OVERVIEW:
As a Fall 2022 cohort member of LavaLab, the premier startup incubator at USC, I had the opportunity of working with two developers and a product manager to develop an idea into an MVP. Through this experience, our team created Spotlight, a price comparison platform for concert and sports tickets in the form of a browser extension. By web scraping from eight different ticket websites, Spotlight is able to find users a better seat and price for the current ticket selected at checkout.
MY ROLE:
As the solo designer on the team, I was responsible for communicating with the engineers about my vision of Spotlight, conducting user and market research, establishing a cohesive visual identity, creating a comprehensive design system, consolidating user flows, crafting high-fidelity wireframes/prototypes, performing usability testing, and developing engaging slide decks for LavaLab Demo Night, TroyLabs LAUNCH, TroyLabs DEMO, Z Fellows, and Crescent Fund.
01. Challenge
How can we help users find the best price and seat for events?
DESIGN CHALLENGE
How might we help people find cheaper and better seats on different ticket platforms?
Looking for the best prices among different ticket platforms can be a frustrating experience for users. At the end of the day, there may still be a nagging feeling of whether or not the ticket purchased was indeed, the best price and the best seat.
To see the bigger picture, the ticketing industry is fragmented, as hiked prices have caused outrage amongst sports and concert fanatics. Furthermore, different ticket websites have their individual ordering and pricing methods, making it difficult for users to find the best price.
Multiple websites with different prices and seats
OUR GOAL
Long Term Vision
By creating Spotlight, we aim to provide fans with a trustworthy source that brings them the best deal, while also supporting a deeper level of transparency in the ticketing industry. Our goal is to offer a platform that is easy to use, consistently delivering Spotlight users the best seats in the house.
8-in-1 ticket price comparison platform
PROBLEM CONTEXT
Understanding the Problem
The existing user-experience for ticket sales is suboptimal. In search of the lowest prices, customers have to engage in a time consuming process that results in a vast medley of experience issues. Expensive/unfairly priced tickets, countless tabs, multiple accounts on various websites, and different order-placing processes with all separate checkouts all add to a friction-filled experience for users just looking for a low priced ticket.
02. Research & Define
How did I conduct research and define project objectives?
RESEARCH
Understanding the ticket purchasing experience
After realizing the outrageous price differences amongst different ticketing platforms, I decided to conduct interviews and find out:
1. the demographic that is purchasing sports and concert tickets
2. the process from searching a ticket to purchasing a ticket
3. opinions on the ease of ticket purchasing process
4. user pain points when purchasing tickets
I created an interview guide that allowed the Spotlight team to follow a structured interviewing process, while also being able to understand the motivations and pain points that occur in ticket purchasing experiences.
Gathering Insights
After surveying 35 individuals from various backgrounds, it became apparent that event goers are not only skeptical of ticket prices in the industry, but they have also expressed a frustration for hidden fees and a strong desire to compare prices across platforms for better deals.
FURTHER MARKET RESEARCH
Analyzing Reddit Forums
After reading multiple Reddit forums, I was able to get a better understanding of the various pain points users face when purchasing tickets online. With gathered insights, I identified the main user pain points that can be transformed into features:
1. annoying hidden fees (Ex. service fees & order processing fees)
2. multiple tabs with varying prices and nearly identical seat options
3. overwhelming array of seat choices
DEFINE
User Journey Map
After gaining valuable insights through interviews and online resources, I wanted to have a deeper understanding of the specific challenges customers face when purchasing a ticket. Thus, I decided to create a journey map to understand the users' shoes and identify pain points at specific touchpoints.
COMPETITIVE ANALYSIS
Analyzing the Competition
In essence, Spotlight is a simple idea with a vast market potential, albeit faced with strong competitors. When we think of similar SaaS products that utilize price comparison and aggregation, Honey, Expedia, and Capital One come to mind.
While Honey and Capital One aggregate everyday essentials, Expedia stands out by not only being a travel fare aggregator, but also a ticketing platform for sports and concerts. Following through research, we found that TicketRadar is the most similar software when it comes to a browser extension that compares ticket prices.
