SoundScape Festival — the only site that brings the festival to
your fingertips.
Role: UX/UI Designer
Industry: Music
Tools: Figma
Duration: 3 months
OVERVIEW
Simplifying a Festival Website Experience
SoundScape Fest is a diverse annual music festival that serves as a way for music enthusiasts to get tickets, check the list of artists participating, and search for additional information. Existing websites aren't user-friendly or easily navigable and didn’t effectively showcase the necessary information. Additionally reaching audiences outside the U.S. was a key challenge.
The solution was to create a design that prioritized a clean layout, clear navigation, and the provision of essential information. Additionally, the website needed to be more mobile-friendly to provide a seamless user experience.
As the designer, developer, and project overseer, I ensured that the website effectively presented key information and provided an accessible interface for users.
BACKGROUND
Problems & Goals
When I started creating my website for SoundScape Fest (a music festival), I wanted to design a platform for music enthusiasts and those interested in attending their first music festival, offering them a seamless experience when interacting with the site.
During this process, I knew my main challenge would be the fact that many music festival websites already existed, so I needed to come up with ideas to make mine stand out from the rest. Since the goal was to create a website that reached a broader audience beyond the U.S., I discovered during my research that many music websites struggled to engage a global audience due to language barriers, and that independent and international artists were often underrepresented.
Another challenge I faced was ensuring a seamless user experience that resonated with diverse audiences while maintaining an engaging design. From the beginning, the goal had been to create a space where music lovers and curious alike could connect and explore their musical tastes, all while building a platform that appealed to users worldwide and provided all the essential information they needed.
Users & Audience
The target audience I envisioned for the music festival website is diverse, aiming to appeal to a wide range of age groups, specifically individuals aged 18 to 40. My primary focus was on users who actively engage with music culture, passionate festivalgoers, music enthusiasts, and those seeking immersive live experiences that emphasize authenticity, unique festival atmospheres, and the discovery of new artists.
During my research, I discovered that many users were looking for a website that is easy to navigate, as several existing sites made it challenging to find crucial information such as festival dates, ticket availability, lineups, and accommodations. Additionally, users expressed a desire for engaging content. Rather than just a basic site that provided ticket information and lineups, they wanted features like the ability to order merchandise, interact with artists, read artist bios, and enjoy a seamless experience whether they were using a mobile device or a computer.
The main frustrations I encountered during my research included a lack of real-time festival updates, limited payment options, and a scarcity of essential details. Especially stage schedules, on-site amenities, hidden fees, and unclear pricing.
DEVELOPMENT
Initial Development
In the initial development of the music festival website, I focused on establishing a clear direction through feature prioritization, site mapping, and defining user flows. The primary goal was to create an engaging and user-friendly platform that captured the festival's energy while providing essential information. I prioritized core features such as lineup schedules, ticket purchasing, artist biographies, and venue maps to ensure users could easily access the most relevant content.
To organize the experience logically, I created a user journey map focused on individuals trying to purchase tickets for the music festival. The map outlines each step a user might take, from initial awareness to completing a purchase. I designed user flows centered around this goal, ensuring a smooth and intuitive process.
To explore the website's visual identity, I developed mood boards that focused on vibrant, fun, and colorful festival-inspired color palettes, bold typography, and high-energy imagery. These elements supported the goal of conveying the excitement and spirit of the event. Overall, the early planning phase laid a solid foundation for a dynamic and immersive online experience.
Wireframing
During the wireframing stage of the music festival website, I focused on transforming my initial concepts into a user-friendly layout emphasizing usability and responsive design. The primary objective was to create a clear structure for each page, facilitating intuitive navigation and quick access to essential information like artist lineups, ticket options, and venue details.
Using Figma, I developed low-fidelity wireframes to strategically position headers, navigation menus, buttons, and content blocks, ensuring a logical information flow. A key consideration was responsive design; I planned layouts that seamlessly adapt across desktop, tablet, and mobile devices. This included features like collapsing menus for smaller screens, vertical stacking of content, and resizing images and buttons for touch-friendly interaction. I also considered user behavior on different devices, especially the need for quick access to ticket purchasing on mobile. The goal was to strike a balance between visual appeal and functionality, leaving room for vibrant imagery and bold typography in future design phases.
Overall, the wireframing process solidified the website’s structure, laying a strong foundation for the next stage of development while enhancing the user experience.
Designs
In the final design stage of the music festival website, I synthesized all the planning, structure, and visual concepts into polished high-fidelity mockups. The primary goal was to create a visually stunning yet highly functional design that encapsulated the vibrant energy of the festival.
I meticulously refined the color palette, typography, imagery, and layout to achieve a cohesive aesthetic across the site. Drawing inspiration from my earlier mood boards, I incorporated dynamic visuals and vibrant colors that resonate with the excitement of live music and the essence of summer. To ensure accessibility, I prioritized strong contrast and readability while integrating interactive elements such as hover states, animated buttons, and visual feedback to elevate user engagement and guide actions intuitively.
Responsive design was a cornerstone of my approach; I crafted layouts that seamlessly adapted to various screen sizes, ensuring an optimal experience on both mobile and desktop devices. Additionally, I established consistent UI components like ticket buttons and artist cards to streamline navigation.
Ultimately, these final designs harmoniously blend aesthetics and usability, providing a solid foundation for the development phase and enhancing the overall user experience.
NEXT STEPS
Moving Forward
The next step for SoundScape will include conducting usability testing on the high-fidelity prototypes to identify any friction points in the user journey, particularly around ticket purchasing. Based on user feedback, I will make necessary refinements to improve the overall experience. Once revisions are complete, I am looking forward to collaborating with a skilled development team that can bring the designs to life and ensure a responsive, accessible, and high-performance site that delivers a seamless user experience across all devices.
