Taste of Asia Festival 2019 

Visual Design, UX, & Event Planning

What is the Taste of Asia Festival?

The Taste of Asia Festival is a cultural and food festival host annually at Pacific Mall by the Federation of Chinese Canadians in Markham (FCCM), a non-profit organization based in Markham, Ontario. Since its inception, the festival has been providing a platform for the community to promote the multicultural mosaic of Canada and create harmony between various cultural groups through an event that fostered mutual respect and cooperation.

What was I doing there?

I participated in the festival as a part-time Event Coordinator. Given my abilities in graphics, I was put in charge with designing the poster, program booklets, banner, etc. It sounds weird for an Interaction Designer to suddenly assume the position of an Event Coordinator, but I was surprised by my involvement in designing attendees’ experience of the event.

Simplified user journey at Taste of Asia (before, during, after)

Our persona is Katie, a millennial who’s a fan of the Asian culture and snacks.

Before Taste of Asia

• Step 1 - What is the target population of this festival? What attractions should be made available to Katie?

  Possible solutions: Designate a different Asian country as the theme of the festival, so attendees would come back for different highlights. Promote food vendors, midway entertainment for children, artists, heritage performers, and overseas celebrities performing as special guests. Host social media contests for millennials, invite Instagram users to participate in free giveaways, winners and prizes to be announced during the festival.

• Step 2 - Where can Katie find more information about Taste of Asia?

  Opportunities: Does Katie need to register for the event? What are the festival hours, dates, and location?

  Possible solutions: Website, Eventbrite, Facebook event, newspaper ad, magazine article, etc.

• Step 3 - HMW (how might we) advertising the event to Katie and the general public?

  Possible solutions: Build hype around the festival on social media such as Facebook, Instagram, WeChat, and Twitter. Invite FCCM chairman and chief event directors to speak about our festival on various communication channels e.g. WOWTV, Fairchild TV, 105.9 The Region, 640 Radio Toronto, etc. Design an event poster to be advertised around the neighbourhood. Invite politicians and dignitaries to speak about the event. Set up an event on Facebook, TripAdvisor, Yelp, Google, etc.

• Step 4: HMW coordinate logistics of the event to optimize Katie’s experience?

  Opportunities: What is the ideal path for Katie to enter, traverse, and exit the festival? Where does she park if she drives? Which roads will need to be closed? Any road closure notices? Will there be special public transit arrangements during the festival’s hours?

  Possible solutions: Design the event’s layout / site map. Consider the locations of food booths, corporate booths, stage, picnic tables, generators, midway, and dumpster. Establish festival entrances, exits, blockades, etc.

During Taste of Asia

• Step 1: How might Katie navigate through the festival?

  Opportunities: Where is the bathroom? What if Katie gets hurt during the festival? Where can she find a place to sit? What if there is a specific booth that Katie and her friends want to visit? One of Katie’s friends, Benjamin, won a gift basket through the social media contests on Instagram! Where does he receive the prize?

  Possible solutions: A flyer will be distributed during the festival with a comprehensive site map that indicates locations of the bathrooms, first-aid booth, picnic tables, midway, etc. Any questions Katie and her friends may have, there will be signages around the festival ground, staff available at the info booth, as well as on Instagram and Facebook to answer any quick questions. There will be an announcements throughout the festival, telling attendees about the festival’s attractions such as the social media contests

After Taste of Asia

• Step 1 - How might Katie remain connected to the festival?

  Opportunities: Katie got stabbed by a wooden skewer on the floor during the festival. She was treated at the first-aid booth, but she would like raise awareness about this issue. Katie is interested in volunteering at Taste of Asia next year. Where can she express interest?

  Possible solutions: Set up a message board or ‘partner with us’ tab at Taste of Asia’s website. Continue to be active on Instagram, Twitter, and Facebook to drive engagement and increase followers.

What I learned about Experience Design and Interaction Design

As an Interaction Designer, I rely code and mockups to design a set of painless and intuitive interactions between human users and computers. As an Experience Designer / Event Coordinator, running an event that attendees can enjoy with minimal distractions was my number one concern. Both roles required user centricity. It never hurts to map out a user journey and wrap our heads around every possible touch points our target audience may encounter.