SeatGeek Launches iPhone App(seatgeek.com)
seatgeek.com
SeatGeek Launches iPhone App
http://seatgeek.com/mobile
14 comments
Very well designed indeed. Since so many people are raving about the design, is it really that important to launch an app with very good design or is that something you can iterate on? I am always interested to see the comparison on app performance (in terms of downloads, on-boarding and retaining users) when launched with super slick design and mediocre design which becomes better with each iteration. If anyone have anything to share please help me out! From my experience I see people tend to talk more about apps that are rich in design and tend to use them often too. And obviously design is one huge element that slows down shipping. I also hear people talk about getting the MVP right (with design and all) but hardly see any app that only does MVP. The apps that I and my friends use are quite complete and still tend to add more features with every update. I find this whole idea confusing where people talk about something (MVP, sticking to one thing, etc.) but I see something else (Very polished design, does a couple of things integrated together, other bells and whistles) winning in the market.
Something which is functional but lacking polish trumps something that is extremely polished but doesn't do much.
Putting it another way, which Minimum Viable Date would you choose?
This is what Apple got wrong with their maps app. Its appearance is what you'd expect from Apple. It's really polished and likely went through their rigorous pixel-perfect prototyping [0]. But the underlying feature that people expect is accurate mapping. Having a map which is never wrong but looks like an Etch-a-Sketch would be preferable to a highly polished map which gets you stranded in the Australian Outback.
That said, you want to find the right balance. If you're providing the app to existing customers, they're probably looking for the functionality and can deal with a lack of polish. If you're using the app as a marketing tool to attract customers, be sure to make it look good but they may not sign up if the functionality isn't there.
[0] http://intenseminimalism.com/2011/apple-design-myths-a-summa...
Putting it another way, which Minimum Viable Date would you choose?
1. Cute and sociable. Smells nice, good conversationalist.
Date involves picking up two packages of cup-a-soup from
7-11 and sitting on the curb outside.
2. Heroin addicted, hasn't showered in a week. Withdrawn
from conversation. Date involves dinner and wine at a Michelin-
starred restaurant followed by a limo picking you up and taking
you to a sold-out concert where you're in the front row and you
have backstage passes after.
This is what Apple got wrong with their maps app. Its appearance is what you'd expect from Apple. It's really polished and likely went through their rigorous pixel-perfect prototyping [0]. But the underlying feature that people expect is accurate mapping. Having a map which is never wrong but looks like an Etch-a-Sketch would be preferable to a highly polished map which gets you stranded in the Australian Outback.
That said, you want to find the right balance. If you're providing the app to existing customers, they're probably looking for the functionality and can deal with a lack of polish. If you're using the app as a marketing tool to attract customers, be sure to make it look good but they may not sign up if the functionality isn't there.
[0] http://intenseminimalism.com/2011/apple-design-myths-a-summa...
I don't think there's one answer, but over all I believe better design (not necessarily just prettier graphics) has better chances of winning. When I launched my first iOS app, I did the MVP and paid no attention to the design. It was a niche product that solved a problem and with no competitor on the App Store it did well. But, when a competitor with a better designed app launched we started loosing sales to them. It took hiring a professional graphics designer for our app to restore the lead position in the market.
Couple of lessons I learned:
- Customers won't necessarily comment on the design - but they care about it very much. - Having sub-par design leaves a door wide open for a competitor.
Of course, there are so many things that make a product successful and just having a great design by itself may not be enough, but it's one important piece of the puzzle.
Couple of lessons I learned:
- Customers won't necessarily comment on the design - but they care about it very much. - Having sub-par design leaves a door wide open for a competitor.
Of course, there are so many things that make a product successful and just having a great design by itself may not be enough, but it's one important piece of the puzzle.
I don't get why SeatGeek hasn't gained more traction over the years. I've never found a ticket service that is so useful with such great UI/UX. Not to mention their seating charts blow everything else out of the water.
I'm curious...why the decision not to support login?
We decided to just focus on the search and map experience and nail it, rather than add a whole lot of features at a lesser quality.
Just tried it. Top notch. Head and shoulders above the Ticketmaster app, which I use quite frequently. (Or at least I used to.)
Nice work guys! App looks great, will be an awesome tool for future ticket purchases.
Design done right. Also, very useful for fans like myself.
It's a shame that a search for seatgeek on the iPhone results in the usual no listings. Maybe in a day or two it will work, but I really hope Apple get their search indexing latency sorted out soon.
Really? In the app store? I searched for and found it no problem. But I'm still on iOS 5...
Very nice. I just used it to buy some basketball tickets, and it was a very smooth experience.
I'm not sure how or if to address this, but after ordering I got to a receipt page, and the confirmation took a few minutes to arrive. I found myself wishing I could save the confirmation page, in case I needed to refer back to it.
That said, it was easy for me to find the game I was interested in, easy for me to find tickets, and checking out went better than expected given that I was on a mobile device. Thanks.
I'm not sure how or if to address this, but after ordering I got to a receipt page, and the confirmation took a few minutes to arrive. I found myself wishing I could save the confirmation page, in case I needed to refer back to it.
That said, it was easy for me to find the game I was interested in, easy for me to find tickets, and checking out went better than expected given that I was on a mobile device. Thanks.
You could take a screenshot of the receipt page, if you are worried about receiving the receipt via email or whatnot.
I wound up taking two screenshots, one showing the top, one showing the bottom. It kinda worked, but it was the only kludgy part of the experience.