Gig Bird Event
Celebrate Every Music Event You Enjoy with People
§
CONTEXT Many events are happening during our daily life, you may see the information from news, Facebook, or friends' posts. How to keep those events on my calendar or somewhere? That's the problem coming up when I haven't decided when to the event yet. The idea of a fully functional event calendar came out of our minds.
CHALLENGE The biggest challenge every side project will face must be time & money , so as we. Without income, how could we pay for the expense of some tools? Beyond the practical situation, what is the motive to complete the project? For everyone, the workload is also a burden for full-time job workers.
Timeline
July 2018
July 2018
My role
Project Planning, Competitive Analysis, UI/UX Design, Logo Design
Project Planning, Competitive Analysis, UI/UX Design, Logo Design
· · ·
DESIGN HIGHLIGHT
Let's Test the Idea First
Without much experience in logo design, I took the inspiration by the geometric shape to explore the possibility of Gigbird. I hope everyone thinks about the brand with movement, energy, and music. Speaking of interface design, it's hard to achieve everything as an MVP. Even the outcome is still in the testing phase. We are looking forward to having more resources and effort to polish it better in the future. To be continued.
Reflection
· · ·
Though it is not my first time designing and planning a product from 0 to 1, I have more flexibility to do whatever I want in this project. As the only designer, my job is not only to make the logo or design layouts. I spent more time sharing and discussing my idea with the team. Besides, I took this chance to practice my UX skills and methods, learn by doing. Finally, we complete the app prototype. Although, without backend resources to pull the database, it is not ready to launch. The process we craft this product from scratch is a valuable experience for me.
THE PROCESS / 01
Research, Understand & Define
· · ·
BRIEFING
Everything Starts from Our Personal Pain Point
The idea of building an event calendar came up from the other two members, and they invited me to join the project. Firstly, we shared our own stories specifically. Some of our stories were:
I can only get the concert information by accident, mostly on news or post sharing.
There is no website for collecting all music events. If I only use one platform, I may miss some events.
I just knew a photographic exhibition from the poster on the street. How could I set a reminder on my Google Calendar if I haven't decided when to go?
Then we set the project goal and roadmap by taking references from two successful products, Genius and Eagle. Genius is the world's biggest collection of song lyrics and musical knowledge, starting from RAP lyrics and did great then expand to all genres. Eagle created a new way to collect, search, and organize your image files all in one place. Their marketing strategy was also a success by active interaction on official forums and testimonials.
· · ·
COMPETITIVE ANALYSIS
Not So Competitive in Taiwan Market
Many platforms provide ticket booking and concert discovery services for music events, such as Songkick and Resident Advisor. We had good models for reference. However, most Taiwan platforms focus on ticket sales rather than long-term relationship building on membership. The functions of notification and UI/UX design also lack for maintaining. After research on any possibilities, we all shared our mind map and ideas.
The mind map I shared initially.
· · ·
PROJECT MANAGEMENT
Even it's a Random Opinion, Write it Down
Due to remote work, we made a great effort in recording everything, from meeting notes to any ideas. Considering the expense, we saved files on Google Drive, followed tasks, and managed project progress on Asana (free plan).
All desired requirements and user stories will first list in the Product Backlog project.
· · ·
NAMING
A Name To be Impressive
Brainstorming must be fun. We made a table and thought of the potential product name separately at first. Then we had a quick meeting for brainstorming. We just blurted out the words appearing in our mind and type them down. We also tried a name generator online, looking for more inspiration. Lately, we voted on five options, and the result came out.
The screenshot at the bottom right was the definition I found on Urban Dictionary. Sketches at the top right came out in my mind during brainstorming.
THE PROCESS / 02
Design & Iterate
· · ·
LOGO DESIGN
Listening to the Bird is Chirping
The bird is a critical symbol for the brand. We choose orange to present energy, power, and excitement. I combined the elements of music, power, and bird into the logo design. The oblique angle also brought the brand more characters.
· · ·
WIREFRAMING
Mobile-first is the Top Priority
The whole picture of the calendar is quite hard to display okay on the mobile. I created the wireframe of different views about the calendar and discussed with the developer frequently to make sure the experience to browse the calendar can be functional and smooth.
Monthlys View
Weekly View
Daily View
Single Event· · ·
MOCKUP
Grab Every Information about Your Interested Event
Consider the heavy information, the interface design uses a clean style to make users focus on the event itself. The navigation at the bottom of the app will always present the functions which are commonly using. On the calendar view, the displaying content is limited and critical to distinguish. On the Chinese typography, the rounded font brings the brand character light, funny, and entertainment.
THE PROCESS / 03
Outcome
· · ·
After the engineer finished the prototype, we suspended the project for now. Speaking of the outcome, all of us learned something along the way. We worked remotely, completed the tasks on schedule even no one pushes us to do so. Now I understand how hard to run a startup without self-discipline and pressure (if you work with a couple of friends). We enjoyed the experience working together and looking forward to the next opportunity.
