Driving app-adoption by designing a utility-first Coachella app

It begins in the desert...
Coachella Valley Music and Arts festival hosts about 650,000 people each year in Coachella Valley, California. The music festival has an app-companion to assist attendees throughout the festival weekend.
17% of people do not use the app
Beyond browsing a schedule or buying merchandise, it offered attendees little to rely on.
I set out to make the app indespensable
I built an end-to-end discovery process for the Coachella app focusing entirely on uncovering what features would drive adoption based on what users need most.
My Role
User Research
UX Design
UI Design
Feature Strategy
Deliverables
Journey Maps
User Interviews
High Fidelity Designs
Prototypes
Project Type
Designlab Capstone Project
JUMP TO PROTOTYPE
First, I needed to understand what attendees value
Before designing anything, I surveyed 37 past attendees. 3 key values rose to the top of the list for users:
Users Value
⏳ Conserving time and avoiding missing moments
🧭 Assistance navigating through dense crowds
💧 Accessing essential resources and facilities: restrooms, water refill stations, shaded areas, medical tents, etc.
Real stories validated what the data was telling me
Four in-depth interviews with past festival goers gave weight to the survey findings and surfaced the kind of detail that data alone can't capture.

“I’m someone who never skips a meal and all my basic needs come first. Coachella forces you into impossible choices between eating and the music performances”

Person with light purple hair wearing reflective round sunglasses and a black scarf.
Mya, 27 years old

“A neighbor needed medical help during a set - it was scary and we knew what to do, but most people wouldn't know where to find the med tent.”

