ROLE

Research Lead

• Conducted user interviews, competitive analysis, secondary research and usability tests.

• Synthesized all the data and defined key insights.

• Mapped out user flows, made diagnosis, determined improvement areas and sketched them out.

• Developed customer journeys for the current and future states.

DESIGN TOOL

Sketch

PROBLEM: DPR uses first-come-first-served (FCFS) system for the summer camp registration and spots fill up very quickly after registration opens because of high demand. Summer camp registrants need a more equitable and less stressful way to register their kids in camps.

SOLUTION: Designing a registration process that will minimize stress, manage frustration and provide an equitable system where people do not feel left behind. In this respect, we offer a 2-staged solution:

• Long-term strategy: Switching to a transparent and well-communicated lottery system.

• Short-term actions: Making quick and small changes in the registration website to improve the online registration experience.

METHODS

• User Interviews

• Secondary Research

• Competitive Analysis

• Affinity Mapping & Synthesis

• Persona Development

• Storyboarding

• Customer Journey Mapping

• User Flows

• Site Mapping

• Sketching & Wireframing

• Prototyping in Sketch

• Usability Testing

DELIVERABLES

• Research Insights & Analysis

• User Personas

• Current and Future State Storyboards

• Current and Future State User Journey Maps

• User Flows

• Revamp of Online Registration in Sketch

TIME: 13 days

REFLECTIONS

We had multiple challenges in this project.

First of all the scope was very wide forcing us to dive deep in many different areas. We needed to understand and pinpoint the real problems to narrow down our focus.

Second, the project was a little abstract at first, since the client was not specifically looking for a digital product, but expecting an improvement in the whole registration process. So at that point, we realized that we are facing a huge service design project and the goal was not only to design a digital product, but to overhaul the system.

Last but not least, the client had an rigid technical system and we did not know its subtleties. We were not allowed to push its limits, so we had to be realistic about what could be done by within those limits. Therefore, we had to provide some pragmatic, functional and easy-to-implement recommendations.

RESEARCH & SYNTHESIS

We conducted 18 interviews with parents and non-parents to understand feelings & thoughts towards both FCFS & lottery systems and to listen to their experiences with both systems.

“I tried my chance and I saw that all the tickets were sold out. I was frustrated! Cause I know my friends will have their 3rd time in this event!”

“As I cannot control it, I think the less stressful option is lottery. You do not have much to do, just trust the process.”

“I set my alarms/alerts and my calendar. FCFS is so stressful!”

“Lottery gives equal chance to all the registrants. You have always a hope”

“If the spots fill up quickly, then a lottery system is the only fair way to proceed.”

“You may not be available in that specific time slot. May be traveling…”

“It depended on how fast you clicked and how fast your internet was.”

Negative WOM for the institution

“Trying each time but being unable to get in is very disappointing. I would share this bad experience with my community.”

Competition stinks

“Kid-related issues require a constant competition. As a mom, I am tired of these things.”

Control seekers

“I prefer FCFS since I still have some control on it. I would do anything to schedule myself accordingly.”

Expectation setters

“Once I attended a lottery and I knew the probability of winning, so I set my expectations accordingly.”

No big difference people

“I do not think that there is a huge difference. My probability does not change a lot between lottery and FCFS.”

Transparency for everybody

“Transparency is crucial in lotteries. I need to know how they do it, all the rules and policies. When you see it then you trust.”

MAIN TAKEAWAY

It is obvious that there will be always some people unhappy or frustrated because of the placements.

Then, the goal should be to minimize stress, manage frustration and provide an equitable system where people do not feel left behind.

Putting all these experiences and feelings together, we wanted to visualize our persona Michelle and compare how her journey looks like in the current system and how it would look like if the lottery system was implemented.

CURRENT STATE: FCFS SYSTEM

FUTURE STATE: WHEN LOTTERY IS IMPLEMENTED

MAIN TAKEAWAY

Michelle feels more positive during the course of the future state, especially in Discovery, Consideration and Planing phases. She also finishes her journey in a more positive level in future state.

As a result, if the lottery system is implemented as in the future state journey map, the user satisfaction will increase.

COMPETITIVE ANALYSIS

Diving deep to understand other FCFS user cities was a necessity to find out shortcomings of DC. We included in our analysis the strongest examples based on their features and content .

TAKEAWAYS

DC lacks wishlist feature in terms of system, which will ease users’ research and planning experience.

In terms of website content, DC does not have an online camp catalog or a detailed camp listing before registration, manuals / visuals telling registration process and a facility finder map.

DC also needs a broader FAQ section.

Four usability tests are conducted to understand the experience of the current online registration process and to identify the ongoing problems with the registration website.

Main problems discovered are:

1. DIFFICULT TO NAVIGATE

2. LACK OF INFO/CAMP DESCRIPTIONS

3. USER INTERFACE PROBLEMS

Two different websites (DPR and portal) cause dispersed info & possibility to skip.

“So I guess I have to leave this page and go back to the other one to get information about camps.”

There are no online catalogs or detailed info about the camps online.

“That’s it? Is that all the information about multi sport camp? I mean it is not very descriptive.”

Poor website experience due to inadequate filters, too much scroll down / scroll up

“I don't wanna keep scrolling forever, that’s a lot. Plus, how am I going to search by location? Should I google the location of each facility?!”

USER FLOW AND DIAGNOSIS

We mapped out the user flow of the current registration process to locate the problems discovered in usability tests. This helped us a lot with the diagnosis of key problems.

CURRENT FLOW FOR REGISTRATION

HOW SHOULD WE FIX IT?

The picture on the left describes three different paths to get to the summer camps registration page and their drawbacks. The second picture shows potential improvements.

1. DPR Summer Camp Page:

• Reorganizing Summer Camp Landing Page with small changes to highlight important information and resources

• Adding an online catalog and allowing users to visit the camp list before moving on to registration

• Adding clearer call to action buttons such as “View Catalog”, “Register Online”

2. Activity Registration Portal:

• Skipping Activity Home Page, when “Register Online” clicked

• Removing text on the side and reorganizing information on top of the page

• Cleaning filters to have a less crowded page

• Adding new filters such as zip code, number of spots available and wishlist

• Adding a facility finder map to see the exact locations

• Putting additional information in an expandable box

• Using clearer wording (such as view map) instead of using icons only

We did five usability tests and validated our changes. Some feedback that we have got were:

“This map will help me identify if the location is appropriate for me. I think this one is very important!”

“I like large buttons because the titles guide me. It doesn’t take me long to understand what is the next step.”

“It is clear that I need to first create an account in order to register, and what steps I need to follow.”

“I think it is clean, easy to dive in to the content. Zip code filter or keyword search are the most relevant to me.”