Designing Delight for Festival Goers

General Info

Client: Conceptual project

Role: UX Designer

Services: Native mobile design

Deliverables: Clickable prototype

Challenge

Conceptualize a mobile application that caters to music lovers of all ages in their search for the ultimate festival experience. Allow users to take a behind-the-scenes look at festivals around the world before deciding which ones to attend

Research

I researched three competitors in the market: FestBlast, Bandsintown and Songkick. I took into consideration how these apps decided which festivals to present to users and the manner in which they presented that information.

I enjoyed Bandsintown’s feature that imports users’ artists via Facebook likes and iTunes, but concluded that the best solution for DROP would be to create ease of use by leveraging users’ existing musical preferences via Spotify, a music streaming app with approximately 100 million users worldwide. For those without Spotify accounts, I’d provide a simple process for manually entering favorite artists, making the experience just as individualized for anyone looking to find the ideal festival for themselves and their friends.

FestBlast was the only app with a specific focus on festivals as opposed to concerts, but the experience was lacking in terms of personalization based on existing musical preferences. With the popularity of festivals amongst millennials, I wanted to combine the best features of Songkick and Bandsintown with an app that catered solely to something that has become almost a rite of passage for my target audience; according to Nielsen, 32 million people attend at least one music festival per year in the U.S. alone, with over half of attendees being between the age of 18-34).

User Stories

1. As a festival goer, I want to be able to connect my Spotify account to the app so that I can get personalized recommendations based on my listening history.
2. As a festival goer, I want to be able to filter music festivals by location, date, and genre so that I can easily find festivals that match my preferences.
3. As a festival goer, I want to be able to create a list of festivals that my friends and I are interested in attending so that we can plan our trips and buy tickets together.
4. As a festival goer, I want to be able to view photos and videos from past festivals, read reviews from other attendees, and get insider tips on the best experiences and activities at each festival.
5. As a festival goer, I want to be able to access a comprehensive festival guide that provides information on what to bring, what to expect, and how to stay safe and enjoy the festival experience to the fullest.

SOLUTION

I created DROP, an native mobile app that allows users to explore music festivals based on their individual music tastes. Upon downloading the app, users can connect their Spotify account and select which artists they’d like to track in order to browse festivals that cater to their existing listening habits. Aspiring festival goers can also browse upcoming events based on location, popularity and newness. DROP users are the first to know when new festivals are announced, when their favorite artists are included in lineups and when tickets go on sale, allowing them to secure entry to the best events around the world.