Movies Music Mayhem

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21 October 2010 ·

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• movies music mayhem

The Design Generation: Engineering a Better Concert Ticket

FROM THE EDITOR:

If you want to dig around back there, you can probably find the genesis of this kind of stuff here on MMM, there was HML which turned into “The Design Generation”, and we’re still at work on developing that broader idea, Hard Data, and a podcast even. But we’re still out there thinking this way ourselves. You should be too. Think you’ve got better ideas? We’re playing with everyday stuff here, so we’re sure you do. Get at us in the comments, or on twitter (@onestepla). Maybe we’ll redesign something that bugs the shit out of you. Have you already hacked something in your own life? The world around us is changing, and more than ever before we have to tools to make that world better in little ways. If you’re not talking to us at least get out there and fix something.

~Adam

Kerp and I went to Tom Petty at the Hollywood Bowl recently (although the ticket pics you’ll see are from a show two days later in San Diego). It was amazing. The venue blew my mind, and after seeing both a recent Tom Petty documentary and a Traveling Wilbury’s documentary, I was pumped for the show. The guy’s a legend.

And sure enough…Petty was awesome.

Finding our seats, though, was not awesome, and nor was it awesome for anyone else. We spent 20 minutes stumbling around in the dark looking for our seats. When we finally found them, we were continually asked by other concert goers if we were sure we were in the right spot. Clearly everyone was confused, and we figured poor ticket design was a major culprit. Check out the ticket below. It consists of information (venue specific, printed on site) on top of a pre-printed (ticket provider) stock.

In a world where people can board planes with a digital ticket on their smartphone, we decided it was time for at least a contemporary redesign of the basic concert ticket. Here we’re not happy just saying, “This ticket sucks and I could design a better one myself” so we decided to fix it it. Below is our attempt. Keep reading and we’ll run you though the whole design process, so you can follow along with the idea of how you “fix” something like this. It starts with some basic questions.

1) How is the ticket used?

• Fan buys ticket
• Ticket prints at reseller/distributor and ships
• Ticket arrives and fan sticks it on the fridge
• Ticket serves as reminder
• Fan uses ticket to get to concert and get in
• Security scans ticket and takes stub
• Fan uses ticket to find section, row, and seat
• Concert rocks
• Fan is pumped
• Fan hangs ticket on the wall at home so he can tell his friends about it later

2) What needs to be considered?

From the list above we developed three categories that need to be considered in our redesign effort.

• function: clarity of info (and when), physical form, durability, environmental impact
• memorabilia: fans saving their tickets, venues collecting stubs
• corporate needs / interests: advertisements, logos, websites, legal, etc

3) What is the physical structure of the ticket?

We looked the basic structure of the ticket and the prioritization scheme (or lack thereof). Simply put:

• one perforation splits the ticket into two pieces for the patron and venue
• the front has the concert info
• the back has legal and ads

4) What info does the ticket need?

We outlined all the info on the ticket, why it was there, and then eliminated “junk” we thought we could do without. It was also important to consider what information was pre-printed on the ticket stock and what was printed by the reseller or venue.

With an idea of what needs to be on a ticket in general we can start with a re-design.

We start by prioritizing the information.

Front of fan’s ticket

Items 1, 2, and 3 were deemed the most important and had special requirements while other information was simply important to have available somewhere.

1. section, row, seat (needed in the dark, must be big, maybe even glowing)
2. event name (easy to identify event, collectable value)
3. 2d barcode (smartphone takes to website, ticketholder interaction)
4. day, date, time
5. venue, address
6. price (reminds your friends to pay you)
7. distributor website (in case paper stock is wrong)
8. branding for: reseller / distributor and venue

front of venue’s stub

• 1d barcode and number (scans ticket quickly, links to central database)

backside

• ad
• legal mumbo jumbo
• distributor logo / website
• venue logo / website
• ticket mfg company logo / website

With all of this outlined we ended up with a number of design ideas. The first is cheaper and more easily mass produced. The second is a look a bit further into the future. For both we agreed on a credit card or wallet sized form factor, making the ticket easier to store and carry in a wallet or a purse without causing damage, and we’re leaving the back out of the design because that isn’t the tricky part.

