Ask any professional event planner what their biggest challenges are and you'll hear the same answers: too many tools, too many communication channels, and financial reporting that's always a few steps behind reality. Luvent is built for the planner managing a wedding while simultaneously fielding vendor calls, updating a budget spreadsheet, and drafting a client proposal: all from a laptop at a venue that may or may not have good WiFi.
I led end-to-end UX design for a desktop and tablet platform that centralizes event data, communication, task management, and financial reporting in one place.
The problem
Three operational pain points consistently derailed event planners' workflows, and all three were problems good design could solve:
• Fragmented communication. Without a centralized channel, planners juggled email threads, text messages, and phone calls for every event. Critical updates got buried. Every delay created a downstream cascade.
• No reliable task management. With dozens of moving parts per event, planners relied on spreadsheets, sticky notes and memory, systems that didn't scale and couldn't be shared with a team.
• Financial reporting that confused instead of clarified. Generating a clear financial summary a client could read and trust required manual work most planners couldn't afford to prioritize.
Research
User interviews with event planning professionals, synthesized into empathy maps, revealed a pattern: experienced planners were drowning in organizational complexity, while newer planners were overwhelmed by a lack of structure from day one. The platform needed to serve both: giving veterans a more efficient version of what they already did, and giving newcomers a scaffold to grow into.
Designed for two primary users: experienced wedding planners managing multiple simultaneous high-value events who needed to update details in seconds rather than minutes, and venue operators like winemakers expanding into events who needed professional infrastructure to compete with established players.
Information architecture
Information architecture came before visual design. Two sitemaps mapped the full navigation model separately for logged-out and logged-in users before any interface decisions were made, ensuring logical access to every feature without unnecessary depth.
Sitemap #1 (User Logged Out)
Sitemap #2 (User Logged In)
Rapid Idea Exploration (Crazy Eights)
Developing Initial Layouts (Paper Wireframes)
Developing Initial Layouts (Paper Wireframe Screen Size Variations)
Creating Digital Blueprints (Digital Wireframes)
Creating Digital Blueprints (Digital Wireframe Screen Size Variations)
Building a Testable Foundation (Low-fidelity Prototype)
Usability Study
An unmoderated remote study (5 participants, 20–45 minutes each) produced three findings that required immediate structural iteration:
• The layout felt claustrophobic. Participants consistently described the interface as cramped. Content density that works on a spreadsheet doesn't work on a dashboard; whitespace isn't wasted space, but the breathing room that makes information scannable.
• Users expected more from list items. Participants tried to right-click, long-press, and hover over data entries expecting contextual actions. When nothing happened, they felt stuck. The interface was conveying less capability than the platform actually had.
• System feedback was missing. After completing actions (creating a schedule, saving a change) participants weren't sure if it had worked. The absence of confirmation messages created anxiety and led to duplicate actions.
Iterations
Navigation moved from sidebar to top bar. Relocating the primary navigation freed significant vertical space, allowing dashboard content to breathe and making the most-used information visible without scrolling.
'More Options' menu added to all data elements. A consistent contextual action menu ('Edit', 'Delete', 'Export', 'Mark as') was added to every list item and file entry. Users could now do what they expected to do, without hunting through separate screens.
Responsive Design
Key screens (landing page, sign-in, and the reports dashboard) adapted for mobile, maintaining information hierarchy for planners working from their phones on-site.
Outcome
"It's definitely going to make my work easier! I never thought this could boost my productivity and have all I need on one platform. I'm excited to have something like this."
When a professional whose work depends on juggling multiple systems says they're excited to consolidate into one, that's the design outcome.
Tools: Figma
Role: Lead UX Designer (end-to-end). User research, IA, wireframing, interaction design, usability testing, accessibility, responsive design across desktop and tablet.
Luvent began as a Google UX Certificate capstone in 2021.
Since 2025, I'm in active conversations with two local event planners who want to bring this product to market (including a feature that gives soon-to-weds direct console access to track logistics, vendor updates, and real-time coordination).
