LovePlan

Creating Confidence with LovePlan

An end-to-end application designed to support couples through the wedding planning process.

Year

Duration

Role

2024

12 weeks

Sole UX/UI Designer

Introduction to the Design

Design Problem

Many couples find wedding planning stressful due to a lack of support, guidance, and confidence, especially since it's often their first time getting married. Uncertainty about which tasks need to be accomplished can lead to feeling overwhelmed, making it hard to enjoy the process.

63% of couples emphasize the importance of support and guidance.

Goal

An all-in-one app that is task-based to create progress and support to ensure confidence in couples, which will make wedding planning an enjoyable process.

  • Create support for couples through mentors, who help build confidence.

  • Add a task system to track progress as the couple works towards their end goal: their wedding day.

POV Statement

I want to explore ways to help couples gain more confidence in planning their weddings, as many are afraid of making mistakes.

I want to explore ways to track users’ progress in completing necessary tasks, as many couples find it difficult to schedule and manage their planning.

HMW Questions

How can we help the couple build confidence so they can envision their dream wedding without overthinking mistakes?

How can we help couples understand the tasks they need to accomplish to achieve their wedding goal?

Insights Gathered

Competitive Analysis

I researched three different wedding website competitors, Knot, Joy, and Zola. Using these competitors, I found key learnings and opportunities.

Key Learnings

  • I learned about planning tools, who my audience is (the age range), and which tools help make planning more organized. 

  • I learned about my competitor’s strengths and weaknesses. 

  • I found out what most websites use for organization and planning (For example, Planning tools such as Wedding websites, Vendors, Invitations, etc)

Most Important Learning

  • I learned that successful wedding planning focuses on quality over quantity, creating personalized experiences for each couple, and paying close attention to detail.

Opportunities

  • Moving forward, I will create a design that focuses on the couple's needs by prioritizing personalization, variety, simplicity, and organization, based on what I’ve learned.

User Interviews

My user interview questions helped me gather information, which I used for affinity mapping. I interviewed four participants who each had different experiences with wedding planning.

Total of 4 Participants

  • Three had already planned their weddings.

  • One had no prior experience with wedding planning,

  • They planned their wedding.

  • Two were interviewed in person.

  • Two were interviewed on the call.

Common Themes

  • A strong need for tools that simplify and organize the planning process (e.g., checklists, task separation).

  • A desire for clear budgeting features to manage costs and prevent overspending.

  • Value is placed on personalized inspiration and easy access to vendor options.

Pain Points

  • Overwhelmed by time constraints and a lack of planning experience.

  • Difficulty managing budgets and organizing wedding tasks efficiently.

  • Lack of inspiration, inclusivity, and centralized vendor/guest communication.

User Interview Key Questions

  • What tools did you use to help you plan?

  • What was the biggest struggle when planning your wedding? How did you overcome this struggle?

  • What are some essential tasks you could list that are necessary in planning a wedding?

Affinity Mapping

This was an excellent tool for gathering information and notes from my user interviews. I was able to identify users' challenges and wishlists for the website, as well as their beliefs about what makes a wedding successful. 

Piecing the Puzzle Together

User Persona

Below are the user personas of Evelyn, Mia, and Noah. Evelyn feels overwhelmed and needs tools for organization and support. Mia fears making mistakes and needs support, while Noah struggles with planning. User Personas helped me create user scenarios and understand their goals, needs, and challenges. This helped me remember my users' needs.

User Flow

My user flows were like a blueprint. I was able to map out my user decisions within my website flow, which helped me find ways to fix user errors and create a happy path. Below you can see the login/signup, Planning, and support pages.

Bringing Ideas to Life

Low-Fidelity Wireframing

Now it’s time to apply the information I gained to a design. Below are my first lo-fi sketches. I drew this out on a sketch app and took the time to lay out each element and how I wanted this design to work.

Mid-Fidelity Wireframing

Mid-fidelity wireframes helped me add more steps to my design. I readditional steps were necessary to help users understand the process and complete tasks effectievly.

Branding

You can see the inspiration I got for the mood and style I was looking for. My core values are supportive guidance, reliability, transparency, joy, and simplicity. I created the elements below that align with these design values.

Moodboard

Logo Sketches

Style Tile

High-Fidelity Wireframe

After adding all my newly created design elements, these are my final high-fidelity wireframes. However, the process isn’t over—there’s always more to adjust for a better finished product.

Refining the Journey

User Testing

To make iterations, I need to get feedback from my users. Using a usability test plan, I walked my participants through each flow and asked them questions to gather input on what I could improve.

Login/Signup

  • The sign-in process was generally easy to understand and navigate. Only one user had difficulty logging in because he wanted to log in with Google. 

Plan Page

  • The users spent different amounts of time on the plan page. Their feedback ranged from difficulty finding tasks to ease of navigation. Some specific feedback included challenges with editing tasks and suggestions for improving their appearance.

Support Page

  • The support page seemed easy for the users to understand and complete. Some feedback would be improving navigation and UI elements for a smoother experience.

Iterations

-Adjusted the homepage by making the menu icon click-able (bringing you to the menu page).

-I put each button on a highlighted state so that the users know the button is active when selecting.

-Added a drop down menu for the “view all task” button to simplify the process. I also added a highlight state to each button.

-Due to the participants’ confusion with the “Edit a task” section, I removed the trash icons and added a edit icon when a task is selected.

-I added a highlighted state when the user selects the mentor.

Final Design Mockups

Key Takeaways

Challenges Faced

  • Designing an end-to-end product was pretty challenging because I didn't realize how much detail goes into each page. Not only did I have to create all pages in detail, but I also had to design them with simplicity while keeping my users’ needs in mind.

Lessons That Shaped Me

  • I learned how vital it is to gain feedback. This helped me adjust my design to improve and keep my users in mind.

What I’m most proud of

I'm proud of how I implemented feedback from my mentor, group critiques, and user testing into my design. By taking feedback easily, I was able to focus on what’s best for the users, keeping the design user-centered throughout the process.

Let’s get in touch!