NYC.gov

We conducted a 1:1 interview with our users, which consisted of questions about their typical week and lifestyle. Along with the personal interview, there was also a Contextual inquiry where our user had to complete a given task/prompt.

Objective of User Research -
To gain insight into how and why users engage with their community and what mediums lead them to it.

Insights from User Research

• A common finding was that users often rely on their friends to invite them to social or cultural events.
• Users give significance to events hosted at a venue they are familiar with or involve a subject of their interest.
• Users are already busy with their lifestyle, and they hardly get time to look for community events over the web.

We had to determine what problems the users could face and what opportunities we might have for them within the website. Some of the possible options we thought of from this exercise are listed below -

• A more friendly approach by the website for users.
• A way to make the events look more authentic and trustworthy.
• Considering a personal approach rather than a general approach.

What we learned

• Verifying the event or organizer can help build trust for users.
• Having the ability to add an event to calendars will help users commit to events.
• Friendly reminders and notifications are also an excellent way to keep the user engaged with the website.

We created a low-fidelity prototype to be tested by our users. We gave tasks to each user to find out their thoughts and tested this low-fidelity prototype, which resulted in a variety of findings.

What we learned

• This test concluded that most of the users rely on the explore more button.
• Users are more dependent on filtered out events.
• Users tended to explore their options and then go back to one of the events they previously viewed.

Each one of us observed 2 participants during the tree test. We collected data from 17 total participants, and we gave three tasks to the user to understand their thought process and how they navigated through the website.

Tasks included -

• You went to an art festival last month, and you want to find something similar to go to this weekend, where do you find it?
• You want to find an event that’s happening soon, and you want to make sure it is wheelchair accessible. How do you do that?
• You want to go to a tax workshop this weekend in Brooklyn. How do you find one?

What we learned

• Initial choices were easy for participants, but they took longer to explore the whole website.
• Users expect extra information to be available either through filters or on the event page itself.
• The Majority of users preferred to search by Category, then location, and later date.

Tree test led to many new insights about the users and how their flow is through the website. From the findings of the tree test, we analyzed them and worked on structuring the content for the website.

Analysis from tree test

• Users can process information faster when there are more straightforward and fewer options.
• We placed the homepage with these two sections - “Your Previous Visits” and “Recommended For You”, which feel more personalized.
• The majority of participants clicked on Category and least clicked on Date. This insight suggested that we should arrange the filter option in order of Category, Location, Date.

I decided to work on the event page, as it was a perfect opportunity for me to rework this page and provide more meaningful information.

To accomplish the goals, I selected a few design principles. These design principles made sure that the whole website revolves around that theme. These design principles were Clean, Fast, and Smooth.

The aim with this was to -

• Providing only necessary information.
• To make the users trust the website and events/organizers.
• To make the website responsive for desktop and mobile.

After finalizing the content and structure, it was essential to make the website aesthetically pleasing. It was also crucial to reflect all our findings, design goals, and design principles.

I decided final design for the event page that was aesthetically good and presented all the information rightly.

It was challenging to follow the process, as many times, we make assumptions about our users. This misjudgment can lead to many inappropriate and wrong decisions. I believe that one should never underestimate the importance of research in any project. In this project, it was good to see how each step of the process was valuable and helpful for the other one. We later used findings and insights from the research to redesign the event section for NYC.gov.

The possible next steps for this project would be to accommodate the final design onto the mobile screens. We can also think of ways through which NYC.gov can become the primary source for all users to search for events. Expanding the project's scope can make the whole website more seamless by keeping a consistent design and visual language.