Igloofest

Humanithon 2025

Mobile App Concept

October 17-19th, 2025

View Prototype

Humanithon:

a 3-day hackathon for UX designers and researchers to work their creative muscles without any AI assistance

Team Roles:

Dahlia: UX research, secondary UI design, and presentation

Jonathan: UX research, wireframes, and presentation

Sameya: Primary UI design

Prompt:

“Create an original, branded mobile app concept for Igloofest that captures the festival’s identity while improving how users explore, plan, and attend the event.”

Day 1

Research & Findings

What is Igloofest?

With no prior knowledge of Igloofest, our primary task was to get familiar with it. We discovered that Igloofest is the “world’s coldest music festival," held annually in the dead of Canadian winter. It’s icy and energetic, with electronic music, neon lights, and a wacky snowsuit contest. It spans three to four weekends in three locations.

Who’s it for?

Due to time constraints, we knew user testing and surveys would not be possible. To understand Igloofest’s audience, we had to rely on secondary research from Igloofest’s website, their social media, and third-party websites. I analyzed competitors and conducted secondary user research to understand their target audiences and create a persona to help guide design decisions. Meanwhile, Jonathan did a thorough UX audit of their website to identify strengths and weaknesses.

user persona named Jackson with his description, motivations, frustrations, and goals

What’s not working?

For our UX audit, we spread out all pages of the website and commented where things were and weren’t working.

Pain Points

Inconsistency

Language is not consistent throughout the site.
In Montreal, users can only buy tickets for individual artists, but in other locations, they can only buy passes for the entire event.

Lack of Clarity

The Montreal, Gatineau, and Quebec locations each have their own sub-sites, but it is unclear what the difference is between each of them.
The home page doesn’t contain the necessary basic information about the festival.

Day 2

User Flows & Wireframes

Igloofest wireframe for home screen, lineup, and cart

Wireframes

Igloofest wireframe for sign in and checkout

New user flow beginning from clicking on the home page and ending at payment (letters correspond to labels in Figma)

Solutions

Who, What, When, Where: make basic information readily available on the home page

Simplify user flow: instead of making users bounce from page to page, make it easy for them to find what they’re looking for and checkout

Consistency: make chosen language consistent throughout the site

Day 3

Prototypes & Presentation

Scope Creep and Prioritization

At this point in the design process, we were tempted to go above and beyond. We wanted to make the app as comprehensive as possible, but with only two days to make at least 5 screens, we knew we were limited in what we could do. Basic information (the 4 Ws), the lineup/schedule, and ticketing/checkout were nonnegotiable, as they are the primary reasons people will use our Igloofest app. For this iteration, we decided to exclude transportation options, non-performance events taking place within Igloofest, and food vendors.

Design Kit

While Jonathan and I researched Igloofest and its audience, Sameya created a new design kit. Our theme reflects the feel of Igloofest’s electric and icy winter nights. When you’re in the crowd, dancing to your favorite DJ’s song, the flashing lights turn you blue and purple and pink. The sky is black, and the snow is white. The logo looks like ice cracking with bright sound bars bouncing above.

color palette with a light blue, light purple, teal, azure, black, and white

Mockups

Splash
Sign In

We wanted to give users an efficient login process they have control over, so we gave them the options to create an Igloofest login, use their Google or Facebook accounts, or continue as guests.
Home Page

All relevant information about the Montreal event is present, including dates, location, and a brief description of the event. The main headliners are showcased upfront with a button nearby to view the full lineup. Users immediately have the option to buy passes.
Lineup

Here, users can view headliners. Due to time constraints, we did not create the page for the full schedule. When the number of tickets available gets low, people can see how many are left. To address the issue of inconsistency with ticketing, we decided to set a flat rate for different weekends (as is standard based on industry research) as opposed to having people pay for individual artists.
Passes

Users can see what each ticket includes and add passes to their cart.
Cart

Before purchasing passes, users get a final opportunity to preview their order and add or subtract tickets if they choose to.
Checkout

We added breadcrumb navigation at the top of the checkout page so users have a sense of where they are in the purchasing process.
Confirm & Pay

Users pay and have their tickets emailed to them.

View Prototype in Figma

Results

Within the two-and-a-half days my team worked on the Igloofest app, we prioritized accessibility, information, and aesthetics, resulting in a user-friendly and exciting app. The design kit adheres to WCAG 2.2 guidelines, and the broad details of the event are readily available, providing a seamless flow from learning about the event to purchasing tickets.

Best Accessibility Award

After presenting our project at the closing ceremony, we were given feedback and honored with the Best Accessibilty Design Award. Our team was proud that our efforts were recognized, and we knew there was more work to do.

Next Steps

Usability Testing: Time didn’t allow for testing during the hackathon, so I plan to administer observation tests and surveys and conduct interviews to make adjustments to the app where necessary.

Expansion: I want to add pages that give information about food vendors, happenings at different locations, transportation, and the festival’s history. Based on testing, I will decide the new information hierarchy.