Event Creation Experience

01 — PROBLEM SPACE

Key Problems Identified

1. Missing course time-setting capabilities — We support eight event types—class, course, event, experience, retreat, session, training, and workshop. While the previous design supported one-time, multi-day, and recurring events, it did not support courses requiring multiple non-consecutive sessions sold as a bundle.

2. Recurring event details not scalable — The previous recurring events preview became unusable when more than two time slots existed. There were also no rules or UI guidance for handling overlapping time frames.

3. No supporting ticketing system tailored around the new business direction — The ticketing system is very limited for businesses to assign

02 — FINAL SOLUTION

One system, built to scale with complexity

1. Updated visual system — I simplified the information hierarchy to highlight the most important service-related features, refreshed the UI styling, and redesigned the progress bar to eliminate unnecessary visual elements and minimize distraction. Most importantly, I added a new tab specifically for course events, allowing instructors to add multiple individual session time frames within a single course.

2. Added course-specific time settings — Within the new course tab, instructors can now create both single-day sessions and multi-day session blocks, enabling flexible course structures the platform previously could not support.

3. Split calendar preview and detailed time settings

4. A flexible ticketing system

03 — EXECUTION

We decided to position the platform as a generalist ticketing solution for three major wellness event categories, supporting a range of formats including courses, multi-day retreats, and single-day events.

Rather than optimizing for a narrowly defined attendee segment, we chose to focus on building trust within the host community, with safety, integrity, and reliable event management as core priorities.

Business and user research in a startup environment

With limited research resources and a short timeline, I began by synthesizing a large volume of existing business documents, user feedback, and product information.

AI tools helped me accelerate this process, quickly surfacing relevant patterns and allowing me to investigate specific questions when I had a hypothesis to validate.

“I had a hard time setting up events on irregular recurring dates. For example, one on Christmas Day and another on Thanksgiving.”

This revealed a fundamental limitation in our existing scheduling model. While it handled standard recurring events reasonably well, it lacked the flexibility needed for irregular schedules across a year.

The issue extended beyond recurrence logic. I also identified broader usability problems across typography, form structure, and calendar views, which made complex event setup harder to understand and manage.

Market research

I conducted a comparative review of event creation experiences across the market to understand how other platforms handled complexity.

A consistent pattern emerged: successful event creation tools did not necessarily eliminate complexity. Instead, they structured complexity into digestible steps, while keeping advanced customization available for power users when needed.

This became an important principle for the redesign: Make the default path simple without limiting what experienced hosts can accomplish.

We identified time and location settings, ticket creation, and payment/refund management as the highest-priority areas for UX improvement.

Meanwhile, features such as video and image management, merchandise add-ons, and legacy functionality including scheduling and agenda creation were moved to the post-MVP roadmap.

This allowed the team to concentrate design effort on the workflows that mattered most to hosts—and establish a focused foundation for the next stage of the product.

04 — EDGE CASES

Scope a flexible date-and-time system to balance usability and business priorities

I worked with our business lead to scope the project's priorities, timeline, and past explorations, which helped frame the problem across a wide range of use cases—one-day, multi-day, recurring, and discontinuous recurring events.

Prototyping and testing revealed that allowing overlapping time frames everywhere would significantly increase complexity for ticketing, event management, and engineering.

Strategic trade-off: Only one-day events support overlapping times

Since overlap needs were mostly tied to retreats and business users—a segment we weren't yet targeting—I removed overlap support for multi-day events while preserving it elsewhere. This balance of user needs, technical constraints, and business priorities kept the system simple without sacrificing the flexibility our current users needed.

This balance of user needs, technical constraints, and business priorities kept the system simple without sacrificing the flexibility our current users needed.

Below are the detailed specs defining how the system handles overlapping scenarios for short events:

Overlapping dates not supported for multi-day events

To keep the system feasible and easy to reason about, overlapping dates are not allowed for multi-day events. When a conflict occurs, organizers receive a clear warning identifying exactly which dates overlap—so they can resolve it before publishing.

05 — ITERATIONS

Problem #1: Confusing terminology we hadn't recognized as unclear.

Solution: Worked with our copywriter to adopt more common, familiar terms.

Problem #2: Hidden entry point for selecting recurring types

The entry point for selecting recurring event types was easy to miss—new users often didn't realize the option existed if they only looked at the default page.

Solution: Surfaced the option

Moved the "Multi-day event" checkbox into the default layout, so the option is always visible.

Dev handoff and design system refresh

To ensure accurate implementation, I worked closely with the engineering team to document the new components and their usage guidelines.

At the same time, to support an efficient handoff, I documented critical design details and edge cases to ansure consistency and clarity across the team.

Design system refresh

Built on the updated visual system, I refreshed the design system with a scalable and highly automated variable system evolving framework with 2,000+ modular components, including color, typography, spacing, and illustrations. This new system powers consistent, responsive experiences across web, tablet, and mobile, and will continue to evolve as the product grows.

Considering the broad age range of our user base, I incorporated WCAG accessibility guidelines throughout the design process. I used Figma plugins to verify color contrast ratios, maintained a minimum 16px font size for body content, and ensured interactive elements met the minimum 40×40px touch target requirement. Accessibility considerations were integrated across typography, color, interaction states, and component design to create a more inclusive and usable experience.

06 — NEXT STEP