Role: UX Researcher & Designer, Product Designer Duration: September-December 2025
DiasporaDNA: Philly Festivals
Overview
PhillyFests
A mobile-first UX redesign that improves how people discover, plan, and
experience Philadelphia’s festivals through research-driven insights and
flexible planning tools.
What were the problems?
Client Overview
DiasporaDNA is a mobile cultural center dedicated to celebrating and sustaining Philadelphia’s diaspora communities through festivals, storytelling, and public cultural experiences. As the organization expands its Philly Festivals Network ahead of Philadelphia’s 250th anniversary,
it aims to better support both festival-goers and the producers who bring these events to life.
DiasporaDNA partnered with our team to redesign the Philly Festivals website—shifting it from
a static list of events into a community-centered platform that reflects the cultural depth,
accessibility, and future vision of Philadelphia’s festival landscape.
The current website presents festival information mostly as long lists of links, making
discovery and exploration difficult—especially for new users and visitors
The homepage lacks clear context about the platform's purpose, value, and how it supports
festival-goers and organizers
Cultural storytelling, accessibility details, and DiasporaDNA's broader vision for festivals as a
community infrastructure are not clearly surfaced
Our Process
Competitive analysis of 50+ festival and event platforms
Survey for festival-goers
Festival-goer interviews.
Festival producer interviews
RICE prioritization of pain points across goers + producers
Content audit of existing PhillyFest site and DiasporaDNA Story Center
Our research focused on understanding how people discover, plan, and experience festivals in Philadelphia, as well as the challenges festival producers face when organizing and promoting these events. We aimed to identify gaps in existing platforms and uncover opportunities to better support both sides of the festival ecosystem.
Research
Methods
Research
Goals
No platform centers cultural heritage and
community impact
Accessibility info is inconsistent or absent
Producer support is transactional (submit
event, pay fee, done)
Social coordination features are weak or
nonexistent
Cultural storytelling at the core
Producer support built-in (not just event
listing)
Accessibility-first design
Dual audience: locals + tourists, with
tailored experiences
Key gaps we found:
Our competitive advantage:
Highlights
Competitive Analysis
We used mixed-method qualitative + quantitative research to understand needs from multiple sides of the ecosystem.
Participants
4 internal stakeholders
3 festival producers
4 festival-goers
Survey sample (16 responses)
Festival goers rely on multiple platforms to decide whether attending a festival feels
worthwhile, often lacking the clarity, social reassurance, and cultural context they need.
Festival producers juggle fragmented tools, limited resources, and unpredictable promotion
channels, making it difficult to reach audiences and tell their stories.
User Interviews + Survey
Further Research
What did we learn?
Problem Statement
How might we create a centralized hub that supports local festival goers, producers, and tourists by providiing trustworthy information, cultural depth, and inclusive accessibility?
Brainstorming
Solutions
Based on the research insights and data patterns, we began brainstorming solutions that could address the core needs of both festival-goers and festival producers.
Strategic
Direction
We prioritized features using RICE scoring, focusing the MVP on festival discovery and information quality (filters, detail pages, schedule builder). Lower-confidence, high-complexity features like ticketing and social tools were deferred, allowing the platform to launch with maximum user value and clear differentiation.
Given the organizations current resources, we suggested launching with a no-login MVP flywheel focused on trust and repeat use, avoiding social and moderation-heavy features. As data quality, producer participation, and traffic scale, the platform can expand into community features and partnerships, with monetization introduced only after sustained user adoption through sponsored listings and campaigns.
We redesigned the information architecture to center festival discovery, transforming the homepage into a discovery hub with map, calendar, and featured views. Supporting pages for culture, tours, and producers reinforced the mission while keeping the MVP lightweight—advancing the Phase 1 flywheel goal of easy discovery and trust through clear information.
Information Architecture
Design
Final
With the information architecture defined, we moved into the final design phase. The designs below reflect how we structured festival discovery and key pages to support the MVP strategy.
Design Decisions
Immediate Wayfinding: Quick access to
festival offerings, schedule, and practical info
Dynamic Content: Surface timely
information (upcoming events, festival
announcements, countdown to events)
Visual Identity: Photography and typography
that captures the festival's spirit
Key Features
Hero section with current festival
dates and ticket CTA
Featured festivals carousel with genre tags
Tabs for calendar, maps, and FAQs
Festival Discovery
Homepage
Design Decisions:
Immersive festival storytelling through a hero image carousel and a rich About section that conveys cultural significance
Essential event info surfaced upfront with clear date, location, accessibility badges, and a high-visibility “Book Tickets” CTA to drive attendance
Integrated planning tools including maps, parking/transit details, and vendor previews to reduce friction for festival-goers
Community-centered content via food vendor spotlights, social media galleries, and hashtag filters to highlight authenticity and user participation
Festival Details Page
Festival
Quick Filters
Calendar View + Schedule Builder
Map View
Design Decisions:
Quick Filtering: Date, Type, Neighborhood
Visual Calendar : See festivals at a glance with color-coded events
Flexible Planning: Save favorites, see details, use filters
Lookup & Schedule Builder
Festival
Producer
Event Submission & Resources
Design Decisions:
Simple, familiar form layout: Designed in a straightforward Q&A structure that can be
supported by WordPress tools
Step-by-step flow: Reduces cognitive load and keeps producers focused through clear
progress indicators
Hero header and on-page tips set expectations and support non-technical users
Component Library
Design System
We created a scalable design system to ensure consistency and speed. It defines color, typography, graphics, imagery, and reusable components.
The palette centers on black and white with vibrant Philadelphia-inspired accents and supporting neutrals. Modular graphics add energy and flexibility, while a clear typographic hierarchy and festival-forward imagery create a welcoming, cohesive look.
Reusable components (e.g., header, footer, navigation) enable system-wide updates from a single source, improving efficiency and long-term maintainability.
Design system (image, color, graphic, and typography)
