%20(1).png)
Client Name
Shots of Paint
Role
Brand Identity
Research
Interface Design
Usability Testing
Timeline
4 weeks
Express your creativity
“Shots of Paint will be a place to gather socially with friends, family, and coworkers. Everyone has a little artist in them! Give it a shot and paint!”
Shots of Paint will offer painting parties for private functions such as birthdays, bachelorette parties, and corporate team-building, as well as workshops and social painting events that are open to the public. While the ultimate goal is to set up a retail space, they will start by partnering with a local business to rent event space, or by traveling and setting up events in customers’ homes or offices.
The client has a logo sketch and some lesson plans laid out, but they are really starting from scratch! They would like their logo fully developed and branding created, and a web site to be able to start advertising their services and encourage aspiring artists to sign up for public events. In addition, they would like options for affordable and easy-to-use event management and registration tools.
Event and activity planning
As a new business, Shots of Paint needs to establish themselves among the competition with a web site that attracts new customers and is easy-to-use. Because they are offering events that are open to the public as well as private events, they’ll need multiple ways to display relevant information to potential customers.
We wanted to learn how customers search and book or register for events, and what types of information they are looking for. Though users ultimately end up needing similar information before booking a private event or buying tickets for a public event, the way they search and find each one is very different. For private events, users tend to rely heavily on search engines and recommendations from friends and family, while social media and email marketing are key to finding public events.
The highlights
Virtual interviews conducted with 3 participants, 21 survey respondents
Most respondents recall using Eventbrite to register for public events
For private events, options to book fully online or contact the business for a quote are equally important
75% of respondents have attended a public event and 80% would consider a paint party for a private event
The social butterfly and the event planner
Shots of Paint needs to make their site useful to two different types of customer: the social butterfly who is always looking for fun activities to try, and those who plan events - whether in the corporate space or in their personal lives.
Melissa: the Event Planner
As a Human Resources Manager, Melissa is responsible for planning the company holiday party every year, as well as regular social and team-building events. To keep things fresh and fun for employees, she is always looking for new ideas for activities and entertainment.
Lily: the Creative Social Butterfly
Lily is definitely the planner of her group! She has a wide circle of friends, and she enjoys finding fun activities for them to do together. She often hosts friends and family in her home, and frequently scrolls Facebook and Instagram to find events in her area.
A tale of two users
With two different types of events comes two different types of user, which leads to two different user flows. I broke down both Lily's and Melissa's journeys through finding their perfect event, and then created a site map to incorporate both.
User Flow: Private Events
Melissa needs to reserve a team-building event to take place in her office. An employee mentioned Shots of Paint and she would like to make an inquiry to learn more and get pricing.
User Flow: Public Events
Lily is planning a get together in March for a few friends. She came across Shots of Paint when she was scrolling Facebook and thinks a painting party sounds like a fun idea!
Site Map
Based on both user and competitive research, it was clear that once users reach the Shots of Paint site, whether coming from a social media ad, a web search, or a direct key-in of the web address, the paths to both private and public events need to be separate and clearly delineated. The site map reflects these two different types of events.
Bringing it all together
After analyzing my user research and performing a thorough competitive analysis, I drafted wireframes in Figma that brought in both types of events and contain enough information to encourage an event booking or registration.
A twist on primary colors
Keeping in mind the theme of the business, and the artistic style of the business-owner, I developed branding that is warm, friendly, and inviting. For inspiration, I drew from the idea of primary colors, but with a twist, and incorporated visual elements that remind the user of painting.
Creativity comes to life
I went through several iterations before landing on the final design shown below (view prototype here). Working with a DesignLab mentor, I was able to refine the overall aesthetic, and added a couple of elements based on user feedback.
Bright and friendly
My original design felt a little heavy, and didn't quite match the bright and friendly feeling of my style tile. I went back to the drawing board and added more white space, then further refined by lightening the dark, navy blue, and added in some breathing room between the text and photos.
Version 1
Version 2
.png)
Version 3
Mobile Checkout
Final
My first iteration of mobile check-out for public events was a little complex. I condensed it into a single screen layout, and added an "add to calendar" feature based on user feedback.
Version 1
Next steps
Shots of Paint is still in very early stages, but public interest in painting events is high! Whenever they launch they have a solid starting point for their web site to capture customer interest and start booking.
Early research into event management and registration systems has shown Eventbrite to be a leader, with low pricing and easy integration into many website builders that cater to small businesses.
