Gather
A case study for a unique, customizable event space and design firm in Columbus, Ohio.
Brief
Generate a responsive site and brand identity for a hypothetical company, over the course of 6 weeks at Designlab.
Roles
Company Concept, Services & Strategy
User Research
Brand Identity
Content Strategy & Development
UX/UI Design
Wireframes
Prototyping
Hi-fidelity Mockups
Background
Early stages of this project began with an independent brief. I wanted to take this opportunity to combine some of my other skillsets and interests as a designer:
Gather has reinvented an overlooked, industrial property - transforming it into a totally unique, elegant event space. But Gather is much more than just an event venue. While they love to host incredible parties, they also serve as a hub for creativity and community.
Thinking big is encouraged - and Gather wants to conjure up any event dream. They offer personalized service and support, as well as additional design services and options for a completely custom event to reflect unique personality, perspective, and goals.
Research
My initial research revolved around competitive analysis (focused locally) as well as user interviews.
My participants were all familiar with the area, and had also recently planned a wedding or event in order to capitalize on that information being fresh in their minds.
Competitive Analysis
Findings
Based on my research, I identified some of the existing problem spaces and what opportunity they each present:
How might we encourage this idea of curating an entire experience?
How might we provide this curated experience while honoring individual tastes, approaches, and desired levels of involvement?
How might we allow for more customization through both design services and unique spaces?
Keeping this in mind, I generated my user personas: “The DIY-er,” who wants to take a very hands on approach to create an event, and “The Curator” with strong ideas, but little desire to do the legwork.
Personas
Information Architecture
User research provided significant insight to the kind of information that is expected on the site, as well as several things that they felt were missing from competitor’s sites and their own experiences.
Sitemap
Brand Identity
Gather’s brand identity is meant to represents its ideals of warmth and community. The logo came together using simple geometric forms - anchored around a semi-circle. The goal is to provide ample freedom for utilizing the shape through several means (patterns, built objects, marketing materials, etc.)
Early Logo Iterations
Style Guide
Responsive Wireframes & Prototyping
Significant time was spent outlining content and understanding priorities. With so many competitors, I wanted the benefits and unique qualities of Gather to be front and center.
I also wanted to focus on building out a more thorough prototype for this case study. My mid-fidelity wireframes were used to build this out and run usability testing with.
Using some overlap of participants from my early research, I gathered information to insure that the pages were not just usable, but also clearly conveyed the key selling points and services of Gather.
Early Sketches
Responsive Wireframes
Figma Prototype
Hi-Fi Design
Using the insights from usability testing, I was able to resolve priority revisions and generate high fidelity designs of the responsive design.
I also began strategizing and creating content for Gather. This included sketches and floorplans - reinforcing the brand’s goal of generating unique, customizable spaces.
Mockups
