E P O C H
Creating events for the workplace
Role: Research, IA, Visuals
Company: EPOCH
Duration: 3 Weeks
Team: Zach Vieth, Ellie Lampa
Overview
EPOCH is an event platform application for the workplace. Currently, the event platform market mainly consists of commercial giant event applications such as Eventbrite or smaller social event channels like Facebook Events. EPOCH seeks to bridge the gap between event platforms and the workplace.
Challenges
Improve the admin event creation experience
Simplify app nomenclature
Create a familiar flow so users can complete their task on time
Diagnosing Dissatisfaction
The Problem
EPOCH is looking to prioritize and simplify its current dashboard features in order to create a dashboard for HR admins that is intuitive and minimizes the training required for new users. Users are currently confused when creating and tracking events, due to an unfamiliar workflow, an inconsistent layout, and confusing feature nomenclature.
Familiarity, Convenience & Flow
The Solution
We believe that by implementing familiar nomenclature and simplifying both the event creation process and event notifications for first-time users, we will empower HR admins to quickly learn and navigate EPOCH and eliminate the training and on boarding process for new EPOCH clients.
Research Overview
Our research revealed that our users would benefit from an experience filled with familiarity and simplicity. Similar to web platforms like Google Suite & Facebook Events. New and existing users are left unsatisfied because they are unable to complete their tasks quickly, navigate intuitively and are cannot understand EPOCH’s website nomenclature. EPOCH is deterring its community when they should be helping them achieve their goals simply.
Survey Analysis
Research revealed that users are more comfortable interacting with applications that feel familiar to them.
Usability Testing
Dashboard nav is not familiar to users
First time users are taking too long to complete main task
Unfamiliar nomenclature breeds confusion
“Facebook events is flexible, organized and easy to share.”
— Anonymous interviewer
“I enjoy google because of its ease of use and how straight forward it is for the task at hand.”
-Interview participant 4
Familiarity & Hierarchy Within Google Docs
Design Element Inspiration
Starting a new document is easy to understand, view and interact with
Template files are placed beside creating a new document button for quicker access to template feature
Recent documents are placed below, creating a sense of file hierarchy
Simplicity & Clear Feedback: Facebook Events
Design Element Inspiration
Clear affordance and feedback
Simple feature allowing user to select what type of event they will have
A familiar way for users to select dates
Simple and innovative way for users to select their time zone
Bringing Familiarity and Simplicity To The Table
Clear Nomenclature & Navigation
I quickly realized EPOCH’s sitemap and page taxonomy was confusing users, the subsequent action was to improve these pain points.
Relaxing and Professional Tones
Style Guide
Simplicity and speed were key decisions in designing EPOCH’s style guide. Roboto was our main type for the body and headers due to its readable web functionality. Poppins was kept as the main navigational text, keeping admins comfortable with our redesign of EPOCH. I kept EPOCH’s original set of colors in order to maintain familiarity among admins, with the exception of lightening the text color. A softened black is relaxing on the eyes for admins interacting with the site on a frequent basis. The improved color scheme brought harmony and sophistication to the overall experience.
Before
After
Takeaway
Once this project was completed, I was reminded why I chose to become a UX designer. As a designer, I must work for the user. The general tone of EPOCH's users throughout this project was one of confusion and discontent, which is not uncommon. Learning to listen to the voices of these people allows for a solution to present itself. In EPOCH's case, simplifying everything to meet the user's needs was the answer.