About the company
Ciklum is an international experience engineering company headquartered in London, UK. It specializes in IT services such as product development, data and analytics, XR, and others.
The challenge
To support its annual client conference, Ciklum needed a custom app that allowed guests to plan agendas and network effectively. Existing third-party apps often lack personalization, necessary features, and flexibility, leading to mismanagement, limited networking opportunities, and low engagement.
Since the screens were to be delivered within 2 weeks, I designed a tailored app that addressed these gaps by showcasing conference schedules, featured social walls and polls for engagement, and enabling users to plan agendas, set reminders, take notes, and network seamlessly—ensuring a productive and engaging event experience.
Who is this app for?
I identified the target users through discussions with Ciklum's senior managers and stakeholders. Additionally, I conducted independent research on industry networking behaviors at corporate events to ensure the key features align with user needs and the lesser-used features are unobtrusive.
Competitive Analysis
The only event-specific app identified during research was the MWC Series App (Mobile World Congress, Barcelona).
Feature Definition
To address user needs and align with stakeholder goals, I identified key features - that were user-friendly, required minimal learning effort, and enhanced event participation. The main sections were the home page, event agenda and description, and networking (Connect) section. The remaining sections were to have minimum features as this app would be used only for the duration of the conference.
Information Architecture
The information architecture, in the form of a sitemap is a comprehensible structure of the app. It is majorly divided into the sections under the main app's navigation - home, agenda, connect, social wall, and user profile.
Lo-Fi Wireframes
With the ability to visualize final prototypes instantly, I started by sketching detailed paper prototypes. These served as an intermediate form to bring features to life and provide a clear account of the design thinking process.
The wireframes balanced user needs with business goals and were presented to stakeholders for feedback before transitioning to high-fidelity designs. This step ensured alignment and allowed adjustments based on their perspectives.