Man wearing a leopard print shirt and hat enjoying an outdoor festival with raised arms.
Eli, 30 years old
My research identified a pattern: people struggled with the logistics of being at the festival
I was focused on giving users reasons to open the app
I gathered inspiration, sketched low-fidelity concepts, and created product maps to stress-test ideas against real festival scenarios.
I finalized my ideation phase with a priority feature list
Before committing to high-fidelity screens I created my priority feature list to align the strongest concepts with user values.
Priority Feature List
White map icon with three panels on an orange circular background.
Smart Navigation Map
An interactive map with a filtered search system, allowing users to easily find desired locations.
White diagonal arrows pointing top-right and bottom-left inside an orange circle.
Proximity Highlights
Displays nearby amenities when users select a destination or experience’s detail page, optimizing their time and making navigation more intuitive.
White smartphone icon centered on an orange circular background.
Mobile Order Capabilities
Pre-order food and drinks from participating vendors to skip long lines, with real-time wait estimates and pickup notifications to maximize time at performances.
Then, I built high-fidelity frames for each feature
White map icon with three panels on an orange circular background.
Smart Navigation Map
Smart Navigation highlights stages, medical tents, water stations, and shaded areas —helping users navigate crowds without missing a moment.
Coachella festival map on a smartphone screen showing stage locations with countdown timers and set start times for performances.Mobile phone screen showing Coachella app with a dropdown menu for selecting categories like Venue, Attractions, Food and Beverage, Medical, Water Refill, Mobile Order Food, Shaded Area, and Accessible Viewing Area over a partial festival map.Mobile screen showing a colorful Coachella festival map with stages labeled Coachella Stage, Sonora, Gobi, Mojave, Quasar, and Do LaB, including set times and countdowns for next performances.Mobile screen displaying a Coachella festival map highlighting water refill stations marked with blue icons at various locations including Coachella Stage, Sonora, Mojave, and other areas.
White diagonal arrows pointing top-right and bottom-left inside an orange circle.
Proximity Highlights
Two integrated map features surface nearby amenities and food options at each stage, keeping users informed without missing performances.
Smartphone screen showing Coachella venue map with Do LaB stage highlighted and artist Salute's set time at 3:20 PM displayed.Mobile app screen showing event details for 'salute' at Do LaB, scheduled Fri 4/12 from 3:20 to 4:30 PM, with next act Barry Can't Swim at 5 PM and nearby amenities including water refill station, restrooms, and mobile order food.Coachella mobile app screen showing map with food locations near Beer Barn and Do Lab Food area, with options to order from Acai Bowl Girl and others.
White smartphone icon centered on an orange circular background.
Mobile Order Capabilities
To keep users fed and hydrated without sacrificing stage time, I designed an in-app mobile order flow with real-time wait estimates.
Smartphone screen showing Coachella mobile order food map with a popup for Sumo Dog at Do LaB Food and an Order Food button.Mobile app screen showing a food order menu from Sumo Dog with four items listed including Sumo Dog, Do LaB DAWG!, Miso Katsu, and Sumo Tots with descriptions, prices, and photos, and a pickup time of 2:45 to 3:00 PM.Mobile screen showing menu item detail for Miso Katsu, a breaded and fried hot dog with mayo, miso mustard, cole slaw, tonkatsu sauce, furikake, and scallions priced at $12, with quantity selector set to 2 and Add button.Mobile order summary for Sumo Dog food with two bottles of water and two Miso Katsu ordered, total payment due is $30.50, with a delivery time between 2:45 and 3:00 PM.
I tested two key flows with 5 past festival attendees
Testing validated the approach. Users felt more confident moving through the festival, but their feedback surfaced small friction points that made both flows sharper.
Priority Feature List showing three features: Smart Navigation Map with an interactive filtered search system, Proximity Highlights displaying nearby amenities on destination detail pages, and Mobile Order Capabilities for pre-ordering food and drinks with real-time wait estimates and pickup notifications.
Text card titled 'Key Finding' stating users felt more empowered to navigate the festival efficiently from the redesign, on an orange rounded rectangle background.
Section titled 'Iteration Opportunities' detailing two items: Live Set Indicator highlighting real-time sets for navigation, and Order Confirmation suggesting clearer visual cues for order pickup and notification integration.
I made two targeted iterations to address user issues
Users struggled to tell which stages had live performances happening in real time, and felt uncertain whether their mobile order had actually gone through.
White lightning bolt icon centered on an orange circular background.
Live Set Indicator
A pulsating neon dot on the map marks stages with active performances - giving users a read on anticipated traffic, crowded areas, and a timely reminder of who's on right now.
Golf Card - Before product details
Before
My original design featured time flags for each stage, informing users of upcoming sets or time left until a set would begin.
Product Card - after adding essential details
After
Users felt that the time flags were informative but needed differentiation between upcoming and Live Sets.To remedy this, I added a flashing yellow light for sets that were Live Now.
White checkmark inside a circular border on an orange background.
Order Confirmation
Users found the ordering flow smooth but felt it dropped off at during pickup. I added visual cues and clearer vendor directions, closing the loop between notification and physical handoff.
Golf Card - Before product details
Order Confirmation
Attendees see arrival windows instantly on the map, eliminating the need to track orders through menus and emails in a chaotic festival environment.
Product Card - after adding essential details
Order Confirmation
A dedicated confirmation screen ensures users know exactly which vendor to visit and where to find them, eliminating the confusion of "wait, where was I supposed to pick this up?" in a crowded festival with dozens of food stations.
My final prototypes show how utility drives adoption
Through intuitive map filtering and a streamlined mobile order flow, attendees can locate essentials and secure what they need, transforming the app from a passive schedule viewer into an essential festival companion.
This project taught me that
Reframing a business problem as a utility problem unlocks better solutions. When people have a genuine reason to open an app, adoption takes care of itself. And designing for the hardest use cases, then sweating every detail to get them right, proved that user trust is built in the finishing touches.
The future of the Coachella app has potential to improve safety at scale
Using technology to improve safety at scale. Future iterations could integrate wristband sensors for real-time crowd intelligence. This could potentially create a replicable model for festivals, sporting events, and large gatherings worldwide.
Back to the top
Next Case Study

let’s build
something great

contactresumeLinkedIn logo icon with white 'in' letters inside a black circle.