Redesigning the ticketing SaaS product for museums
Planning and executing the UX design initiatives for an MVP of a recently acquired product
Project brief
The ticketing product for museums was a recently acquired product. It had scalability issues stemming from its rapid growth which added complexity for the customers to efficiently manage end to end workflows. To address existing gaps and accommodate new customer requirements, an incremental redesign was planned.
It focused on restructuring the product around users' mental models and aligning the UI with the company's design system. As the first increment, the team identified four critical workflows required for an end-to-end experience, defining the scope of the MVP.
Related case study : Optimising capacity management for museums
Platform
Web application
Domain
Ticketing
Year
2021 - 2023
My role
As part of the redesign team, I led the UX design initiative for the first phase which lasted two years. I facilitated customer research and stakeholder workshops along with the product owner to identify product gaps. Once the requirements were clarified, I planned the UX tasks and activities along with the product owner and technical lead.
Using this, I developed a UX process framework to align the design activities with the development lifecycle. I single-handedly worked on the various concepts, workflows and aligned the designs with the company design system. As there were many new components introduced to meet the unique requirements of the product which were yet to be added in the design system, I created a temporary design library for the redesign team.
For the usability study, I collaborated with a fellow designer and conducted various sessions with beta testing customers.
Legacy product audit
Auditing the legacy product provided a baseline for the redesign. The evaluation identified three categories of issues:
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User flow gaps
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each task was isolated without any guidance about sequencing or prerequisites
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Information architecture inconsistencies
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navigation and object naming did not reflect the users' expectations
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UI inconsistencies
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different colours and design patterns were used across the product
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The findings were documented and used as the foundation for subsequent workshops with internal stakeholders and customers.
Stakeholder workshops
Conducting multiple interviews and workshops with customers helped define user needs and pain points. Some workshops were specifically conducted with internal stakeholders like customer support, customer success managers, sales and third-party channel managers to understand business requirements.
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Customer interviews and workshops focused on:
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observing users' mental model to redefine the information architecture of the overall product
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mapping each customers' unique workflow requirement and identifying gaps in the legacy system
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understanding customer's team composition to align daily tasks with user roles
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Internal stakeholder workshops focused on:
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defining core objects like product, channel, medium, reseller to establish internal consensus on terminology and business goals
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facilitating brainstorming sessions to explore workflow possibilities beyond the legacy constraints
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running co-creation sessions to align technical and design direction across stakeholders
UX task mapping
As the acquired product team was working for the first time with a UX designer, it was important to help them understand the design process and how it integrates with the development and release process. To address this, I developed a UX task mapping framework using the double diamond model as a foundation. Using the framework, I mapped specific research, ideation, design, and delivery activities across each stage of the development lifecycle.
Design principles
Some design principles were set at an early stage to ensure consistent design patterns. As project complexity grew, these principles evolved to accommodate new requirements.
Linear workflow
A linear workflow from setup to sale will ease the learning curve, ensure associated objects are configured correctly, and reduce confusion related to a complex process.
Visual representation
Visual representation of actions and outcomes will ensure clear understanding of the task and avoid surprise outcomes. It will improve clarity in a collaborative environment.
Modular design
Modular designs will help in workflow customisation for unique customer needs with minimal additional resources and will ease scalability.
Design patterns
Some design patterns were defined based on the specific type of the workflow. Most of the patterns directly aligned with the design system while other led to additional components.
Deliverable and release strategy
The deliverable of the MVP included designs and prototypes of all four major workflows and a dashboard as a landing page. These designs were presented to the beta testing customers to get early feedback and build customer trust with the new designs.
Based on team discussions, the UX recommendations for release were:
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A/B test some workflows to get quantitative data of customer preference
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Define UX success metrics and validate it against real customer usage data
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Incrementally redesign the remaining workflows to align with the new designs
Impact
The improved and redesigned workflows resolved key business, usability and technical issues.
Business
Increased customer trust in the product and reduced customer reluctance towards contract renewal
Usability
Majority of the beta testing customers found the redesigned product intuitive and easy to follow
Technical
The internal team was well equipped with a design process and framework to align with their development process
My learnings
The project strengthened my understanding of product redesign process. It is not only a visual or technical exercise, but a systemic rethinking of how a product serves its users and the business.
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Redesigning a product goes beyond UI alignment or design system adoption. The most significant work was rethinking the underlying workflows to match users' mental models beyond surface-level changes
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Introducing a UX process framework to a team that had never worked with a designer taught me how to make design thinking accessible and actionable for non-designers. It increased UX acceptability in the team
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Questioning the existence of each element in the system, rather than accepting it as given was the most valuable habit this project reinforced. It led to clearer use case definitions and better prioritisation decisions
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Documenting decisions at incremental stages helped align the team on critical choices. This proved valuable in a fast-moving collaborative environment where undocumented decisions created ambiguity.