Creating an all in-destination support app
Project overview
The Pollen Experience Operations app is used by staff who work at live events, to manage guest queries and track venue capacity. The app serves our two main user groups: support crew and box office staff. I conducted in destination research to inform the design of the updated Experience Ops app.
Role
As the sole product designer in the Experience Operations team, I was responsible for the entire design process. This included conducting in-destination research in Cancun, Mexico, producing high-fidelity designs, and working with developers throughout the delivery process.
Brief
The goal was to merge Pollen Scan and Experience Operations, two existing apps, into one app that would serve our primary user groups: box office staff and support crew.
To achieve this goal, I created a research plan that focused on gaining a comprehensive understanding of our users, their daily tasks, challenges, and workflows. I traveled to Cancún, Mexico, to carry out the research and utilised the results to refine the updated Experience Operations app.
Project summary
Pollen is a technology company with a mission to curate and deliver the best experiences worldwide. To achieve this, Pollen staff must be fully equipped to handle any guest queries, seamlessly track venue capacity, and provide efficient event-specific knowledge.
When I joined the Experience Operations team, there were two apps: Pollen Scan and Experience Operations (experience ops). Pollen Scan was used by the support crew to scan guests into event areas and view guest lists. The Experience Operations app was used by box office staff to handle all wristband queries, such as activating and replacing wristbands, as well as checking traveller booking information.
My task was to merge these two apps into one that could be used by both the support crew and box office staff, who have very different needs and preferences.
Understanding the brief
The brief for this project was simply to merge the Pollen Scan app and the Experience Operations app. However, there was no clear explanation as to why this was necessary. Before jumping into the design process, it was important to understand the answers to some key questions: Why are we merging the apps? What problem are we solving? What indications do we have to show that merging the apps is a good idea? Do we know this is what users want?
After raising these questions, it became clear that we didn't have a solid grasp on what problem we were solving by merging the apps. We were working on a lot of assumptions and odd bits of information from our stakeholders. There was a missing link around why merging the app was a good idea. It was important to understand the "why" before jumping into the work to ensure that: a) merging the apps was the right thing to do b) if it is, we are merging them in a way that is going to be beneficial to both user groups: box office staff and support crew.
The screens on the left are from the Pollen Scan app, and the screens on the right are from the Experience Operations app.
The assumption
Our working assumption for merging Pollen Scan and the Experience Operations app was:
Some features are duplicated across the two apps and it would be beneficial to connect them. Users will have access to everything they need in one place, eliminating the need to open different apps for different tasks and therefore saving time.
While this assumption may have been correct, it didn’t feel robust enough to justify merging the apps. There was no evidence to support the idea that this would be a good business decision or that it would benefit both user groups.
Our users
The new Experience Operations app should cater for two very different user groups, support crew and box office staff.
Support crew members were stationed at various entry points to the event. They used Pollen Scan to scan guests into different zones, keep track of venue capacity, and view guest lists.
The box office staff were found at the event box office, which is independent of various event venues. They use the Experience Operations app to activate and replace wristbands, as well as to check traveller booking information.
I discovered that we lacked sufficient knowledge about the users of each app. We didn't have a clear understanding of their daily tasks and pain points. Additionally, we hadn't investigated whether merging the apps would be effective for both user groups and how it would impact their jobs.
To ensure that the new merged app would cater to both user groups, we needed to conduct further investigation. I wanted to make sure that the investment of time and effort to merge the apps would be worthwhile.
Designing before researching
Ideally, I would have tested the assumptions and researched both user groups before jumping into the design work. Unfortunately, there was a lot of pressure on me and my team to start building the app straight away. Therefore, I had to work with the information available to me at the time and rely on assumptions made prior to my joining the team to create the first version of the new Experience Operations app.
This approach had its challenges, but I made sure to constantly share the designs with the design team, as well as various other teams across the business. Additionally, I consulted with people who had attended an experience and seen how they actually run; as at this point, I had not yet been to an experience or spoken to any staff who work them.
Design proposal
I proposed that we focused on merging Pollen Scan into the Experience Ops app, as the latter was the more complex of the two.
At this point, we knew for certain that we did not want to grant support crew access to the entire app. They should only have access to the scanning functionality. This decision was based on the fact that many support crew members were contractors, and there was a lack of trust regarding their willingness to follow proper procedures and prevent unauthorised access to the venue.
When designing this app merge, there were two main considerations: providing value for both user groups and restricting access for support crew scanning on the doors. Therefore, I proposed that there could be two ways to scan wristbands:
Via 'Set up scanner' from the homepage
This flow assumes that a manager is handing a Pollen device to a scanner at the door.
Via the Events tab
This flow is intended for managers who want to easily navigate the app's scan functionality and other features.