Prelim Sketches:

First we did rough sketches to image how all of this info would fit together.

After talking about these a bit we moved on to photoshop and laid out….

5) The Final Design - Paper Stock

In this more simple redesign we have all of the prominent information displayed, favoring the information needed in the dark, or for later display purposes. As well we’ve incorporating a 2 dimensional barcode for cataloguing purposes as well as potential smartphone integration (try it out right here, it works). This design is intended to be printed on paper stock, using a similar printing and cataloging processes to current tickets, which should ease implementation.

Full Ticket with Venue Stub

Full Ticket with Venue Stub, Preprinted

Compared to the original ticket below it’s easy to see the changes. We’ve maintained all of the relevant corporate branding, etc, while making the important information more prominent and easy to find when you need it. All while fitting everything into a form factor that is easier to carry and store. Take a look at the images below to see the difference side by side.

Compare

6) The future (design #2)

So what’s after this? Obviously (to us at least) the future is ticketless. Even now concert goers can print their tickets at home, and I can only assume that some venues are already able to just scan a smart phone screen. Hopefully, even that will evolve and your phone will simply communicate who you are. The venue will know you belong there and scan you when you walk in.

There are still compelling reasons, however, to stick with a physical ticket for a little longer, and seeing as nearly 10 Billion tickets are printed every year around the world, there’s probably still some time to capitalize on this with our second design (which itself takes two forms.)

1. The Card

We decided the major distributors like Ticketmaster and Livenation should offer rewards cards for patrons that go to a lot of concerts. These should be plastic, and come with a custom barcode/mag strip and a custom design. Pick your favorite band, charity, event, or team to print on the front, and use your card to get into every event. This card would probably have a picture of the patron and be made of durable plastic like a credit card. This encourages the user to register more information and allows the distributors to tie in other promotions and stay in front of their customers. This could even be integrated with a Visa card to roll everything together, the design wouldn’t end up too much different than the concept below.

2. The Premium Ticket

We decided that distributors are missing an important and gigantic revenue stream by not selling collectable tickets aimed more directly at people who want to hang onto the ticket afterward. I can think of a half dozen friends who not only have their tickets stuck to a wall or in a collectables box, but actually have some framed or displayed prominently in their home.

When patrons purchase a ticket, they should have the option to buy a premium ticket. This ticket is also hard plastic like a credit card, but is designed specifically as a collectable. It is customized for the concert or event, has their name, diminished corporate branding, and could even offer a 10% discount on merchandise purchased at the venue… resulting in great upsell opportunities for everyone (food, drink, shirts, cds, etc.).

The design elements are similar. All of the same information is there, with a few neat tweaks. The seat number etc are all punched out of the card, not only are they potentially readable by touch, but they can now be backlit with a phone for easy visibility in the dark. The 2d barcode is larger, making it easier to use through a frame or shadowbox (again, try it out, the barcode works) and overall the design is laid out with more of a mind for being, well, cool looking. All the the same info is there or could easily be added.

If 0.1% of tickets purchased were premium, at an elevated price of $4, this idea represents $40 million in missed revenue, combined with an estimated $100 Million in increased merchandising, and a few more in increased exposure and branding from tickets displayed more prominently around homes. Distribution of new hardware is not needed for most venues, and the ROI on this would be damn quick. We’re pretty sure Ticketmaster will be giving us a call soon.

I think this turned out better than we had hoped. So what the hell. TIcketmaster… We can be reached at info@onestepproductions.net or on twitter (@thekerp) if you want to work with us on this idea. We hope everyone else has found this interesting and that you enjoy the final redesign. Finally, we think the most valuable information recorded here is the process itself. Complaining about bad design in daily life is easy, but as you can see, even something simple like a paper ticket layout gets a bit tricky when you consider everything involved with the life of even a simple paper ticket. While it is complex, it’s still easy to work through step by step. So hit us with it, how would you tweak the world around you?

@tbrianjones

Original Article

19 October 2010 ·

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• movies music mayhem
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