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UniversityTickets
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<aside> <img src="/icons/grid_lightgray.svg" alt="/icons/grid_lightgray.svg" width="40px" /> Overview
Strategically placed, redundant barcodes increased attendance accuracy 15%.
Contextual user research at a university graduation event discovered that barcodes on print-at-home PDF tickets were not scannable due to 4 common issues, causing delays with attendee entrance. As the UX design team-of-one, I initiated a redesign project 2 days after the issues were found that solved the problems by increasing the number of barcodes, placing barcodes in strategic locations, and adding instructions. This resulted in a 15% average scanning accuracy for events and sped up entrance.
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<aside> <img src="/icons/grid_lightgray.svg" alt="/icons/grid_lightgray.svg" width="40px" /> Highlights
MY ROLE UX Team-of-One
TEAM 2 SWE, 1 PM
EMPLOYER UniversityTickets
TOOLS Omnigraffle
TIMELINE 4 Months
STATUS Launched September 2016
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<aside> <img src="/icons/grid_lightgray.svg" alt="/icons/grid_lightgray.svg" width="40px" /> Problem
1. Covering
Some attendees held out a ticket for scanning with the barcode covered by their thumb, without noticing they were doing so.
2. Mis-Printing
Some tickets were misprinted in such a way that the barcode was un-scannable.
3. Folding
Attendees commonly fold tickets in quarters or thirds. This puts creases in the barcodes that make the barcodes difficult to read by the scanning hardware.
4. Water Smudging
Perspiration from sweaty hands, perspiration from water bottles, and tears from emotional parents sometimes caused ink to smudge.
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<aside> <img src="/icons/grid_lightgray.svg" alt="/icons/grid_lightgray.svg" width="40px" /> Solution
By increasing the number of barcodes there would be backups in case one of the barcodes was covered or misprinted or distorted.
Tickets were often folded in quarters or thirds.
Folded barcodes could become difficult to scan.
Barcodes were moved away from these common fold lines.
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<aside> <img src="/icons/grid_lightgray.svg" alt="/icons/grid_lightgray.svg" width="40px" /> Improvement 1: Distribution Instructions
Adding instructions to attendees for each person in their group to be holding their own, unfolded ticket helped keep the scanning line moving smoothly by eliminating time waiting for tickets to be separated and unfolded.
Unfolded & distributed tickets reduce wait time
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<aside> <img src="/icons/grid_lightgray.svg" alt="/icons/grid_lightgray.svg" width="40px" /> Improvement 2: Visual Hierarchy
Customer name, event name, seating information, location, and event date are all easier to find in dedicated locations and typographic styles.
Quickly finding the customer's name is important for greeting attendees at the door.
Attendees need to know that they are bringing the tickets to the correct event.
This is important so staff and customers can easily locate their correct seat.
Old Ticket
New Ticket
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<aside> <img src="/icons/grid_lightgray.svg" alt="/icons/grid_lightgray.svg" width="40px" /> Improvement 3: Guide Attendees & Staff
The QR code barcodes on the tickets are used to validate tickets at the event entrance using specialized scanning hardware with a laser reader.
These QR codes could serve a dual-purpose by being scannable by event attendees with their smartphone cameras. When scanned by a camera they could open a Google Maps link with directions to the event location.
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<aside> <img src="/icons/grid_lightgray.svg" alt="/icons/grid_lightgray.svg" width="40px" /> Improvement 4: Branding
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