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A mobile app that lets you pull the strings to create an unforgettable experience.

OVERVIEW

I worked in a three-person team to design a mobile application for the Center for Puppetry Arts. We identified design patterns from the Center's website in order to maintain the Center's branding within the mobile application, and used research and testing to identify opportunities and pain points in order to create an enjoyable mobile experience for the Center's patrons. 

PROBLEM

The center has a responsive website, but

the users are having some trouble with the

ticketing and membership registration

processes.

There is little promotion of the center’s

newly renovated and expanded permanent

collection.

SOLUTION

Simplify the user flow.

Mobile first approach to the design.

Highlight the center’s offerings.

MY ROLE

I was the project leader for my group. In addition to the project planning, I also led the user interviews, information architecture, prototyping, usability testing, and final visual design. 

TOOLS

Axure

Google Forms

Keynote

Discover. Define. Design. Refine. Deliver. 

FIELD RESEARCH

We started with a visit the Center for Puppetry Arts to learn more about the offerings, and to tour the recently renovated museum. We observed the interactions of the Center's patrons looking for pain points, and opportunities to enhance the user's experience.

TARGET AUDIENCE

I contacted the Center's marketing department for insights into their target audience. We learned that they were aiming to gain more millenials as members, and were catering to them with the installation of nostalgic museum exhibits. 

“They have both a nostalgia for Jim Henson, are beginning their families, and are the largest generation since the boomers.”

I designed a survey to gather more information on the target audience, and we discovered that patrons that had visited the Center were largely unaware of the offerings available outside of children's puppet shows.

USABILITY

TESTING

I conducted usability testing on the Center's existing website to identify the issues that users were experience with the current design. We found that it was difficult to purchase tickets due to a calendar function, and that the museum information was not prominently displayed.

100% of users testing ran into at least one point of confusion when trying to find and add museum tickets to their cart.

60% ran into 2 or more issues trying to find informations on permanent collections in the museum.

80% had trouble adding tickets to their cart for a show on a date that was not presented on the initial list of visible dates.

COMPETITIVE ANALYSIS

We analysed the websites and mobile applications of similar Atlanta family-friendly attractions, as well as some mobile applications that handled similar tasks, such as ticket purchases.

Click images to view full PDF.

Discover. Define. Design. Refine. Deliver. 

PERSONAS

We developed personas from the information we gathered from the target audience survey and user interviews, and used these to create user scenarios.

Click images to view full PDF.

CARD SORTING

We conducted card sorting exercises with members of our target audience to optimize the information architecture to meet our user's needs, and solve the pain points that we discovered during our usability testing.

GOALS

Business Goals

  • Pleasant user experience.

  • More memberships.

  • More return visits.

  • Increased awareness of the

  • center’s offerings.

User Goals

  • Easily find and add tickets.

  • Find information about fun activities.

  • To easily determine which programming is family-friendly.

  • To be able to access information quickly while away from home.

Discover. Define. Design. Refine. Deliver. 

IDEATION

We used the previously discovered and defined information to design solutions to our user's pain points, and to meet the goals of the user and the business. We came up with a list of opportunities that we wanted to address with features in our mobile application.

Opportunities

  • Highlight the newly expanded and renovated museum.

  • Promote the variety of activities that the center provides.

  • Promote seasonal shows to encourage return visits.

  • Easy ticket purchases, through stored data as well as electronic tickets.

  • Have membership information located in more prominent area.

SKETCHES

Using our sketches for paper prototypes allowed us to quickly gather feedback and iterate before beginning our digital wireframing.

STYLE

GUIDE

We studied the Center's current website to create a style guide for the mobile application. We wanted to keep the center's branding consistent across both platforms. 

Discover. Define. Design. Refine. Deliver. 

SITEMAP

From usability testing on the prototype, we found that users were still having difficulty navigating directly to their intended destination, so we simplified the sitemap.

USABILITY TESTING

The digital wireframes were turned into a clickable prototype, which I then used to conduct further usability testing.

USER FLOW

Below is a "happy path" user flow for the purchase of tickets to the Jim Henson exhibit at the museum. This task is one that the users previously experienced trouble with through the existing Center for Puppetry Arts website.

Click to view flow PDFs.

Discover. Define. Design. Refine. Deliver. 

HIGH FIDELITY COMPS

PROTOTYPE

Check out the final prototype here:

NEXT STEPS

Some ideas that we for the future of the application include using the mobile platform to promote the children's scavenger hunt from the museum, a puppet builder game, and a puppet discovery features that allows the user to interact with the puppets that are on display.

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