America, does the team want to start with some of the venues that are directly managed by Live Nation?
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It got brought up during a group discussion that there might be reception issues at the venue. How can the user use the map when the mobile reception is not reliable? Maybe provide maps that can be saved locally and allow the user to pull them out at any time. Maybe it doesn’t have to because the venue might provide wifi. Or, as one of the participants mentioned during the usability test: “Personally, I won’t sweat too much if the technology doesn’t work for some reason. Because I always can ask people around.”

Next Step

Adding wayfinding to

"No ushers?

No problem!"