RX Global At Show Experience
Opportunity
RX, the world's second-largest exhibition organizer, part of RELX (formerly Reed Elsevier), operates over 350 events across 25 countries, including well known events like: Comic Con, PGA Show, and London Book Fair.
Despite its strong presence across diverse industries, and continents, no companion app existed to enhance the attendee experience at these events.
My role as Design Lead
- Design & research strategy
- Process & timeline management
- Designs, prototypes, components creation
- User Research
- Design alignment across the company
- Stakeholder alignment between:
- HQ
- Country managers
- Expo organizers
- Cross-functional collaboration with:
- Product
- Engineering
- QA
FIBO
Discovery
I conducted user interviews at FIBO in Cologne, and in-cosmetics in Paris, both with attendees and exhibitors, gathering insights that directly informed the app's design, ensuring it addressed real user needs and pain points effectively.
On-site observation was also key. Research conducted revealed a clear pattern: visitors struggled with wayfinding, resorted to photographing printed maps, and had no centralized way to manage schedules, discover exhibitors, or engage with sessions in real time.
Attendees taking pics of the map
Attendees looking at the map
FIBO's hall map
Printed map and exhibitors list
Components library
To support consistency across a large team and many event types, I built a centralized component library: buttons, forms, icons, navigation, cards... All adhering to shared visual guidelines and interaction standards.
This reduced friction in handoffs and kept the product coherent as it scaled across different features, events and teams.
High fidelity designs
To support consistency across a large team and many event types, I built a centralized component library — buttons, forms, icons, navigation, cards — all adhering to shared visual guidelines and interaction standards.
This reduced friction in handoffs and kept the product coherent as it scaled.
Splash screen with sponsor
Schedule
Map
QR scan
User's badge
Programme
Exhibitors
Products
Product details
Session details
Exhibitor profile
Speaker profile
Usability Testing
I conducted usability testing of the prototype at FIBO in Cologne and in-cosmetics in Paris, amongst both attendees and exhibitors.
These efforts provided valuable insights into how users interacted with the prototype, highlighting pain points and areas for improvement, helping us identify opportunities to enhance user engagement and satisfaction at future exhibitions.
Animations
The app incorporates multiple animations to enhance the user experience, adding a dynamic and polished feel to interactions. For example, animations were introduced when scanning a QR code and when opening the digital badge.
These subtle yet engaging visual elements not only make the app more intuitive but also contribute to a seamless and enjoyable user journey.
Final Thoughts
Alignment
Aligning a wide range of stakeholders — HQ, country managers, and expo organizers — required constant communication and clear expectation setting.
This required more time and effort than the design work itself.
Clear Scope
To keep the project on track, I had to specify:
- Features
- Releases
- Timeline
Constraints
Connectivity at live events was an unexpected constraint. Without reliable GPS, we couldn't pinpoint user location on the map.
I designed having an input to ask the user their current location, to set a starting point, or take a photo of the surrounding area:
Thanks for reading, want to collaborate together? Contact me here
