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UniversityTickets

Improving Event Attendance Accuracy 15% by Redesigning PDF Tickets to Fix 4 Scanning Problems

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<aside> <img src="/icons/grid_lightgray.svg" alt="/icons/grid_lightgray.svg" width="40px" /> Overview

UniversityTickets was a live-event web ticket platform for 500+ universities

Event entrance was slowed when PDF tickets were not scannable due to 4 issues.

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

Project Overview

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

Scanning problems slowed down attendee entrance to events

Contextual user research observations at a graduation ceremony event uncovered 4 issues preventing barcodes from being scanned: covering, mis-printing, folding, and smudging.

I initiated a redesign project to fix these scanning issues and improve the attendee experience two days after the issues were found.

4 common causes of barcode scanning issues

1. Covering

Some attendees held out a ticket for scanning with the barcode covered by their thumb, without noticing they were doing so.

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.

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.

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.

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

Ensure barcodes can be scanned: backups and strategic placement

🔢 Increase redundancy by adding backup barcodes

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By increasing the number of barcodes there would be backups in case one of the barcodes was covered or misprinted or distorted.

⏹️ Place barcodes away from common fold lines

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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

Add instructions to distribute tickets

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.

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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

Improved typography helps attendees and staff

Customer name, event name, seating information, location, and event date are all easier to find in dedicated locations and typographic styles.

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<aside> <img src="/icons/grid_lightgray.svg" alt="/icons/grid_lightgray.svg" width="40px" /> Improvement 3: Guide Attendees & Staff

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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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<aside> <img src="/icons/grid_lightgray.svg" alt="/icons/grid_lightgray.svg" width="40px" /> Outcomes

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<aside> <img src="/icons/grid_lightgray.svg" alt="/icons/grid_lightgray.svg" width="40px" /> Takeaways

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<aside> <img src="/icons/grid_lightgray.svg" alt="/icons/grid_lightgray.svg" width="40px" /> Future

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<aside> <img src="/icons/grid_lightgray.svg" alt="/icons/grid_lightgray.svg" width="40px" /> More Projects

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