Hypothesis - Allowing restricted access for the support crew and unrestricted access for managers to the app will ensure that both user groups benefit from it.
Key screens
I redesigned the whole app and uplifted all of the screens to the new design system. Below are some of the key screens that demonstrate the way in which I proposed we merged Pollen Scan into the Experience Operations app.
These four screens show the homepage (left) followed by the screens a user would see if they tapped ‘Set up scanner’.
Note: I had some concerns around the accessibility of certain text colours which I raised with the design system team.
This flow allows managers to hand over devices without worrying that support crew can access other parts of the app.
Note that the navigation bar no longer appears and users cannot go back from the initial screen (far left). Also note that the device back button will be disabled at this point.
However, managers can still access this screen via the events tab and will have the ability to exit this flow.
In destination research
The opportunity arose for me to go to Cancún, Mexico to do some in-destination research at “Pollen presents Tiësto, The Trip”. This experience consisted of three days and three nights of hotel and accommodation, a curated lineup of electronic artists and headline performances from Tiësto.
This was the perfect opportunity for me to gain a clearer understanding of our users as well as socialise the version one designs of the new Experience Operations app.
Research goals
Goal one
Understand how in-destination staff currently use Pollen Scan and the Experience Operations app.
Note* Staff were not using Pollen Scan for this event so we were unable to further understand how they were using this app.
Goal two
Identify the day-to-day tasks of our in-destination staff, including the pains and gains associated with those tasks.
Goal three
Validate whether we should merge Pollen Scan and the Experience Operations app. Show users what this might look like by socialising key screens from the updated Experience Operations app and gather general feedback.
Methodology - mixed methods
👀 Observations
I observed users using the Experience operations app in real-life scenarios.
🗣 Short unstructured interviews
I asked members of staff questions to gain more insight into what we were observing.
🔬Concept testing
I socialised some key screens from the updated Experience Operations app.
I observed box office staff dealing with customers and took notes as well as some voice recordings and videos. All of this data then went into our research repository, Dovetial.
Snapshot of our users
Box office staff
Location: Main box office (shared with Mandela), multiple hotel box offices
Responsibilities: Wristband queries, general enquiries
Staff: Mix of full-time staff and contractors
Devices: Mobile (iPhone) and laptop or iPad
Tools: Experience Ops app, Excel spreadsheet with traveller information, google form to track enquiries
Communication: WhatsApp
Support crew
Location: Entry points into events and zones
Responsibilities: Counting guests into events, general enquiries
Staff: Contractors
Devices: Mobile (iPhone) and manual clicker
Tools: Catchphrase (mobile briefing and communication platform)
Communication: WhatsApp
This is the hotel box office. It was only open on day one of the experience when guests were checking into hotels.
This is the main box office. This box office was open for the whole of the experience and this is where I did most of my observations, short unstructured interviews and concept testing.
You could find support crew at various entry points into venues and zones e.g GA zone, VIP zone. This image shows the VIP gated area at Mandela Beach. A member of the support crew would be managing this entrance.
This is another club we partnered with called “The City”. You can see there are various levels of the venue representing different ticket prices. Support crew could be found at the entry points of these zones checking guest wristbands and clicking them into these areas.
High level findings and recommendations
As you can imagine, there were many many findings from this 3 day field research trip but for the purpose of this piece I will only outline the high-level observations that helped to shape iterations of the Experience Operations app.
Box office staff don’t read the instruction screens every time they use the app.
Access and permissions are important.
There is a want to provide staff, especially support crew, with as much information as possible.
Users like the simplicity of the Experience Ops app.
Staff liked the idea of merging Pollen Scan and the Experience Operations app into a new Experience Operations app.
There was a want to give the support crew the option to leave notes in the Experience Operations app.
Research goals
Although this research is very important and gives us a great foundational understanding of our users, it's important to consider the research limitations.
All of this information came from observations, short unstructured interviews and concept testing on people I could find at the time. Building on this research and iterating on the designs as we learn more about our users is an important and valuable use of our time.
High level findings and recommendations
Unfortunately, my contract ended before I was able to iterate on the version one designs. However, I handed over a very thorough research report, including my recommendations and some mockups demonstrating ways in which these findings could be interpreted and implemented.
I enjoyed this project thoroughly. Visiting Cancun and seeing people use the apps firsthand was amazing. I returned with many insights into how events are managed and run, and I was able to provide recommendations to enhance the new Experience Operations app.
I was able to provide the team back in the UK with a lot of context about how our users use the app. This was extremely beneficial to them. The engineers in my team took a real interest in this research and were reassured that we were moving in the right direction.
Reflection
I am really proud of this project and I learned a lot about maximising what we can learn from the information that we already have.
I am happy with the process I took and the outcome I created. My main takeaway from this project was learning how to seek out information from others and navigate a large organisation across multiple time zones to do so.