Google UX Design Capstone Case Study
2026
Less time searching. More time exploring.
I created a case study as part of my journey with Google UX Design course.
Context
Less time searching. More time exploring.
One thing I've always been obsessed with is learning. I strongly believe that no matter how much experience you have, you can always learn something new. This itch led me to taking Google's UX Design course on Coursera, hoping to sharpen my skills, learn what I didn't know before, and stay up to date with the UX world. For my capstone project, I decided that I would develop an app from the following prompt: "Design an app for a public art museum to advertise exhibitions and events, provide museum information to patrons, and enable patrons to schedule visits."
Research
Looking beyond the numbers
To better understand the the problems existing users are currently facing when looking for a way to explore their community and spend time with their loved ones, we had to get to know who our audience was.
User Interviews
Focused group that prioritized diversity
Empathy Maps
Putting together the larger picture
User Personas
Who are we designing for?
Understanding our audience
Through interviews and workflow analysis, I identified recurring patterns in how our community felt about their current event-finding journey, prioritized their limited free time and budgets.
By focusing on and prioritizing on a diverse group of interviewees, the landscape became more clear.
Using our interviews, we created 3 personas.
Neelam, Champagne, Illinois
I would love some help reducing the amount of planning I have to do myself.
Neelam
Married w/ one child Teacher
Neelam, a 35-year-old teacher and mother, wants to find more opportunities to spend quality time with her family outside of her busy work schedule. With grading, lesson planning, and household responsibilities, she rarely has time to search for family-friendly events that fit her budget. When she does find something interesting, she often struggles to find clear information about how accessible the location will be for her. Neelam wants a more efficient way to discover affordable family activities while feeling confident that the experience will be comfortable and accessible for her and her child.
Goals
• Would like an efficient way to find family-friendly events that also fit her budget. • Wants to be able to know how accessible the event location will be ahead of time.
Frustrations
• Concerned about accessibility of event locations. • Between grading papers and managing her household responsibilities, Neelam has a busy schedule. She feels like she doesn't have the time to actively look for family-friendly things to do.
Reena, Nairobi, Kenya
I want to get out, meet people, and discover new things. I shouldn’t have to dig through a bunch of places just to figure out if an event is right for me.
Reena
College Student
Reena, a 22-year-old interior design student, wants to explore her new city and meet people through local events and cultural experiences. She often struggles to find complete event information in one place, requiring her to search across multiple websites and social media pages. Because she has hearing loss, she also worries about missing important information during events or not being able to fully participate. These concerns can make her hesitant to attend events, especially when she isn't sure what to expect. Reena wants an easier way to discover events and feel confident, informed, and included when attending them.
Goals
• Explore her new city through local events, hopefully expanding her social circle along the way. • Easily find information about events.
Frustrations
• Can't find a singular source of information that contains all details in an event, rather than having to go through multiple avenues to find every detail. • Reena has some hearing loss and wears a hearing aid to help her every day, this makes her worry that she may not get the full experience of an event.
Elliot, Los Angeles, California
My partner and I lead busy lives, so when we get time together, I want to make it count.
Elliot
Chef
Elliot, a 44-year-old cook, wants to find more opportunities to spend quality time with his partner despite his busy schedule. Between working and completing an expensive online bootcamp, he has limited time and budget for planning activities. When he does find an event that interests them, he wants an easy way to see the details and book their visit without a complicated process. Elliot is looking for affordable experiences that fit into his schedule and give him and his partner something fun to look forward to.
Goals
• Wants to find fun ways to spend time with loved ones. • Would like an easy way to book events he is interested in.
Frustrations
• With a busy schedule, finding things to do can be difficult. • Elliot is currently enrolled in an expensive online boot camp. Because of this, it makes it harder to find budget-friendly date ideas.
Pain points
Users struggle to find details about events in their community in one place.
The information that was made available was not complete.
Current options do not account for users that may need special accomodations.
Experiences feel impersonal - not allowing users to tailor their recommended options.
Understanding the user journey
I mapped the most common workflows to better understand where friction, hesitation, and repeated actions appeared across their experience.
01
Checks schedule
Friction
Although excited to see the opportunity, anxiety about not being able to find their match.
Opportunity
Introduce a feature that allows the user to add their schedule to their profile, alerting users what events are happening on that day before they even start to search.
Impact
Their own personal event-finding assistant, allowing the user to focus on the fun rather than the planning.
02
Research begins
Friction
With so many options available, finding a place to start becomes difficult.
Opportunity
Provide a space that the user knows they can rely on first.
Impact
Helps to alleviate any anxiety a user will have when beginning their journey.
03
Interest acquired
Friction
Finding all details they need is hard, constantly having to navigate through different outlets to gather the information required.
Opportunity
Create an environment that anticipates the users' needs; from event details to tailored options.
Impact
Reduce uncertainty and help users come to a selection quickly while and more informed.
04
Saving itinerary
Friction
The organized user has issues sharing and adding event itinerary, having to manually add details to their calendars.
Opportunity
Design features that anticipate user needs from start to finish.
Impact
The positive feedback loop created limits friction, from start to finish.
Prototyping
Exploring solutions
Before moving into high-fidelity designs, I tested early interaction flows using low-fidelity paper prototypes. These quick sessions helped validate navigation patterns, layout hierarchy, and task completion behavior before investing time into polished UI design.
All-in-one
Discover, purchase, and manage your itiniaerary in one place.
Task-oriented flows
Structured interface around currated suggestions.
Testing interaction flows early
And to make sure it all works, a prototype was created to test user interactions.
Designs
What's next?
With the project coming to a close, its time to move into creating hi-fidelity designs. Stay tuned!
