Discovery
The Process
UR Planner is a mobile prototype designed as part of my foundation project at Kenzie Academy. It’s an online resource for Event Planners, streamlining the scheduling process while also improving communications between event planners, venue staff and vendors. UR PLANNER makes it easier for Event Planners to monitor every stage of the event planning process from the palm of their hand.

Ur Planner

Section of the user flow
Ideate
I started by identifying key frames in the user flow chart and did initial sketches, ideating on at least three versions per frame. By creating an array of options I was able to identify elements that helped the user complete tasks as easily as possible.  After several rounds of iteration I was able to bring a workable version to the users I previously interviewed for User testing.
Initial sketches for adding a venue
Initial sketches for choosing a vendor
The start of the planning process
Lo-fidelity wireframes
Test
Users were asked to go through the planning section of the app, picking the event type, entering when the event is, number of guests, adding location and landing on the search results page.

The feedback that led to design changes:
 
Adding a button that allows the user to bypass venue selection (i.e. getting married on the family farm).

Not using the verbage “Booked” because the user has only selected a venue, not paid for, or put a deposit down for the venue.

A proposed change that would require additional research to implement:

Allowing vendors to edit or modify the Day of Schedule.
Reflection
This project reinforced how important it is to really listen to your users during the interview process. The three event planners I talked with all work in very different aspects of the industry.  A couple work for a large company that hosts international events, another owns her own company and hosts wedding in a small town in Indiana. I assumed that they wouldn’t have much in common due to the size of the events they host but was surprised to find their user needs did overlap.  Their insights helped to create a useful product that I am proud of.
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The Challenge
UR PLANNER allows the user to quickly check availability of venues and vendors without having to waste time with phone calls and site visits.  Also, by offering a central communications hub, UR PLANNER keeps all members of the event team on the same page, making on-site management of events much smoother.
Streamlining the planning process by eliminating the need for venue site visits and multiple phone calls to check availability.
Increasing onsite communications between event planner, venue staff     and vendors.
Following the creation of the user flow, my attention turned to intial wireframe sketches. These low fidelity sketches gave an initial impression of how the content will be layed out on the screen.

At this stage I thought there would be a need for menus at the top of the screen as well as the nav bar at the bottom.  All the designs at this stage had that element, which was later folded into the profile icon on the nav bar.
Prototype
Using the user tested wireframes I began building a high fidelity interactive prototype in Figma. I chose a color scheme that was light and airy and tried to keep the screens clean and easy to navigate.
Figma prototypes
Interactive Prototype
I was resonsible for every aspect of this design.