Ticket Quarter started in 2012 as an online ticketing agent that provided a full range of ticketing services for clients throughout the UK. Building on the strength and experience of managing M&S Bank Arena and Exhibition Centre Liverpool box offices, Ticket Quarter are the ticketing experts when it comes to powering events and audiences for promoters, venues and organisers who appreciate the ease of doing business with the Ticket Quarter team.
TQ (Ticket Quarter) has grown from strength to strength and now offers companies with services including fully customised ticketing websites that are integrated into the clients own URL for a seamless customer journey, a branded ticket hotline open seven days a week and an in-house marketing team to help promote the events.
I was tasked and briefed by Ticket Quarterās Creative Director and Head of Digital to complete a full redesign for Ticket Quarter from the ground up. This was a very in-depth project with many hurdles as it was to be a complete branding overhaul. The retention of users was poor and it was also hard for TQ to attract new businesses to sell through them š. Mainly due to issues such as a none responsive website š± and a dated user experience. I knew I had to design this product for not only the public users but to attract event corporations too, so that they would have confidence that TQ is a cutting edge and thriving ticketing agent at the fore-front of it's industry. One of the main concerns was that the current design didnāt allow for any personal emotion. Users felt disjointed from the website and the experience of purchasing tickets for predominately, entertainment experiences, was corporate and cold š„¶.
I knew from the offset that I needed to inject life and personality into the re-brand. Using personas, which I would develop in the research / empathy stage, I would build a user group to help achieve this š.
Using the Double Diamond process model as a simplistic approach allowed me to show the research phase and the design phase together.
As any UX designer knows, user design is a process. It was clear to me that I needed to define the points along the time continuum for this re-brand. This was just an easy way for stakeholders and team members to know where the project was up to at certain points.
There was a number of ticketing agencies around, so I concentrated on a few of the main ones.
I conducted competitor analysis to develop a stronger marketing strategy and identify any opportunities in the market. The analysis helped me understand where Ticket Quarter stands in the market which ultimately helped with the design process.
Name: See Ticketsā
Name: Dice
Availability: Android & IOS
See Overview:
See Tickets retail and distribute millions of tickets each year. They offer white label packaging services for business users.
Dice Overview:
DICE allows users to receive every ticket direct to their phone.
See MVP Features:ā
Dice MVP Features:ā
See Target Market:
Branded to attract a young market but also retains a lot of features that cater for a wider age bracket.ā
See Nav Structure
Large, prominent search functionality within top bar. Browse filter interrupter further down the page followed by main categories.
Dice Target Market:
Definitely attracting a young market due to app based purchasing with digital ticket downloads.
TM Nav Structure:
Main categories and search functionality prominent in nav bar. Large advertising style column on vertical scroll.
ā
See Usability Analysis
Good usability on responsive version but no app available. Scrollable banners on desktop seem a little large. Simple, clean interface.
Dice Nav Structure
Large, prominent search functionality within top bar. Browse filter interrupter further down the page followed by main categories.
Dice Usability Analysis
Only available via app. Busy interface with lots of colour and noise. Lovely use of micro-interactions and sticky features.
Name: Ticketmaster
Availability: Google Play & IOS
TM Overview:
Ticketmaster are one of the largest ticketing agencies, selling 500 million tickets each year.
TM Target Market:
Attracts a more mature clientele. Quite corporate.
TM Usability Analysis:
More of a corporate feel. Nice user flow with use of icons and sticky functions.
TM MVP Features:
Name: Dice
Availability: Android & IOS
I conducted competitor analysis to develop a stronger marketing strategy and identify any opportunities in the market. The analysis helped me understand where Ticket Quarter stands in the market which ultimately helped with the design process.
There was a number of ticketing agencies around, so I concentrated on a few of the main ones.
Name: See Tickets
Company Info
Overview
MVP Features
Target Market
Definitely attracting a young market due to app based purchasing with digital ticket downloads.
Attracts a more mature clientele. Quite corporate.
Usability Analysis
Good usability on responsive
version but no app available. Scrollable banners on
desktop seem a little large. Simple, clean interface.
Only available via app. Busy interface with lots of colour and noise. Lovely use of micro-interactions and sticky features.
More of a corporate feel. Nice user flow with use of
icons and sticky functions.
Navigational
Structure
Large, prominent search functionality within top bar. Browse filter interrupter further down the page followed by main categories.
Sticky search, filter and help icons in header of app homepage. Sticky footer icons to navigate.
Main categories and search functionality prominent in nav bar. Large advertising style column on vertical scroll.
Branded to attract a young market but also retains a lot of features that cater for a wider age bracket.
See Tickets retail and distribute millions of tickets each year. They offer white label packaging services for business users.
DICE allows users to receive every ticket direct to their phone.
Ticketmaster are one of the largest ticketing agencies, selling 500 million tickets each year.
Name: Ticketmaster
Availability: Google Play & IOS
I conducted a simple survey with stakeholders and from my personal network to help collect some qualitative data. The purpose of the survey was to ask about what core features the users would like to see and what pain points they encounter or have encountered while using the current site. I approached a wide age range of 25-50.
It was also evident that users found the homepage very distracting and overpowering. With a sea of different sized āBuy buttonsā and columns, it was easy to see why, especially as the site was none responsive. The analytics showed a massive drop out from the homepage for users on responsive devices.
Discover the usersā needs
From the survey results it was clear that users were having difficulty using the current navigation bar. From the visual below this is fairly evident from the coloured nav links, the small search bar and the very small date tab.
It was interesting to hear that most users were not that interested in star ratings on event, a feature which I thought would be good to introduce although they did want to know what other users were booking. I decided to introduce a ātrending nowā section to help solve this. Instead it was almost unanimous that the new site was clear, simple and had an informative flow to the checkout.
