It was exciting to learn that there is genuine interest to participate in a creative class.

There are local studios and independent artists who have a particular skill-set to offer as a lesson or class experience. They are actively engaged in their community and are interested in cultivating more awareness for their services.

• Identifying the target user audience.
• Understanding pain points.
• Presenting my proposed solution.

To understand the participant registration process and identify user needs with business goals, I analyzed the following competitors.

• Hosts need full access to participants contact details.
• Ability to offer both virtual and in-person classes.
• Minimal UI layout.
• Include image gallery.
• Include both one-time class fee and subscription based model.
• Have classes organized by date, with additional organizational options such as: pricing, popular, highest rated, etc.
• Potential categories to include: one-time workshop vs. ongoing series. And by skill level: beginner, intermediate, advanced.
• Include social media and website links to encourage participation from more established artists and studios.

See full competitive & Comparative analysis

I asked 5 participants to search, locate, and sign-up for a workshop of their choice.

Based on this feedback and observation there were a few major points for improvement that inspired the web architecture.
• Workshop details need to be easily understood and clearly formatted.
• Regarding option of virtual vs. in-person, all participants demonstrated a preference for in-person offerings.
• Minimal, easy checkout.
• Easy ability to save workshops which would activate a reminder prompt.
• To enhance engagement, offer waitlist option for sold out workshops and include similar workshop section.

see user experience map

Based on this feedback, this task flow provided a visual aid in empathizing with the participant’s browsing journey and how they would complete registration.

Integrating a simplistic adaptable system while displaying a large amount of content, and easy to use for the non-technically inclined user.

One of the main considerations I took into account when regarding the interaction design is that it be easy and with minimal steps. During the user experience map exercise, it became clear that the majority of similar sites lack clear hierarchical structure, look outdated, overwhelm with too much content, and resulted in not completing registration.

When interviewing the primary organizers, a few things became clear: they expressed unique needs when handling registration, word of mouth as the main incentive for new user signup, a preference for Airbnb’s platform, but has a negative experience regarding a steep fee being deducted, and unable to easily edit participants details.

There was a dichotomy in how the site needed to present: it needed to appear minimal while providing in-depth content, provide a customizable and adaptable interface for each organizer’s unique workshop details, and integrate the organizers values: inclusion, diversity, accessibility, need for independence, and supportive community.

Combine the user’s needs for an intuitive, minimal interface with  business marketing goals for new sign-up registration.

Three primary questions informed my design strategy:

1. Since word of mouth is the primary way new participants register for a class, how could this behavior be replicated digitally?
2. How could the instructor feel that their individual, unique workshop needs are met?
3. What is the ideal layout for the first-time user so they feel welcome and not intimidated to try something new?

What came through are:

Add an easy share via email and by social media feature. Sharing information by word of mouth is essential, incorporating this feature will replicate this behavior.

Allow for customizable additional sections within workshop details. Each workshop has unique information to share and will need an adaptive interface, and yet, still look cohesive.

Have large photos of studio space, users like to understand the setting and experience beforehand. Also include, generous white space so the user doesn’t feel overwhelmed by the content.

The creation of a sitemap was fundamental for the development of the app. That allowed a more comprehensive and clear organization of the content.

Inspired by the individualistic, creative nature of this product, users preference for casual ease, and a penchant for good design, it was important to find the right balance in the typography and color palette.

Testing involved sharing the prototype with users who expressed interest in signing up for a creative workshop. Their experience of browsing through checkout was crucial to observe and make improvements on. As this was the primary negative experience for users during observation on competitors sites.

Adapting the design layout and elements to behave responsively forced me to consider an interface that would transition seamlessly for an uninterrupted experience. The ideal goal, the user would have the same experience across devices.

This was an exciting project to work on for the level of in-depth user interviews about art, community, and small independent business infrastructure. I learned some important takeaways from this project related to product and business processes.

Plan for an adaptable system. Many of the organizers shared unique, essential sign-up needs for their lesson or workshop. Rather then a ‘one-size-fits-all’ approach, it was a good challenge to consider an interface that could adapt with individual changing needs.

Integrating a lot of content proved to be challenging. I had to constantly reconsider the layout for easy readability, didn’t overwhelm, and that it would seamlessly adapt to be responsive.

Remain open to the user experience. The initial user experience map research methodology was crucial in understanding the first-timer experience. There is a lot of anxiety and concerns when trying something new and to create a platform that conveys messages of welcoming and inclusivity can hugely impact the first step in registering.

Small business needs are paramount. They have to constantly adapt to changing participant needs, unique preference in communication, and need a supportive communal structure. Since they are the driving force behind making this platform successful, it was crucial in gaining insight in their registration, current online platform, payment structure, and their additional responsibilities.

Consider adapting analog behaviors to their digital equivalent. New participant registration is largely driven by word of mouth. Which presented the interesting question, ‘how could this be replicated digitally?’ Easily sharing a workshop between users whether that’s via social media, email, SMS, is fundamental to user engagement and consequentially, completing registration.