ACAN
Designing a ticketing and events platform for businesses and city locals
Role
Lead designer
Deliverables
Wireframes, UX/UI, Mobile app, Web responsive app
Team
Founder
1 Product Manager
1 Designer
2 Developers
Overview
ACAN partners with trusted businesses by providing them the ability to create events and sell event passes within the app ecosystem. This provides revenue opportunity to bring in customers and capitalize on popular days of the week.
Through curated partnerships, how might we connect people in their 20s & 30s to local city events?
Rebuilding the app from the ground up, I led the design of their mobile and web app bridging the customer and business experience between Customers, Business Owners, and System Admin. The app is estimated to publicly launch in October 2025.
What's the issue?
The client came with a developed trial-run app published in the app store. However, it faced technical hurdles and was missing key features:
No organized hierarchy of information, venues, event details, and reels
Technical bugs made it hard to navigate
Ambiguous interaction states, icons, and zero state screens around the app
The ability to purchase passes and search events were placed as secondary features
Also missing was the Business Owner and System Admin platforms which required the ability to create events, manage internal teams, and check in guests online.
Solutions at a glance
A reimagined experience for Consumers
Following popular social media behavior, I designed a reel experience for businesses to upload promo videos as the face of published events. Primary event details are laid on top with a call-to-action "Get Passes", allowing customers to view the event experience prior to purchasing passes.
Providing a self-service event and ticketing platform for Businesses
Businesses are now able to create and manage events in their web portal. Surfacing ACAN booking fees and 3rd party payment services, I emphasized net profit after payout during pass customization, allowing businesses to preview pricing in real-time.
Data metrics to track KPIs in Admin portals
On the admin side, they now have the ability to measure top performing reels, events, and venues alongside high-level metrics regarding profit, revenue, and user accounts.
But who are we designing for?
Primary research into customers and businesses were provided by the client and their partners. Extracting from their background in hospitality and operational industries, I was able to forecast design opportunities during our weekly syncs while gaining a holistic view of the buyer / seller relationship.
Iterations
Home feed display
Leaning on Mobbin for secondary research and design inspiration, I originally played with highlighting filters (seen in Airbnb) and integrating carousel posts (seen in Instagram) to display an event feed for customers. Initial feedback from the client wanted the app experience to differentiate from Eventbrite, a close competitor in the market. To do so, I simplified filters to accomodate one city to start and turned static event posts into short-form reels.
Here is a close-up view of filters and venue profile user flows. These iterations were accepted in the initial pass. By adopting familiar mobile app patterns, we wanted to aim for immediate user adoption from customers.
Notable features
Upload Promo Reel
As a Business Owner, the ability to publish an event with Promotion Reels is the gateway to generating traffic and ticket sales to an upcoming event. All published events are sent through an in-app approval system operable only on Desktop ensuring System Admins see and curate the quality of the event.
Approval System
To ensure Business partners upheld quality event standards, an automated approval system was added to the System Admin web platform. By implementing the approval channel, the goal was to speed up back and forth communication between the two partners and allow admin staff to manage and grow as needed.
Development hand-off
As far as glorious documentation goes, this document was created to plug in confirmation toasts and email notifications in the backend web experience. To provide clear hand-off to the development team, I identified the user journey from initial in-app triggers to final confirmation messages. Without this, users would not remember their last clicked action or have any indication if the button they pressed was successful or not.
QR Check-Ins
The client previously relied on manual pen-and-paper guest check-ins and email channels to assign Reps to each event. Seeing an opportunity to streamline this process, I implemented a mobile browser QR guest check-in and a desktop/mobile friendly Assignee Calendar for Admins. The goal of this was to automate logistics as much as possible by leaving email messaging as support channels.
Visual Direction
Working closely with our visual designer, we created ACAN's first WCAG AA-compliant design library, ensuring accessibility within a dark-themed app across mobile and web platforms. With video reels being a central piece of event personalization and event marketing, we wanted to make sure the design components felt sleek and polished giving off an exclusive feel.
Inspired by "ACAN", which stands for the Mayan god of wine and festivities, we kept the brand color orange to create a fun and lively app experience. This also allowed the client to maintain their existing marketing swag without deviating too far from their established identity.
*Acan branded swag at one of their curated events. Alas, I did not get a free t-shirt :(
Future
As the app launches to market, we will be looking at metrics in the first 30, 60, 90 days of App Downloads, Passes Purchased, App Conversion via Sign Up, and Reels Engagement Rate.
Past
Development & Testing
Rounds of user acceptance testing in the Consumer, Business, and Admin accounts are externally tested by the designer (ie, me 👋🏼) to identify bugs, gaps, and collect feedback for fixes before the product is fully released.
Present
Estimated launch: Oct 2025
As of July 2025, both mobile and desktop apps are designed, developed, and are in the external testing phase. During the client's soft launch, ACAN generated $655 in pass sales during 2 private events.
Future
Measuring performance
After the app is publicly launched, we'll be tracking the app's engagement and revenue KPI's in the first 30, 60, 90 days of launch.