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NYC.gov
The events section connects residents with cultural and community activities across the five boroughs. The goal was to enhance functionality, making it easier for users to explore relevant events. The update allows residents to seamlessly interact with event details, encouraging community participation and keeping them informed in a more user-friendly way.

Pain Points
Users faced challenges finding relevant events due to information overload and lack of personalization. There were also concerns about the credibility of events and organizers. Additionally, many users forgot about events after leaving the site, resulting in missed engagement opportunities.

Opportunities
Personalized sections like “Recommended for You” and “Your Previous Visits” improved event discovery. Verifying organizers and adding images built trust, while calendar integration and easy social sharing kept users engaged and committed.
Desktop screen displaying the NYC.gov events page, specifically highlighting the Earth Day Celebration at Forest Park. The event details, including time, location, and a brief description, are shown alongside a scenic image of the park. Below, users can explore similar events, with the interface featuring categories and search options for easy event discovery, set against a bright blue background.
We conducted 1:1with users, asking about their typical week and lifestyle, and paired them with contextual inquiries where users completed specific tasks.
The objective was to understand how and why users engage with their community, and which mediums help connect them to these events and activities.
• Users often rely on friends to invite them to social or cultural events.
• Familiar venues or subjects of interest are key factors in event attendance.
• Busy lifestyles make it difficult for users to find community events online.
A person is pointing to sticky notes on a wall, suggesting a brainstorming or planning session. The sticky notes contain written ideas or tasks, commonly used in collaborative design or research projects to organize thoughts and findings.
We wanted to understand potential user challenges and opportunities on the website, focusing on how to make it more welcoming, trustworthy, and personalized. Small but thoughtful features can make the experience more personal and enjoyable, encouraging users to feel more connected to the events and the community.
We learned that verifying event organizers builds user trust, integrating calendar features helps users commit, and friendly reminders or notifications can keep users engaged with the website.
Wireframe animation of the NYC.gov events page prototype, featuring interactive dropdown filters for date, location, and category. Users can search for events by borough and browse suggested events, such as the Caribbean Food Festival and Annual Green NYC March. The design highlights user-friendly navigation and personalized event recommendations with options to explore more events in a clear, structured layout.
We created ato test with users, giving them tasks to complete so we could understand their experience. Through this testing, we gathered valuable insights into how users interacted with the design.
• Most users relied heavily on the “Explore More” button.
• Users preferred events that were filtered to match their preferences.
• They often explored multiple events before returning to one they had previously viewed.
Each of us observed two participants during the, gathering data from 17 participants overall. We gave users three tasks to understand their thought process and navigation patterns. Tasks included:
• Finding a similar event to one attended previously.
• Searching for a wheelchair-accessible event.
• Locating a tax workshop in Brooklyn.
Users quickly made initial choices but took more time exploring the full site. They favored having additional details through filters or event pages and generally started their searches by category before narrowing their options.
Wireframe of the NYC.gov events page displaying details of the ‘Earth Day Celebration at Forest Park.’ The layout includes a brief event description, date, location, and a register button. Below the main event section, there are suggested similar events, such as various green markets, shown in a card-based format. The design emphasizes easy navigation with search filters for category, location, and date.Wireframe of the NYC.gov events page, showcasing a dropdown filter for selecting borough locations like Brooklyn, Manhattan, and Queens. The highlighted event is ‘Earth Day Celebration at Forest Park,’ with details and a registration option. Below, similar events like farmers’ markets are displayed in a card-based format, offering users an easy way to explore other local happenings. The layout emphasizes clear navigation with multiple filters to refine event searches by activity, location, date, and more.Mobile wireframe of the NYC.gov event page displaying details for ‘Earth Day Celebration at Forest Park.’ The layout includes event information such as cost, category, location, and a brief description. Users can also register for the event and explore similar events in a card-based format. The design is optimized for mobile, ensuring a clean and responsive user experience.Mobile wireframe of the NYC.gov event page showcasing filter options for activities, location, and date. The dropdown menu for location allows users to select boroughs such as Bronx, Brooklyn, Manhattan, Queens, and Staten Island. The event details for ‘Earth Day Celebration at Forest Park’ are displayed below, with options to register and explore similar events. The design is tailored for mobile, ensuring an intuitive and responsive interface.
I took on the event page redesign as a great opportunity to provide more relevant and meaningful information. To achieve this, I followed three key design principles: Clean, Fast, and Smooth. These guided the overall look and feel of the website. My aim was to deliver only the essential information, build trust in the events and organizers, and ensure the site was responsive across both desktop and mobile devices, offering a seamless user experience.
Wireframe showcasing similar events beneath a main event on a webpage. Four cards display event names and dates, including ‘Carroll Gardens Greenmarket Sunday,’ ‘Farmers Market,’ ‘82nd Street Saturday Greenmarket,’ and ‘Inwood Greenmarket Saturday.’ The design offers a clear, organized layout for users to explore related events seamlessly.Wireframe of the NYC.gov event page showcasing a similar events section. The card on the left highlights ‘Carroll Gardens Greenmarket Sunday,’ including details like the date (19th April 2020), category (Environment), and location (Brooklyn). This design provides users with a clean, organized layout to explore related events easily.
The “Similar Events” feature allows users to easily navigate to other relevant events without overwhelming them with too many options. Positioned just below the main event, it provides a quick and convenient way to explore events within the same category, all with a single click, without needing to use the search bar. This helps users discover related events effortlessly, enhancing the overall browsing experience.
Once the content and structure were finalized, it was important to ensure the website was visually appealing while reflecting all our findings, design goals, and principles. I created the final design for the event page to be both aesthetically pleasing and effective in presenting the necessary information clearly.
NYC.gov event page showcasing the ‘Earth Day Celebration at Forest Park,’ with event details including time, location, and description. The page features a ‘Register’ button, social sharing options, and a gallery of images related to the event. Below, users can explore similar events such as ‘Carroll Gardens Greenmarket Sunday,’ ‘Farmers Market,’ and ‘82nd Street Saturday Greenmarket.’ The design includes easy navigation filters for category, location, and date, with a clear, organized layout to enhance user experience.
The website’s color scheme is dominated by blue, chosen to evoke trust and honesty in users. Blue is also used for primary buttons, making them stand out against secondary ones. Throughout the design, rounded rectangles are used to create a more human and friendly feel, adding a welcoming touch to the overall aesthetic.
Top section of the NYC.gov event page showing the event title ‘Earth Day Celebration at Forest Park’ with event details, including the cost (Free), date, time, location, and organizer. The design features filters for category, location, and date, along with a search bar for easier navigation. The interface uses a blue color scheme, evoking trust and professionalism.
Large images are used throughout the design to immediately capture users’ attention and build trust, as events with images appear more credible. Additionally, a verification mark is added to the profiles of organizers verified by NYC.gov, helping users distinguish between trustworthy events and potentially unreliable ones. These visual elements are key to enhancing user confidence and ensuring a seamless, trustworthy browsing experience.
Explore Similar Events” section on NYC.gov showing four events with vibrant images, including ‘Carroll Gardens Greenmarket Sunday,’ ‘Farmers Market,’ ‘82nd Street Saturday Greenmarket,’ and ‘Inwood Greenmarket Saturday.’ Each card displays the event title, date, category (Environment), and location (Brooklyn, Queens, Manhattan). The design uses a carousel layout for easy navigation, with clickable dots indicating multiple events to explore.