Disney D23 Expo

Enhancing the event experience through increased information access and in-person engagement

Responsive Web Design

Marketing Site

Entertainment

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Overview

D23expo.com is a scalable, reusable web platform designed for D23 Expo, 'The Ultimate Disney Fan Event.' The event draws over 140k+ attendees with presentations, exhibits, costume contests, and more. Shipped in 2022 and reused in 2024, it makes event info accessible and fosters excitement, community, and in-person engagement.

Team

1 UX Design Lead (me)
1 UX Designer
1 PM
4+ D23 Executives
1 Graphic Designer
1 Engineer

Timeline

Nov 2021 – Jan 2022

Context

Internship project for
The Walt Disney Company

My Role

User Research,
UX Design,
Visual Design,
Engineering Handoff

My Contributions

During my internship at The Walt Disney Company, I led the UX/UI design of the 2022 D23 Expo website, creating the site from ground-up. I collaborated cross-functionally with PMs, designers, an engineer, the D23 team, and other stakeholders to drive product direction, I developed interactive prototypes and a reusable website template, created the original design system, and facilitated seamless engineering handoff.

The Problem

In previous D23 Expos, users felt that event information was hard to find, overwhelming, and lacked excitement.

In past years, all D23 Expo event details were housed on d23.com, D23's main website. However, the sheer volume of information, such as registration details, schedules, news, safety guidelines, etc. created a cluttered and disorganized experience on a site already full of content. The information was released as individual article pages, so the D23 team had to create new new pages for each Expo — an inefficient and time-consuming process. The D23 team also reported site visitors feeling that instead of generating excitement for the event, the website induced a sense of overwhelm.

The task that the D23 team thus gave me was:

✏️ Task

Create a site for D23 Expo that is reusable for future events, is easy-to-use, and makes event information more accessible.

Solution Highlights

Research

Understanding essential event site features and the typical D23 Expo attendee

I took the lead on the research to fully understand the desires and pain points of a typical D23 Expo attendee as well as general event website expectations. My research questions were as follows:

What are essential features that people look for in event websites?

What are the main purposes for users to come to d23expo.com?

If the user is a first-time attendee, what are some pieces of information that would be helpful to them?

If the user has attended Expo before, what are the top most important pieces of information for them?

Chosen Methods

Due to confidentiality, I couldn’t discuss the project with external sources. This limited my research methods, but I found insightful findings through conversations with those inside the company as well as existing online sources.

Internal Interviews

with employees that have and haven’t attended

Competitor Analysis

on other event websites and Disney websites

Literature Review

Disney fan blogs, Reddit, YouTube videos, etc.

Previous Data

from previous Expos such as the last one in 2019

To balance stakeholder and attendee needs, I organized my research insights accordingly.

💼 Business

Lack of scalability for future expos

Difficulty in dynamically displaying content tailored to different event stages (ex: presale, tickets on sale, sales closed, event start, etc)

Need for more excitement and anticipation to drive ticket purchases and maintain interest

👤 User

Unsure of the most important information at each stage of the event (before, during, after)

Uncertainty due to lack of clear understanding of what to expect before, during, and after the event

Lack of physical connection to the event and Disney community through a digital site

I also found 3 overarching findings.

1/ It's difficult for site visitors to decide if they want to attend the event or not without key event information.

Most visitors are already interested in attending and need logistical details like dates, prices, and event highlights to envision the experience and decide if it’s worth the price, time, and effort.

2/ Site visitors don't want to spend a long time on the site.

Users typically only visit event sites a few times to decide, purchase tickets, and plan their trip. Our site should make it easy to find this information, emphasizing physical action off the site rather than on.

3/ Event sites are an opportunity for the company to foster community and excitement, setting the tone for the actual event.

In line with the emphasis on physical engagement, the site is a key opportunity to build anticipation for the event. Fostering a sense of community by highlighting the shared love for Disney will create excitement and connection among attendees.

Merging business and user pain points with my research findings, I wrote a redefined design challenge.

🌟 Refined Design Challenge

How might we... create a reusable hub for D23 Expo that not only makes event information more accessible, but also takes advantage of digital means to foster in-person engagement, community, and excitement?

Design

Iterating based on client feedback

I started with low-fidelity wireframes and worked my way to high-fidelity designs through multiple rounds of iterations based off of client feedback. I presented to the D23 team multiple times each week, during which they provided feedback from the perspective of both the business and users.

Following the initial client intake and several iterations within my team, I presented low-fidelity designs to the D23 team. They provided positive feedback and highlighted a few areas for improvement. A key focus they wanted was to better align the site with business goals, particularly by optimizing the design to drive ticket sales more effectively.

Iterate to Sell More Tickets

After I generated different ideas and directions on how to encourage more ticket sales, I visualized them on an impact vs. effort diagram to help down-select.

Given our tight timeline, we prioritized and moved forward with the ideas that offered the highest impact with the least amount of effort, ensuring we made the most efficient use of our time. Thus, the chosen solutions include the countdown to tickets on sale and adding more CTAs to buy tickets.

Once the designs were finalized, I created detailed engineering specs for handoff to the engineer, including comprehensive component breakdowns and explanations of responsive behavior (this project was completed before Figma's Dev Mode was launched).

Conclusion

Impact

This project was crucial as it marked the kickoff of 'Disney100,' the company's centennial celebration. It saw success as 140k+ Disney fans (all tickets sold out!) from all over the world used the site before and after the event.

The site was shipped in January of 2022 and was used for marketing and ticket purchasing, then was adapted for event information in September during the actual Expo. Its design, comprised of reusable components, allowed for constant updates with new content, making future site changes easier.

The site greatly improved the registration experience and information distribution, making it easy for the D23 team to communicate with the attendees and for the attendees to find important details.

This efficiency saved users time and reduced stress, leading to high user satisfaction. Positive feedback highlighted the site’s easy navigation and engaging design, which built excitement for the event.

Quantitatively, the site's impact was clear from the rapid sell-out of tickets and high engagement rates.

Qualitatively, attendees appreciated how the site kept them informed and excited, enhancing their overall event experience. The 2022 site’s success has resulted in a permanent template for D23 expo, with it now being used for the upcoming 2024 Expo.

Next Steps

Quantitative research methods

It would be helpful to conduct some quantitative research on user sentiments towards D23 Expo, the site, etc. Research data points could help validate some of the assumptions I made about potential users.

Micro-interactions and animations

Due to the limited timeframe, I was unable to spend time iterating on creative micro-interactions and animations. However, I believe adding movement would've been an effective way of incorporating "Disney magic" into the website experience.

Monitor and improve by looking at KPIs (# of page visits, # of ticket purchases, # of button clicks, etc.)

Since my internship concluded after the initial site launch, I wasn't able to make improvements based on the initial user feedback. I would have wanted to make adjustments for subsequent launches based off of users' responses towards the first launch designs.

Overview The Problem Solution Highlights Research Design Conclusion