Adding a Feature
Improving an existing app's agenda feature to create a better convention experience.
Responsibilities: UX/UI Designer, UX Research
Timeframe: 6 weeks
Tools: Figma, FigJam, Webflow
Anime Expo is a yearly, cultural event that is held on the first weekend of July. This convention celebrates Japanese pop, animation, entertainment, music, fashion, and video games. They welcome industry guests, local artists, and fans all around the world to enjoy the panels, shops, and booths hosted in Los Angeles!
As Anime Expo continually grows, the app should develop alongside too. With how busy the convention is, there should be ways to help out not just attendees but vendors too with planning. While it has a functional general map for events, the app has several limitations:
The goal is to create more time efficiency for the user. This could be as simple as preventing the user from having to flip back and forth between the map and event information. I want to enhance the agenda for users to make their convention planning less hectic.
I wanted to add a feature of a proper agenda for Anime Expo’s existing app.
The new feature will improve:
Understanding what an attendee or vendor would need for their Anime Expo weekend planning is vital for the added feature for Anime Expo.
So, I recruited 6 participants for my user interviews. My participants were:
Within the interviews, I wanted to gather more knowledge on:
The user interviews gave great insight on how people approached planning for and attending Anime Expo. Below are the key takeaways for each category:
Planning / Scheduling
Travel & Arrangements
Arrangements for Anime Expo were straightforward. For travel, users used the train or they carpooled. Users arranged for grabbing food at the convention, bringing their own food, or figuring out dinner elsewhere.
At the Convention
When attending Anime Expo, users were mindful of traffic, weather, and budget. Some highlights for Anime Expo include Exhibitor Hall, Artist Alley, concerts, panels, cosplay meetups, and seeing industry guests.
App Related
Users find value in Anime Expo’s app if it provides convenience through:
To figure out what feature to add would be the most helpful, further research was conducted through a competitor analysis. I looked at apps for San Diego Comic Con (SDCC), Anime NYC, LVL Up Expo, PAX, and Disneyland. I wanted to gather inspiration to see if I can help create a feature that would better entice users to download Anime Expo’s app during their visit.
It is best to prioritize providing convenience to a user. This can be done through instruction or access to finding the information the user needs for navigating the convention weekend. Anime Expo doesn’t have a virtual queue or ways to provide a schedule share, which should be a feature to include.
For adding a feature, it is best to structure point-of-view statements to pinpoint what we will aid for the user. The “How Might We” questions pushed our focus further as we wanted to:
For Anime Expo’s Add a Feature project, I created two user personas. One represents the casual planner who is a local attendee. The other user represents the organized planner who is a non-local attendee. The personas organize their time differently but their main goals are centered towards making the most out of their time at Anime Expo in their own way.
With the added feature, there are requirements that are Must-Have, Nice to have, Surprising and delightful, and Can come later. These are what I prioritized for feature:
These are what I would like to add onto Anime Expo’s app to further enhance a user’s convention and app experience.
To figure out how the features will be laid out, I created a user flow for:
I wanted to push an animated, fun design for Anime Expo. I dug deep by grabbing their mascots found in their merchandise shop!
Below, you can see my notes with my low-fidelity wireframes. I tried my best to still maintain most of Anime Expo's design. But, of course, adding a fresh flair to help achieve time efficiency.
To better see the features, I had made mid-fidelity wireframes for the Calendar Share Option, Line Queue Tutorial, Joining the Line Queue, Event Conflict, and Calendar View.
Note: You will also notice some of the original Anime Expo app in some of mid-fidelity wireframes. It's for reference!
My goal is to help free up more time for the user, so they can be able to enjoy exploring more of Anime Expo!
See below for the features I added within my high-fidelity wireframes.
To introduce the users to the new features added to Anime Expo, a line queue tutorial was made.
This walkthrough informs the user of the new updates while teaching the user how they can utilize these features to plan their convention weekend.
The tutorial makes sure to highlight what areas the user should be looking at and the purpose of the design.
Events that allow the user to join the line queue will have details like:
Joining a line and saving time should be clear and simple, since the main goal is to free up time for a user!
To better recognize events booked simultaneously, I wanted there to be an icon that alerts the user of it. Users can:
On top of seeing event conflicts, users should be able to see if there is a line queue they can join. This way, they can account for potential waits or filling up their day with a different event.
For the calendar aspect of Anime Expo's app, I added:
The calendar view helps a user visually see what their schedule is like and recognize conflicting events faster.
Surprisingly, there wasn't a calendar sharing option before. Adding this feature in would help out users who are trying to coordinate their schedules better to do so with a click of the button.
Also with a click of a button, users can sync their calendar to their personal phone or Google Calendar.
Press play to see the added features for Anime Expo's app.
I did a usability test for my hi-fi wireframes with 6 participants. All tests were conducted online via voice chat and screenshare.
Prior to testing, I wanted to be sure to obtain more context of my participants. I asked questions that centered around:
The usability test consists of gathering interaction responses and thoughts for the following tasks:
Line Queue Tutorial
Join a Line Queue
Managing Event Conflicts
Sharing/Syncing Calendar Events
Toggle the Calendar View for My Agenda’s Events
The participants were also asked to rate the tasks they had just done on a scale of 1-5. Their feedback would help me see if the added features are helpful and easy to understand without needing any further clarification.
Note: The scale of 1-5 has 1 = poor experience to 5 = very positive experience
The participants expressed that the added features would be useful for planning their next Anime Expo trip. It would incentivize them to download and use the Anime Expo app more.
Their impressions and ratings were:
This project gave me the chance to explore how designing for the entertainment industry would be like. I had fun creating fun graphics to try to reflect the brand. I learned more about looking into design guidelines and how prototyping can really enhance the user testing experience. Auto Layout and the Switch Overlay tools are powerful for use!
I had cross-referenced several other convention apps to help create the features for this project, and even went as far as going into Anime Expo’s current merchandise to gather inspiration for the mascots I made for the graphics. Prioritizing was a big push during this project to avoid overwhelming myself with the deliverables.
It was neat to also have positive feedback about how many users wished Anime Expo’s app would be like this. This insight also told me how valuable user ratings were for seeing the success for new additions. Overall, this project was colorful and fun!