Lead Product Designer · Inked Studio
Mobile + Web App · Attendee Experience · 2025

KE Events

Redefining how people discover, trust, and attend events in Kenya.

Discovery — feed, event detail, overview

Overview

KE Events is a dual-platform events discovery and management app built to close the gap between organizers and attendees in Kenya. This case study covers the attendee side, where people discover, register for, and stay updated on events that match their interests, in real time.

As the lead designer, I ran the process end to end — research, journey mapping, high-fidelity design, and prototyping — working closely with Inked Studio's development team to build something that felt functional, social, and culturally right for Kenya's fast-growing creative and tech scene.

The problem

Attendees were facing scattered event information across social platforms, difficulty trusting whether an event was even legitimate, complicated ticketing and payment flows, and little real-time communication when something changed — a venue shift, a delayed start.

The goal: a centralized, reliable, engaging experience that simplifies discovery and participation, and builds trust through verified organizers and live updates.

User research

Fifteen regular event-goers interviewed, plus a survey of over fifty participants across Nairobi and Mombasa.

Sometimes you just miss an event because you never saw it early enough, or didn't know where to buy a legit ticket. — User interview, Nairobi

Key insights

87%

discover events through Instagram or WhatsApp, but can't easily verify them

65%

would attend more events if payments and refunds were easier

72%

want reminders or live updates once they've registered

Design goals

01Simplify discovery — make it effortless to find events matching interest and location.
02Streamline ticketing — fast, secure registration with multiple payment options.
03Enhance engagement — real-time connection and updates.
04Build trust — verified badges, transparent pricing, detailed event data.

KE Events onboarding — choose attendee or organiser role, create account, pick event interests

Onboarding — role, account, interests

Process — visual-first, not wireframe-first

Instead of extensive low-fidelity wireframes, I moved directly into high-fidelity layouts based on early sketches and the research above. That let me iterate faster on real content and structure, test hierarchy and color in real time, and validate usability and emotional appeal early — important for a product where visual fidelity communicates trust and excitement, not just function.

Refining with feedback from early testers, the interface settled into a bright but minimal UI reflecting Kenyan vibrancy, a consistent visual language for verified organizers, seamless ticketing, and a strong emphasis on social validation and credibility.

Outcomes

Combined discovery, ticketing, and live engagement into one seamless flow.
Verified organizers and transparent details improved user confidence.
Interest- and location-based feeds kept people coming back to explore more events.
A flexible design system ready to expand across attendee, organizer, and admin platforms.

KE Events ticketing flow — ticket tier selection, checkout, and confirmation with QR code

Ticketing — selection, checkout, confirmation

What I learned

Moving straight into high-fidelity exploration helped me see the impact early, but it also reinforced the value of keeping validation loops tight, designing with real content to guide hierarchy, and thinking beyond features — toward experiences that reflect culture and emotion, not just clean interfaces.