GigSmart: Gig Task Manager
Uncovering the Challenges of Collaboration and Organisation in Live Performance Planning
Project Overview
Project Type: UX research & Prototype Development
Industry: Music
Role: UX research, UX/UI Designer
Goals: Discover what musician’s need to successfully plan and execute a live performance.
Project Duration: May 2025 - July 2025
The Problem
Having spent years managing gigs for my own bands and others, I’ve dealt with missing gear, confusing schedules, poor venue communication, and unclear tech specs. I wanted to explore how a simple planning tool could reduce stress and make live events smoother.
Context
A self-initiated UX project to design a tool that helps independent musicians plan, organise, and execute live shows with fewer last-minute issues and clearer coordination.
Goals
Create an app to keep all essential gig planning in one place
Enable all stakeholders to communicate more effectively
Reduce last-minute errors and forgotten items
All in one Place
Better Communication
Reduce Erros
Testing and Solutions
My next steps are to create two personas to empathise and understand the users needs, followed by the information architecture which will show what screens and workflow will be needed.
Personas
Information Architecture
Drawing out the information architecture helped me understand the pages and workflow in the app. Based on the research, it was essential to add a page for gigs, team members, financials and learning resources. While I will build a page for each in my prototype, the focus of this project will be to test the add event section and the band member’s page as they were the main pain-points surfaced in the findings.
Lo-fi Sketches & Mock-ups
I’ve created various notifications to create accountability and reminders to keep on track, achieving the goal of reducing errors and increasing accountability.
The prototype walk through of adding a gig from the homepage. This addresses keeping all gig planning and details in one place and adds direct communication with the app with all stakeholders. The location icon will prompt the user to their maps app, taking direct feedback from the interviews.
Prototype and Test
Next Steps
The scope of this project is vast and building it into a one-stop-shop for all stakeholders who are involved in planning and executing a live show. I will continue building on this project, one section at a time, ensuring the app functions in a way that fits the users needs. My steps include:
Usability testing: I want to test the user flow for the ‘booking gig’ function as well as the ‘adding a task’ to the band member’s profile.
Screens: Build out the other screens to a better level. Ensuring there is a working prototype of the financials, resources and more detail in the sections I have developed.
Test and Iterate: Gather more feedback from various stakeholders and other artists of various sizes and needs. The more I learn about the users, the more this app becomes useful.
Prototyping: This app requires detailed and advanced prototyping. I will use this project as a means to test out and develop my Figma and prototyping skills.
Portfolio Overview
Project Type: UX research & Prototype Development
Role: UX research, UX/UI Designer
Project Duration: May 2025 - July 2025
Industry: Music
Goals: Discover what musician’s need to successfully plan and execute a live performance.
GigSmart: A Gig Task Management App
Uncovering the Challenges of Collaboration and Organisation in Live Performance Planning
Context
A self-initiated UX project to design a tool that helps independent musicians plan, organise, and execute live shows with fewer last-minute issues and clearer coordination.
The Problem
Having spent years managing gigs for my own bands and others, I’ve dealt with missing gear, confusing schedules, poor venue communication, and unclear tech specs. I wanted to explore how a simple planning tool could reduce stress and make live events smoother.
Goals
Create an app to keep all essential gig planning in one place
Enable all stakeholders to communicate more effectively
Reduce last-minute errors and forgotten items
All in one Place
Better Communication
Reduce Erros
Discovery & Research
I interviewed 4 professional musicians who gig frequently. I asked them 8 questions to get an understanding of the systems and tools they currently use, what their pain-points are and what their ideal workflow would be. I took all this information and made an affinity diagram to help me understand what the key details that need to be added to the app.
Key Findings
It’s clear that I need to build accountability and gentle nudge into the system, a task manager, scheduling and a calendar link. Also, having all stakeholder’s details, with notes on each would be helpful to ensure everyone is kept up to date. The band members would also need to see each others tasks and a notification system could be in place to let them know tasks are complete or overdue.
Testing and Solutions
My next steps are to create two personas to empathise and understand the users needs, followed by the information architecture which will show what screens and workflow will be needed.
Personas
Information Architecture
Prototype and Test
Lo-fi Sketches & Mock-ups
Drawing out the information architecture helped me understand the pages and workflow in the app. Based on the research, it was essential to add a page for gigs, team members, financials and learning resources. While I will build a page for each in my prototype, the focus of this project will be to test the add event section and the band member’s page as they were the main pain-points surfaced in the findings.
I’ve created various notifications to create accountability and reminders to keep on track, achieving the goal of reducing errors and increasing accountability.
The prototype walk through of adding a gig from the homepage. This addresses keeping all gig planning and details in one place and adds direct communication with the app with all stakeholders. The location icon will prompt the user to their maps app, taking direct feedback from the interviews.
Next Steps
The scope of this project is vast and building it into a one-stop-shop for all stakeholders who are involved in planning and executing a live show. I will continue building on this project, one section at a time, ensuring the app functions in a way that fits the users needs. My steps include:
Usability testing: I want to test the user flow for the ‘booking gig’ function as well as the ‘adding a task’ to the band member’s profile.
Screens: Build out the other screens to a better level. Ensuring there is a working prototype of the financials, resources and more detail in the sections I have developed.
Test and Iterate: Gather more feedback from various stakeholders and other artists of various sizes and needs. The more I learn about the users, the more this app becomes useful.
Prototyping: This app requires detailed and advanced prototyping. I will use this project as a means to test out and develop my Figma and prototyping skills.