Keep things simple
Problem
After the user needs were identified, I compiled the data into a list of most requested features.
Solution
Target Audience
Based on user feedback, create a modern and fully responsive website that contains the most requested features and has a simple interface, navigation and filter options.
Based on the survey results as well as product requirements from stakeholders, we will focus on designing a simple and intuitive user interface including a prominent search bar and filter options (inc. genre categories). To achieve this we will have a simple user flow and ultimately, we will build responsive first.
Anyone from students, young professionals, through to more mature audiences. Due to the varied events sold it does need to cater for a wide age range.
MUP Features
Needs, wants, and fears
Personaās can be a bit of a controversial topic. After reading a recent article on Medium, I changed the way I developed personas, and went back to the roots.
Adding goals, needs, wants and fears really makes these a tangible resource and even though they are not appropriate for every case study, for this particular study I found them very useful as they helped me shape many of the features within the site.
Needs
Wants
Fears
Goals
Adam is a young professional living in Liverpool City Centre. He is originally from Cardiff but moved here while at University studying to become an accountant. After finishing university he acquired his first job and now lives in the city. He doesnāt drive and uses public transport to get around if required. Adam is an avid supporter of Liverpool Football Club and often goes to the matches with his university Ā friends who he has kept in contact with.
He enjoys nights out and exploring what Liverpool has to offer. He will often be the one to look for things to do with his friends and is always up for new ventures.
Needs
Wants
Fears
Goals
Louisa is currently living in Southport with her husband and two children. She used to work in Liverpool as a full time PA but since having children and settling down in a quiet suburb, she now is a full time mum to her two young children.
She doesnāt have much spare time, or anytime to herself, so when she does, she wants to make sure she spends the time well with either her husband or close friends.
She often looks for recommendations of things going on in the area to take the kids too, especially during holidays.
Needs
Wants
Fears
Goals
Jan has lived in Liverpool for 30 years after moving from London with her husband. Her husband is a doctor and Jan worked as a nurse in one of the major city centre hospitals. Jan has only recently retired.
Her three children are grown up now but have stayed close. Jan loves meeting past colleagues and catching up with them. She has recently become a grandmother and is keen to find trips and events to go to with her grandchildren as well as with her friends.
After creating the personas based on the user feedback stage, I was able to develop the 'points of view' and āhow might weā questions.
These questions raised some interesting points that influenced the design process. For example, could we include customer reviews?
With group bookings, sign ups and B2B functionality, it was clear that we really needed to make sure we emphasised the events and call to actions.
Creating this user flow allowed me to take a step back and think about the userās movements throughout the site as well as piecing together the final stages of the ticketing journey. I was able to see the many different pathways that the user could potentially take, especially from the homepage.
We implemented the card payment detail opportunities into phase 1, which basically was to emphasise and be as clear as possible over the type of ticket being purchased.
Making a note of just some of the main user touch points, I was able to pin point some possible opportunities within a typical journey. After spending a few sessions analysing the below map, we concluded that for phase 2 of the build we would allow the user to select a seat (if required) from a visual seating map along with introducing a rating and favourites chart.
Not only could it be from searching for a specific event, using a filter or choosing a recommendation from the homepage, but they also may go straight to the chosen event page via a marketing lead (email / Google Ad etc). Maybe when the user hits search, if they have bought before, we could have a āsmart searchā function that would show a list of recommended events based on the users purchase history? Maybe we could have the filter options saved to the userās preferences when a user logs in. This would also require auto log-in with no log-out time. This would save a step in the purchase process for previous users. Finally, we could have recommended events displayed on the homepage based again, on the users purchase history. So many improvements to be made all driven by empathy! šš
Task analysis diagrams can often be overlooked at the define stage of a case study. Being able to clearly identify problems from user experience is of great benefit. I wanted to, as simply as I could, lay the usersā goal out for making a purchase through Ticket Quarter to see if I could identify any steps that could be reduced or improved upon. Iāve also included a few of the main sub-tasks.
āConclusionViewing the below process made me question the need for a separate promo page and confirmation page (steps 4 & 5) š¤. Could we include the promo box at step 3? If the overall price is then displayed at step 3, could we eliminate the need for a second confirmation page? Also itās good to note at this stage that there are a number of ways a user may purchase a ticket to a chosen event (step 1).
Using the Crazy 8ās technique to innovate is, a quick method that always creates variation and loosens up those creative muscles! šŖ
Using all the information at my disposal from the discover and define stage, I began sketching and doodling possible solutions and opportunities.
Using all the qualitative and quantitive research from the define and ideate stage was a great foundation, as always, when it came to working up both the low and high fidelity visuals for this project.
I was also let loose on redesigning the TQ branding as a whole, which not only included the new logo design but many of the printed materials including signage, printed material such as posters and flyers as well as digital ad campaigns etc.
This truly was a lovely brief to work on and Iām very proud to have been involved in turning TQ into the number one ticketing agency in the North West.
Using all the qualitative and quantitive research from the define and ideate stage was a great foundation, as always, when it came to working up both the low and high fidelity visuals for this project.
I was also let loose on redesigning the TQ branding as a whole, which not only included the new logo design but many of the printed materials including signage, Whatās On posters and flyers as well as digital ad campaigns.
This truly was a lovely brief to work on and Iām very proud to have been involved in turning TQ into the number one ticketing agencies in the North West.
The Ticket Quarter redesign has already increased responsive sale conversions by 80% which has and is helping Ticket Quarter further establish itself among itās competitors as a leading ticketing agent. I was very proud to play my part in this process.
