YPlan
YPlan became the first mobile app on the market that allowed users to discover, book and go to tonight’s best events in two taps.
Context.
Upon joining the company, I was faced with the challenge of putting together all things design related, from creating an identity from scratch to app prototyping, overseeing the design implementation and collaborating with the marketing department to create promotional materials.
YPlan was one of the main pillars of the business, the app launched when iOS6 was live, by a product team of 2 (design and iOS dev leads). For the 3 following years, we hired a team of designers with me being the hands-on creative director.
The Brand.
The YPlan logotype was designed in collaboration with Claire Coullon. I took care of the creative direction by creating the base colour palette and set the overall visual language. We ended up with a memorable and well drawn "Y", easily identifiable as a stand-alone icon.
The app.
Personalisation was key to provide a tailored experience from the very beginning, people were more likely to trust the service if they told us upfront what they were into.
On starting the app, users were presented with a list of curated events. At the very beginning that list was as small as 10 events per day, each one of them representing a different category. As the business and partnerships evolved, the app adapted to host a bigger inventory and users were presented with a list of curated collections to draw inspiration from.
A seamless booking flow.
Changing the way people discovered and booked events presented a difficult task. The moment people got a ticket virtually printed on their mobile phone created something memorable and was key to convert them into loyal users. The 2 tap booking experience helped retain users and grow organically.
Allowing the user to access the full inventory.
For use cases the curated collections could not cover, the search functionality provided an elegant way to discover events, providing the ability to filter by time, cost or location. The map functionality played a crucial role for the users who sought events by proximity.
Building brand personality through consistent illustration and iconography.
The addition of visually consistent illustration and iconography helped convey the brand’s tone of voice. Conceptually, we drew inspiration from Saul Bass and his “Man With the Golden Arm” movie poster, alluding to the handing out of tickets upon entering an event’s doors.
Managing event quality.
Asking the user to review the events and venues quality helped with how the company selected future partnerships and collected reviews for repeat events so other users would have it as a reference. Also allowed to follow up bad experiences from users who didn’t explicitly complain to customer service.
Adding social sweeteners to events.
On the event list, we’ve added a social validation component to incentivise people towards planning together with their friends. The sweetener was an important step towards making the app more social and make the experience less lonely.
Allowing tickets to be shared.
We’ve also added the ability to share tickets with your friends or your best half. This not only allowed for a better user experience so that each person had their own ticket when going through the doors, but also increased user acquisition in an organic way. Users would buy multiple tickets and send them to their friends
Planning an event with your friends.
After conducting user interviews, we noticed a pattern on the way users shared events with their partner or group of friends. Sharing was being done via WhatsApp screenshot on a group chat. With the event planner, we brought them back to our app and improved the overall user experience of going out in a group.
Final note.
I helped YPlan launch and run in several cities around the world, with New York and London being the primary focus. It got featured on Forbes, Techcrunch, TNW as well as Apple Editor’s Choice.
Shortly after leaving the company, the business pivoted into web and YPlan was acquired by Time Out London.