Making cultural outings effortless for families.
Overview
I collaborated with an independent startup Adventures with baby to design a mobile app that helps parents discover local cultural events.
As the sole designer, I led the end-to-end UX process from concept development and user research to wireframing, prototyping and usability testing - while also creating a design system to unify components, styles, grids, typography and iconography, ensuring a consistent user experience.
Challenge
Parents often struggle to find local, family-friendly cultural events without resorting to multiple, scattered sources. Many avoid Central London’s crowds, preferring nearby experiences but face challenges like the lack of a centralised resource, poor event visibility, and difficulty planning.
Approach
VillageCrew is a personalised event discovery platform that simplifies finding and planning cultural outings for families. The goal was to improve event discovery efficiency, reduce search time, and enhance user satisfaction, measured through usability testing and engagement metrics.
1 Designer, 1 Developer, 1 Marketeer
Overview
I collaborated with an independent startup Adventures with baby to design a mobile app that helps parents discover local cultural events.
As the sole designer, I led the end-to-end UX process from concept development and user research to wireframing, prototyping and usability testing - while also creating a design system to unify components, styles, grids, typography and iconography, ensuring a consistent user experience.
Challenge
Parents often struggle to find local, family-friendly cultural events without resorting to multiple, scattered sources. Many avoid Central London’s crowds, preferring nearby experiences but face challenges like the lack of a centralised resource, poor event visibility, and difficulty planning.
Approach
VillageCrew is a personalised event discovery platform that simplifies finding and planning cultural outings for families. The goal was to improve event discovery efficiency, reduce search time, and enhance user satisfaction, measured through usability testing and engagement metrics.
Current Landscape
I conducted secondary research to understand how parents find family-friendly events, analysing their reliance on social media, word of mouth, and scattered listings. A competitive analysis revealed a fragmented landscape with limited age-specific recommendations and planning tools. To validate these insights, I conducted user interviews and testing, uncovering key pain points.
Analysis of event discovery apps, highlighting key features and gaps.
Analysis of event discovery apps, highlighting key features and gaps.
User Research
To understand how parents plan cultural outings, we conducted eight user interviews and a survey with 13 respondents, mainly mums in London with 1 - 3 children. We also spoke with two event organisers to learn about their challenges in reaching families.
Parents shared how they discover events, their activity preferences, and whether a centralised platform would help. Organisers discussed their promotion methods, parent feedback, and challenges in engagement. The survey was distributed via local parent communities on Facebook and WhatsApp. Key questions included:
How do you usually discover family-friendly events?
What challenges do you face when planning or finding events?
How do event organisers promote their events to families?
Key user insights gathered from surveys and interviews.
Key Synthesis
After collecting the data, I organised all survey responses and interview notes into an affinity map, grouping them by common themes. This helped identify recurring patterns in parents’ needs, behaviours, and pain points.
Snapshot of research synthesis including affinity mapping.
Personas
Understanding our users was key to shaping VillageCrew into a platform that truly meets their needs. Based on our research, we identified three key personas: two primary personas representing parens with different planning styles and priorities, and one secondary persona representing event organisers who contribute to the platform's ecosystem.
Key Synthesis
After collecting the data, I organised all survey responses and interview notes into an affinity map, grouping them by common themes. This helped identify recurring patterns in parents’ needs, behaviours, and pain points.
Personas
Understanding our users was key to shaping VillageCrew into a platform that truly meets their needs. Based on our research, we identified three key personas: two primary personas representing parens with different planning styles and priorities, and one secondary persona representing event organisers who contribute to the platform's ecosystem.
The Cultural Enthusiast
Cultural enthusiasts enjoys discovering cultural activities for their family and will invest the time and effort to find them, however finding events often feels time-consuming and scattered.
"I want my kids to experience the joy of culture but I don’t have time to scroll endlessly to find the good stuff."
The Relaxed Planner
Relaxed planners are open to family-friendly events that require little preparation but equally enjoy a quiet weekend at home. They struggle to find low-effort, high-quality event options in one place.
"I don’t plan too far ahead. If something looks fun and easy, I’m in."
The Community Event Organiser
Community event organisers aim to make art and culture a part of everyday family life but struggle to make the events more visible and accessible to busy parents. Their challenge is promoting events effectively to time-poor parents.
"We’ve got a great local scene — we just need families to know about it."
Key Insights & Opportunities
Key Insights
Through affinity mapping, I clustered recurring themes and distilled them into five key insights that directly informed the design direction - outlined below.
