End to End UX Designer
(Research, Ideation, Prototyping, Testing, and Iteration)
Role:
Timeline:
4 weeks
Tools:
Figma, Figjam, Google Workspace
Overview
Designing for Spontaneous Lives
In today’s fast-paced world, discovering local events often relies on catching the right Instagram reel or TikTok at the right time. But what if your map could do that for you? The Live Events layer in Google Maps solves a common frustration: fragmented event discovery. This feature helps users find nearby events based on time, price, and crowd levels all within a tool you already trust.
Problem
Missed Moment & Opportunities
Users often miss out on nearby events because discovery is fragmented across Instagram, TikTok, Eventbrite, and word of mouth. This creates frustration and lost experiences.
What I heard from users:
“I end up bouncing between Instagram and Eventbrite, and still feel lost.”
“By the time I find out, tickets are sold out.”
“I always see the event after it’s already over.”
For Google, every missed event means fewer navigation starts, lost ad revenue, and another moment where users bounce to competitors instead of staying inside Maps. Maps is great at finding places, but not at surfacing moments.
Design Challenge: How might we help people discover and act on nearby events in under 60 seconds while also creating new engagement and monetization opportunities for Google Maps?
Solution
One Layer, Many Moments
The solution is a toggleable Live Events layer inside Google Maps. Once enabled, it reveals real time pins for nearby events such as music, food, art, or family friendly.
Smart filters like “Today” or “≤ $20” let users refine results instantly. Tapping a pin opens a rich event card with time, price, and navigation options. In less than a minute, users can discover, decide, and go.
User Research
Understanding Missed Moments
I conducted 6 in depth interviews with students, professionals, and parent who often attend local events.
Key Insights:
They jump between multiple apps and tabs just to find one thing to do.
Price and timing are top decision factors
Sharing plans usually happens through messy screenshots.
They want less noise and more clarity.
I organized findings using affinity mapping to group frustrations, motivations, and discovery habits.
Personas
Three Personalities, One Shared Need
From the interviews and themes created, I developed three core personas in which they all had something in common. Want fast and low stress event discovery.
Olivia, 22 - Spontaneous student who hates missing out.
Yara, 30 - Planner who looks for clarity on price, vibe, and drive time.
Hersh, 39 - Parent who filters by cost, distance, and family friendliness.
User and Business Goals
Aligning Needs with Growth
User Goals: Find relevant events in under 60 seconds, filter by price and time easily, and share plans without app-hopping.
Business Goals: Increase weekend engagement on Maps, monetize event traffic, and differentiate against Eventbrite and Instagram..
Feature List
From Goals to Functionality
To meet both user and business goals, I prioritized a event layer button, quick smart filter, event cards, and remind me feature. These are features that directly tie user value to measurable engagement for Google.
User Flow
A Simple Path to Discovery
Before jumping into wireframes. I mapped the ideal journey to ensure the feature felt simple and intuitive.
Flow:
Open Google Maps
Tap Layers → Enable Live Events
Apply filters like Today and ≤ $20
Tap a pin to see event details
Navigate
This user flow anchored the design process, ensuring every screen directly supported the goal of finding and attending an event quickly.
Design
From Sketch To Structure
I started with paper wireframes to explore early ideas for where filters, event pins, and cards could live on the screen. This gave me the freedom to sketch quickly and try different styles without overthinking the details.
I moved into mid-fidelity wireframes to test the overall flow, focusing on actions like turning on the Live Events layer, applying filters, selecting a pin, and starting navigation. I then built the high-fidelity mockups using Google’s Material Design system, which brought a sense of polish and realism. This stage included adding filter pills and event category icons that made the experience feel a bit more complete and ready to use.
User Testing
What Worked and What Didn’t
I conducted moderated usability tests with five users representing students, professionals, and a parent. They completed all tasks successfully, from enabling the layer to starting navigation.
Some users missed the horizontal scroll on filter chips.
Event pins felt vague without categories.
Price needed to be visible earlier in the flow.
Feedback:
100% task success (25/25 tasks)
Median flow time: 53 seconds
Average SEQ rating: 4.2/5
Key metrics:
“This feels faster than Eventbrite.”
Design Iterations
Refining for Clarity
Based on user feedback, I made key changes:
Strengthened filter pills states with checkmarks and bold colors.
Added price tags directly on map pins.
Introduced icons for event categories (music, food, art, family)
Auto displayed the crowd meter.
Final Design
A Seamless Discovery Experience
The final version integrates live event discovery into the Google Maps ecosystem without disrupting familiar interactions. It empowers users to explore what’s happening now, whether they’re looking for a casual street fair or a late night music set.
Home mockup - Starting point on the familiar map.
Layers mockup - Toggle on the Live Events layer.
Live Events + Filters mockup - Refine results instantly with chips.
Event Card mockup - See time, price, and crowd at a glance, then start navigation.
The result is a fast, friendly, and functional solution that makes event discovery feel like second nature.
Product Success
100% task success
Average flow time: 53 seconds
SUS score: 84 (Excellent)
Every participant said they’d prefer this experience over Eventbrite or Instagram for discovery.
Impact Statement
Connecting User Value to Business Growth
The Live Events layer demonstrated how Google Maps could capture moments, not just places. In testing, participants completed tasks in under a minute, preferred it over Instagram or Eventbrite, and said they would actually use it on weekends. For Google, this meant a clear path to increasing weekend engagement and opening new revenue through tickets and ads.
Point of View (POV)
Designing for People and Business Together
My POV as a designer is that great features should solve real business problems while making life easier for users. By grounding this project in both user frustrations and business opportunities, I was able to design a solution that felt native to Google Maps, delivered delight for users, and aligned with business growth.
What I Learned
Designing for Real Behavior
This project really showed me how to quickly test assumptions, catch small pain points, and design while staying within system constraints. More importantly, it reminded me that UX has the biggest impact when it balances both user needs and business goals at the same time.
The biggest takeaway for me is to always check myself with one key question:
Does this help the user make a decision faster while helping the business grow?