PRODUCT GOALS
User Goal & Business Goal
User Goal: By narrowing down the main user pain points, it becomes clear that users want full price transparency, accessible seat view and location, and an intuitive interface that consolidates choices from various ticket platforms.
Business Goal: Spotlight's main business goal is to promote transparency and cohesion in the ticketing industry by challenging Ticketmaster's monopoly and empowering smaller ticketing companies to sell available tickets more often.
03. Ideating & Prototyping
How can we incorporate business goals and user needs in our ideation process?
USER + TASK FLOW
Breaking Down Interface Experience
By creating user flows and task flows, I was able to effectively communicate my vision to the engineers, while also aligning the team and uncovering potential opportunities for improvement from both user and technical standpoints.
VISUAL IDENTITY
Design System
To streamline the product development process, I created a design system that empowers both the engineers and myself as the designer, to ensure scalability, accessibility, and consistency when it comes to typography, spacing, and color.
EXPLORATIONS
Constant Iteration
Every final iteration is narrowed down through meticulous detail and continuous trial-and-error. After going back and forth with my co-founders, I settled on the final version out of the countless iterations that would help us achieve our shared vision and meet the needs of our target audience.
04. Product
What are the main features that Spotlight has to offer to users?
05. Testing & Validation
How can we validate the efficiency and impact of the designs?
REITERATION #1
Amount Saved
User feedback indicated that ‘$ each’ and ‘Buy for $’ is redundant.
Takeaway: Replacing ‘$ each’ with ‘Save $’ would give users better insight and reasoning to make an informed ticket purchase.
REITERATION #2
Technical Feasibility
I was informed by my developer that the web scraping for seat view and location was not feasible for all eight ticket platforms.
Takeaway: I decided to create an alternative, ‘Ticket Comparison’ tab that clearly identifies the better seat through a simple section, row, and price comparison.
REITERATION #3
Keep It Simple
The original ‘Best Deal’ Screen took a large amount of real estate, hindering other potential features being used.
Takeaway: I created a more visually appealing and compact screen without an unnecessary CTA button.
06. Results & Learnings
What challenges, lessons, and results did I experience?
RESULTS
Progress & Traction
Throughout the two semesters, Spotlight successfully established partnerships with four major ticket platforms: SeatGeek, Gametime, TickPick, and Stubhub. With these partnerships in place, Spotlight will collect a modest 5-7% commission fee per transaction.
RESULTS
The Startup Journey
Spotlight’s startup journey has led to numerous accolades:
LavaLab Demo Night Winner ($1000).
TroyLabs LAUNCH 1st Place Winner ($1500).
TroyLabs DEMO 3rd Place Winner ($500).
Product launch on April 5 has led to:
#16 and 100+ upvotes on Product Hunt.
Ryan Hoover, Founder & CEO of Product Hunt, commenting.
500+ Chrome Web Store downloads.
Spotlight has gained attention from notable players in the startup ecosystem:
Round 1 Interview from Y Combinator.
Z Fellows & Crescent Fund Interview.
Buildspace S3 Acceptance.
1st Place - TroyLabs LAUNCH S23
KEY TAKEAWAYS
Conclusions & Lessons Learned
Constantly Pivoting: Through the many months of building in stealth, our team had to pivot countless times due to unforeseen circumstances. After being part of such a momentous learning experience, I began to realize that constant iterations, discarded screens, and unused features were just and will always be part of the process when working towards a full-fledged product.
Recognizing Cognitive Bias: As the only designer on a project for almost a year, it was challenging to avoid personal bias and getting pigeon holed when designing for hours on end. To mitigate bias, I made a conscious decision to gather feedback from various individuals and separate my own needs from user needs. Ultimately, listening to users has helped me tremendously when identifying pain points, behavioral patterns, and invaluable preferences.
Importance of Design System: Since Spotlight was my first big, solo project, I came to the realization that without a set design system, it would be difficult to provide the consistency and cohesion needed for a seamless user experience. Moving forward, I would undoubtably prioritize creating a design system during the early stages of product ideation, where we would not only scale faster, facilitate better collaboration, but also ensure easy onboarding process for future team members.
Check out some of my other projects!
