Overview

For my cumulative capstone project in my Masters in HCI/UX design at Drexel University, I have chosen to create an original idea called EventQuest, an app that draws upon the motivation used in video gaming to inspire users to go outside and experience events in their area.

Objectives

Determine User Base: Conducted user research to determine factors that influences a person's decision to go out and attend events.
Design Innovation: Create new yet familiar app design that differentiates my app from other event searching apps currently on the market.
Motivation and Impact: Install necessary app functionalities and features that users would use to not only find and attend events in their area, but immerse them in a feeling of a video game experience.

Challenges

Limited Workforce: This project was created by myself and had few collaboration moments aside from critical reviews during bi-weekly class sessions and user testing.
Funding: This project received no funding.
Time constraint: This project spanned the duration of my capstone course, which was around a five month duration.

Link To Wireframes

Inspiration for Design

I was inspired to make this design based off of my own personal experience of wanting to go out and experience events in my city, but either not having the financial means nor the motivation to do so.

After conducting some brief user testing, I decided I wanted to find a way to help users save money, since that was the main influence for users attending an event. After some initial designs I decided I also want to add the element of video gaming into my app, incorporating fun ways for users to experience and interact with the app to increase motivation.

Initial colors created for app, with the top three based off of common achievement feature colors in most video games (bronze/silver/gold for low, medium, and high tiered achievements)

Initial low fidelity Wireframes

The main focus around my design is the Questboard, giving users the ability to earn earn rewards via a point system. These points can be redeemed towards ticket purchases in future events, giving users an incentive to complete quests.

Quest frames

The style of these frames emulate traditional event apps currently on the market, with my own spin of allowing users to see potential quests and achievements they could earn.

Homepage frames and achievement examples

The checkout page will give users the chance to check out more details about quests and potential achievements they may earn.

Event searching page and checkout page

Event confirmation example and achievement page

Currently attending events details

Second Iteration

Added and changed many of the visuals of the app, further aligning overall theming of the app to "comfy/cozy" video game themes.
added more color to the overall app, and reduced color confusion that were persisting in certain sections such as the Questboard tab.

Why were these changes made?

Users suggested that many of the colors were not visible or added too much confusion to pages. For example the quest page was hard to read, and the achievement colors needed to be more visible. Colors in these sections have been changed to reduce these confusions.
Users also mentioned the immersion to video gaming was lacking, citing the juxtaposition between realistic images from the events and the more simplistic styles of the video game themes in the app. All images have been adjusted to more simplistic, cartoon style drawings.
Finally, users wanted more color and visuals to fill empty space in certain parts of the app. The Navigation Bar at the bottom had it's colors adjusted, a general background color was added to all pages, and visuals have been added in certain sections.

New Login and Onboarding

New Homepage and Main Event Pages

Main changes

Visuals have been updated to evoke themes of "comfy/cozy" style of video gaming. The event posts simulate images of paper on wood, similar to quest boards seen in classic video games.
Information in checkout page has been removed and moved to the event page, since users wanted to know more about the details prior to checking out. Event page has been changed and will now prioritize quests and achievements that users may see in detail. Details about the event will still be included, but if users want to know more about the event, a link will be available to the event's main page.