Design Opportunities
These insights revealed core user needs and pain points, helping define focused design opportunities to improve event discovery and planning. I then worked with the developer to prioritise features using an impact–effort matrix, identifying which to build first. Key opportunities included:
Smart Event Discovery - Personalised recommendations based on child’s age, location, and interests.
Advanced Filters & Search - Filter by age, location, accessibility (e.g. pram-friendly), and event type.
Integrated Calendar & Reminders - Plan ahead with Gmail integration.
Interactive Map & Filters - Find events by travel time, crowd levels, and amenities.
User Reviews & Community Feedback - Ratings and comments for trust and insights.
Seamless Event Submission - A simplified process for organisers to improve visibility.
Smart Event Discovery - Personalised recommendations
Advanced Filters & Search - Filter by age, location, accessibility (e.g. pram-friendly), and event type.
Integrated Calendar & Reminders - Plan ahead with Gmail integration.
Interactive Map & Filters - Find events by travel time, crowd levels, and amenities.
User Reviews & Community Feedback - Ratings and comments for trust and insights.
Seamless Event Submission - A simplified process for organisers
Impact-effort matrix to prioritise features.
Impact-effort matrix to prioritise features.
User Journey
With user needs and core features defined, we structured the platform for seamless navigation. By mapping the Information Architecture and key task flows, we streamlined event discovery for parents and simplified event management for organisers.
Sketches & Wireframes
I began with low-fidelity sketches to quickly visualise concepts and refine ideas using Crazy Eights. Iterating based on user interviews, I focused on simplifying event discovery, ensuring accessibility, and streamlining event submissions for organisers.
I then created low-fidelity wireframes in Figma, gradually refining them with relevant stock images and copy to improve clarity. The wireframes were tested with three users, revealing key improvements needed for navigation and event filtering. Based on these insights, I made several adjustments before moving on to high-fidelity prototypes in Figma.
Usability Testing
I created a high-fidelity, fully functional prototype in Figma and recruited participants for usability testing. We conducted seven tests initially, followed by three more after multiple iterations.
Key Usability Issues & Solutions:
Filter Visibility - Moved from ‘Search’ to the homepage for better discoverability.
Nearby Events Placement - Moved higher on the homepage to improve accessibility.
Cluttered Event Pages - Improved hierarchy, added collapsible sections, and highlighted key details.
Unclear CTAs - Refined button labels (e.g., ‘Explore’ → ‘View Event Details’) and added hover states.
These improvements enhanced navigation, clarity, and overall user experience.
Before-and-after screens showing how key insights shaped the high-fidelity prototype.
UI Design
I led the design and branding of VillageCrew, creating a warm, inviting visual identity that makes cultural discovery effortless for families.
The colour palette of orange, yellow, and red evokes joy and togetherness, while the bubbly yet elegant logo balances playfulness with sophistication. Prioritising highly curated imagery, the design spotlights diverse, high-quality events to reinforce the platform’s focus on carefully selected experiences.
To ensure a consistent user experience, I developed a design system unifying components, styles, grids, typography, and iconography. Following iOS and Material Design principles, I crafted a mobile-first, intuitive UI with clear filters and navigation, making event discovery simple yet inspiring for busy parents.
Booking an event
A prototype flow that shows a user filtering events based on preferences and booking a chosen event. The images below highlight each step in more detail.
Booking an event
A prototype flow that shows a user filtering events based on preferences and booking a chosen event. The images below highlight each step in more detail.
Learnings
Through this project, I gained valuable insights into the challenges parents face when discovering and planning family-friendly cultural events. The research highlighted a clear need for a centralised, user-friendly platform that simplifies event discovery, integrates planning tools, and ensures suitability for different family needs. Key takeaways include the importance of personalised recommendations, seamless event logistics, and accessible filtering options such as age, location, and buggy access.
Next Steps
Moving forward, the next steps would involve iterating on the prototype based on further user testing, refining key features like smart recommendations and interactive maps, and exploring potential partnerships with event organisers. Additionally, integrating real-time updates and calendar sync capabilities would enhance usability, ensuring a smoother, stress-free experience for parents planning cultural outings with their children.
Current Landscape
I conducted secondary research to understand how parents find family-friendly events, analysing their reliance on social media, word of mouth, and scattered listings. A competitive analysis revealed a fragmented landscape with limited age-specific recommendations and planning tools. To validate these insights, I conducted user interviews and testing, uncovering key pain points.
