Amsterdam Dance Event | 2019
A new interpretation of queuing
Amsterdam Dance Event is an enormous event that attracts thousands of visitors each year. Which results in long unpleasant queueing times at their venues. In this case I tried to rethink and improve the experience of waiting in line; calling it “a new interpretation of waiting”
The ask
Amsterdam Dance Even is a clubfestival of five days that takes place annually in Amsterdam. It’s a well known event where approximately 2500 EDM (electronic dance music) artists from all over the world come to perform. In the scene of techno and house ADE is unmatched by any metric you throw at it. But such volume in attraction comes with its downsides. Long unpleasant waiting lines at nearly every party you decide to visit. This year ADE decides to collaborate with Soundcloud, a staple in the EDM community, to create an unforgettable experience. In this fictional assignment I’m given the task to develop a concept that will improve and ease the pain of the queueing experience.
Project goals
Improve the waiting experience at ADE
Attract new users to the Soundcloud platform
Research
Before ideating I had to understand what and who I was dealing with. I had to immersive myself in the EDM scene and create an understanding for myself what ADE really meant to the community. So a logical first step for me was conducting desk research on electronic music, the wide variety of people that attended the festival, what the current waiting experience was like, and how other organisations tackle the experience of waiting lines. Below I’ve summed the key insights out of this research
Key findings
The majority of people that attend ADE are people between the age of 20 - 30
ADE is visited by both tourist and locals (65% locals, 35% tourist)
Keeping users occupied while waiting makes the wait time seem shorter
The last moment of the waiting experience should be positive, that’s what a user remembers
Current waiting lines at ADE can easily cause negative emotions, partly because the attendees can be under the influence of drugs and alchohol.
The solution
My research made me rethink and led me to question why waiting lines are the way they are. Why do we stand in a physical line towards the door, standing still, waiting. From a UX standpoint it’s not very logical, because you could agitate or bore the user this way. So why not throw away the conventional way we think we should “wait” for our things and come up with something new. That’s how I ended up with the “new interpretation of waiting”.
Imagine this, instead of having a physical waiting line towards the door, why not have a plotted area outside the venue; where users can queue using an app and get a notification when it’s their turn to come inside. This way you remove the pain point of having the visitors standing still in the cold. But there is a twist. In this area outside the venue, where people are walking around and waiting, there is music being played from preselected upcoming Soundcloud artists. Artists that visitors can nominate right after they buy a ticket.
In your ticket confirmation email you’ll receive an invite to nominate your favourite upcoming EDM artist to be played at the waiting area. Then, while digitally queuing and physically walking around the area, everyone can enjoy their time listening to music, slowly setting to tone before they head in. The users can see which artists’ music is being played at the waiting area and add them directly to their Soundcloud account. As a final touch, users can also vote on whoever they liked the most. Users that don’t have a Soundcloud account can directly create one in the app; meeting the briefing requirement of attracting new users to the platform.
