PartyPal: Design Meets Nightlife

The Problem 

Many of us struggle with the paradox of choice when planning a night out. In a world filled with options, why does it often feel so challenging to find an event that matches our interests? This question has been stuck with me for years as I’ve blamed myself thinking i’m not a party person. Could it be because I don’t want to drink? Perhaps the music doesn’t suit my style?. Maybe the root problem is something else. Specifically the lack of a centralised and user friendly platform that offers a variety of parties personalised to different preferences?

Upon exploring existing solutions, I found a noticeable gap in the market: There are apps for concerts, and even networking, but a focused platform dedicated specifically to parties was missing. Moreover, the process of searching across various platforms — social media, websites, and apps — was not only time consuming but also failed to offer a decent list of parties that would interest me.

Imagine a Friday night when you’re excited to break the boredom, meet new people, or simply dance the night away to your favourite music. You’re all dressed up and ready to head out, but you’re haunted by the absence of an organised, easy-to-navigate list of parties happening around you. That frustration is precisely what PartyPal aims to eliminate.

My Detailed Solution

To solve this problem, I envisioned PartyPal: A one-stop, comprehensive platform that brings every party in the city to your fingertips. It doesn’t just stop at listing parties, it aims to redefine the entire experience of a night out. Think of PartyPal as your personal nightlife friend, assisting you at every stage — from discovering events that align with your taste, to purchasing tickets with special discounts or faster checkout options, and even providing seamless navigation to the venue.

But I wanted PartyPal to be more than just another app. I wanted it to be a healthy community. Its core objectives are not just finding parties or buying tickets, but more than that. It aims to create a social ecosystem that thrives on shared music interests, party experiences, and community engagement. This unique objective allows PartyPal to tap into the highly active, target audience aged between 18–25.

The idea was ambitious and filled with its own set of challenges — ranging from managing a complex ticketing system to understanding the user behaviour. But each problem or stagnation only further refined the app’s features and functionalities.

User Research & Insights

The key to creating a user experience design lies in conducting user research. Before jumping to the fun part into design sketches and wireframes it was crucial to gain an understanding of the users. We explored research methods to gather the detailed information possible.
Methods of Research I used were:

• Qualitative Research: I conducted interviews and ended surveys to uncover the drivers and barriers that influence people’s partying experiences. These personal narratives often reveal patterns and motivations that quantitative data alone cannot capture.

• Quantitative Research: To understand the behaviours and preferences of our target demographic on a scale I widely distributed my friends and network with a questionnaire.

By using these research methods I was able to gather insights that laid a foundation for the user experience design process. The research produced several eye-opening findings:

• Sources of Information: Most people discovered parties through Social Media or friends. There was a significant gap for a specialised platform dedicated to party discovery.

• Party Expectations: People prioritise the artist performing, ticket prices, location, and the party theme when deciding to attend.

• Pain Points: Difficulty in finding parties that align with individual taste, scattered information, and missing out on ticket deals emerged as common frustrations.

  

To give a face to our research, I developed a persona, named Elira. A 23-year-old Social Media Manager from Pristina, Kosovo, Elira loves a vibrant nightlife but is often frustrated by the fragmented landscape of party information. She values community engagement and is always on the lookout for unique experiences.
Also here are 2 scenarios I did that helped me thought my design decisions:

• Scenario 1: Looking for a themed party after a stressful week at work.

• Scenario 2: Searching for an exclusive event with ticket deals for her best friend’s birthday.

Equipped with these insights, Elira’s persona guided feature prioritisation and usability testing, influencing several design decisions down the road.

Brainstorm & First Sketches

Ideation Phase

The transition from research to the sketchbook was flooded by brainstorming sessions. This phase was about letting creativity flow freely, putting to paper any and all ideas that came to mind. I also considered Elira’s needs and how PartyPal could serve as a solution.

The initial sketches were rough, almost like a kids drawing, but very important in exploring different layouts for the home screen. These sketches were mostly to encourage out of the box thinking.

Digital Wireframing

As the concepts got more detailed, the sketches transitioned into digital wireframes. This step brought several advantages, like ease of editing and sharing. It also let me conduct A/B testing to understand what felt more natural to potential users.

User Flow

This is where the user flow diagrams came into play. I took each of the five main screens I had outlined earlier — Home, Search, Tickets, Calendar, and Profile — and started building wireframes around the user’s journey through each. To avoid drifting off while designing, I constantly referred back to our user persona, Elira, and the two scenarios — seeking a themed party after work and finding an exclusive event for a friend’s birthday — to guide design decisions.

The brainstorm and sketching phase was not just a one-off process but a recurring one. I often circled back to the drawing board, especially when research insights or user feedback resulted with changes.

By the end of this stage, I had a solid, well-thought-out wireframe for each main screen, ready to be brought to life with UI elements and detailed interactions.

User Interface Design Problems and Decisions

Designing a user interface is a bit like creating a painting — it starts as a blank canvas that’s both exciting and daunting. For PartyPal, my intention was to adhere to Apple’s Human Interface Guidelines, to make the design with a professional, sleek, and user-friendly aesthetic. However, the journey had its own sets of challenges and dilemmas.

Home Screen Intuitiveness

The home screen had to be straightforward and inviting. I wanted to stay away from an overwhelming app, so I simplified the layout to include a search bar, notification bell, and filter options at the top. Trending tags and a featured event section offer users quick filtering and discovery options. Each section is expandable, maintaining a clean initial view while offering in-depth functionality upon interaction.

Seamless Search Experience

In the search section, I aimed for a design that everyone already uses, a feature that would let users search not just by event names, but also by artists, event types, and even cities. This required a well-thought-out algorithm and a clean UI to ensure users could find what they were looking for without getting lost by irrelevant information. In the end I managed to achieve this balance, making the search function a smooth, enjoyable part of the user experience.

The Challenge of Ticket Information Display

One of the most challenging aspects was designing the ticket information cards. Every party, event, or club has its own unique set of tickets — each with different levels of information and different perks. Some tickets would have a lot of features, while others might simply indicate the price and venue. The challenge was to design a card that could elegantly handle both minimal and detailed information while maintaining a coherent and clean aesthetic.

I experimented with several ideas for these cards. The primary concern was how to make extensive information accessible without overwhelming the user, but also not leave too much empty space on simpler cards.

After some trials and errors, I chose a dropdown mechanism for each card. In its collapsed state, the card would display only essential information — price, venue, and event title. When clicked, it would expand to reveal additional information, such as guest numbers you can invite, event details, or special features. This dual-mode design effectively solved the problem by offering a clean yet comprehensive ticket information display.

Final Design

The final version of PartyPal is not just an app; it’s a well-thought-out experience. The user interface sticks to Apple’s Human Interface Guidelines, making it look professional and clean. From the home screen’s streamlined design to the search function and the detailed yet uncomplicated ticketing screen, every aspect of the app has been designed with the user’s needs in mind.

Conclusion

Designing PartyPal has been a journey filled with challenges, learning, and, most importantly, problem-solving. I am thrilled about how the design has shaped up and excited to bring this unique app into the hands of users. While the launch is the next big step, I am looking forward to the app’s evolution based on real-world use and feedback.