Group Members 

  • Stephen Suen ssuen
  • Kathy Fang kfang 
  • Yi Wu wuyi
  • Connie Huang connieh
  • TA: Katrina Panovich

GR1 - User and Task Analysis

GR2 - Designs

GR3 - Paper Prototyping

GR4 - Computer Prototyping

GR5 - Implementation

GR6 - User Testing


GR1 - Project Proposal and Analysis

Interview Narratives

Interviewee #1

Interviewee #1 is a 22-year-old recent MIT graduate who got engaged last semester. She is in the process of planning her wedding, which will take place this July in Denton, TX. Because of her tight budget and timeline, she decided to not hire a wedding planner and plan everything herself. So far in the planning process, she has run into multiple problems, including staying within the budget and getting help from her friends. She has used www.mywedding.com to handle RSVPs, complete her bridal registry, and share information with guests. She has also used Pinterest to get decor-related inspiration. However, she has not been able to find an online tool to help her construct a timeline of major milestones.

Interesting take-away: Everyone expects the bride to do the bulk of the work, yet the bride struggles to use existing online applications to figure out a timeline of remaining tasks.

Interviewee #2

Interviewee #2 is a 22-year-old from Nashville, TN. Similar to interviewee #1, she is also on a tight budget and did not hire a wedding planner. While planning her wedding, which will take place this June, she has had difficulty staying within budget and figuring out when certain things need to be finalized. She has used* theknot.com to help her plan thus far but complained that it lacked interactive and personalized components. Her family has not provided much help besides moral support because she has wanted to make all the decisions.

Interesting take-away: Popular wedding planning websites, such as theknot.com, do not have customized resources.

Interviewee #3

Interviewee #3 is a 27-year-old recent MIT PhD graduate who got engaged one year ago. Although she does not have a set budget, she is trying to keep her costs low by planning the wedding with the assistance of her family and her fiancé’s family. She is based in Boston, but her wedding in August will be held in Toronto, where most of her fiancé’s family lives. Because she has been unable to visit Toronto, she has had an especially difficult time finding the best venues, caterers and photographers. As a result, she has had to rely heavily on the feedback from her fiance’s family. She has found it hard to consolidate feedback from multiple family members about various aspects of the wedding, including dresses, menus and venues. All of her correspondence is done via email, but she has no centralized location where she can compare and finalize decisions.

Interesting take-away: Brides rely on feedback from multiple family members, but they find it difficult to consolidate that feedback without a centralized application.

User Classes

We have identified four classes of users: the bride-to-be, fiancé, family, and wedding party.

Bride-to-be characteristics:

  • first time planning a wedding
  • young (ages 20-28)
  • tech-savvy
  • on a tight budget
  • does not have a professional wedding planner
  • in charge of wedding planning and logistics

Fiancé characteristics:

  • has more at stake than the family members and the wedding party, but not necessarily doing detailed wedding planning
  • wants to stay up-to-date with the bride's wedding planning decisions
  • provides moral support to the bride

Family member characteristics:

  • opinionated, but may have different ideas than the bride
  • want to be involved in the planning process and see the bride's progress
  • give input

Wedding party characteristics:

  • bridesmaids and groomsmen
  • provide input and suggestions 
  • see updates on the bride's wedding planning decisions

User Needs / Goals

Figuring out a timeline

  • Identify list of tasks to be done
  • Determine specific target dates for each task
  • Visualize a calendar and progress bar with all of the target dates
  • See examples of sample timelines that accommodate involvement and budget

Getting input about the timeline from involved parties

  • Ask fiancé, wedding party, and family members for feedback on the timing of certain tasks (i.e., whether wedding invitations should be sent out 20 weeks or 12 weeks in advance)
  • Ask for feedback on whether more or less tasks should be included

Updating involved parties when decisions are made

  • Notify fiancé, wedding party, and family members when major dates are changed or finalized
  • Update involved parties when tasks are completed

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1 Comment

  1. Katrina Marie Panovich

    Hi guys,

    I think this is a great start for a project! I have a few notes – I think the most important thing will be to focus on high level needs going forward. I think you guys are in an area that's particularly susceptible to feature bloat. Focus on making a meaningful experience for people first and foremost, and try your hardest to not just end up with a webapp that just does a bunch of disjoint things. It'll be a fun challenge. Below are my grading comments:

    User Analysis: This is great. Let's focus on the wedding planners (not the job, but as a gender-neutral form of bride-to-be) for the project most, but try to keep the other user classes involved.
    Needs/Goals Analysis: Great, but leans a bit toward thinking about a potential UI. Progress bars are one of many ways to show progress, not the only way. The bride-to-be probably wants to have some way of evaluating how much work is done, more than just have a progress bar.
    Overall: Great job!