Jolina Huang | Product Designer

Case Study

Reimagining ticket selling for live events

UX Design Intern @SeatGeek

Role

UX Designer

Timeline

06/25 – 08/25

team

Fan Experience Seller

skills

UX Design

UX Research

Interaction Design

Usability Testing

Introduction

A summer of learning about the ins and outs of the ticketing industry while shaping better experiences for fans.

During my internship at SeatGeek, I dove into the ticketing industry and gained hands-on experience designing for both fans and sellers. My time involved:

Redesigning the Selling page (formerly Listings) to better educate fans about ticket resale

Improving quantity modals in the selling flow by consolidating multiple steps

Pitching a SeatGeek × Bumble partnership during a company-wide hackathon

Collaborating cross-functionally with designers, engineers, PMs, EMs, and data analysts

Building connections across teams to learn from different roles and career paths

These projects gave me a holistic view of how a product company operates and how design decisions directly shape both user experience and business outcomes. This case study will focus on my redesign of the Selling page.

user Problem

The current listings empty state doesn’t allow fans to know that they can sell or why they should sell.

Limited awareness, unclear value, and low trust keep users from engaging with SeatGeek’s resale feature. As a result, users often abandon or never enter the selling experience.

business Problem

Low discoverability limits resale growth.

SeatGeek loses potential resale volume and revenue because users aren’t discovering or understanding their selling feature.

Understanding the current experience

Conducting a thorough audit of the current buying and selling experience helped me pinpoint main pain points and potential areas of growth.

This helped me identify user experience pain points, growth opportunities, and visual design inconsistencies, as well as uncover key questions. I used these insights to ideate, inform further research, and present findings to stakeholders.

Competitive analysis

Analyzing how SeatGeek’s top competitors guide and motivate sellers reveals untapped opportunities for SeatGeek to create a stronger and more compelling selling journey.

framing the Problem

How might we increase resale volume by making SeatGeek’s selling experience more persuasive, educational, and discoverable?

proposed solution

Redesigning the listings empty state to educate, build trust, and drive seller action will increase selling behavior.

This page will become a clear starting point for fans to learn how selling works, why SeatGeek is the right choice, and what can be sold. It aims to drive awareness, motivate first-time sellers, and boost resale ahead of the NI F2F expansion.

initial explorations

I explored dozens of directions for the initial designs, experimenting with different layouts, messaging styles, and visual emphasis on value props.

narrowing down

To refine my concepts and align with long-term initiatives, I led meetings with stakeholders and collaborated in jam sessions with designers, engineers, and data analysts.

usability testing

After creating a research plan, I facilitated usability testing sessions with experienced ticket sellers to determine content that maximized engagement.

Given that the largest group of SeatGeek users are found using mobile web, I presented mobile variants to participants. After presenting questions, scenarios, and tasks to understand what sellers value, found useful, and what motivated them to sell, these key factors emerged:

Upfront clarity on fees, payout timing, and how ticket transfers work

Strong visuals and recognizable partners that build trust and credibility

Simple, action-oriented language → e.g., “Sell tickets” rather than “List tickets”

Visually focused designs over text-heavy layouts, making the platform feel engaging, reliable, and reputable

Version 1

Version 2

final design

Redesigned “Sell Tickets” page is aimed to educate, build trust, and drive seller action.

Header

Strong CTA, example event photos to show what can be sold, clear indication of the empty state, and a renamed tab from “Listings” to “Selling”

Why Sell?

Bento box design to engage users in digesting the information → Goal is to avoid skimming past this section

How to Sell

Simplified steps is beneficial because it provides clear and concise guidance of the selling process

Trust signal

Fans feel more confident knowing SeatGeek partners with the teams and venues they love

mobile responsiveness

While this case study focused on desktop, I also created mobile versions to ensure consistency and responsiveness across platforms.

Current

Redesign

implementation

I collaborated 1:1 with an engineer to spec the designs, support development through design QA, and ensure a smooth handoff.

I met daily with my engineer to address questions, clarify uncertainties, and ensure a feasible scope. I also designed the flow beyond the “Sell tickets” button, conceptualizing what the next step in the experience should look like.

Current experience after clicking “List tickets”

When a user has no available SeatGeek tickets to sell

When a user has available tickets to sell (only bought on SeatGeek)

Redesign

Modal pops up after a user clicks on “Sell tickets” button

impact

By making selling more discoverable and compelling, the redesign is expected to increase seller adoption and build more casual, repeat sellers.

What did i learn?

My jam packed summer was full of new learnings, connections, and experiences!

Here are some of my most impactful takeaways:

Learning to adapt when plans and timelines shift.

The selling page redesign was originally planned to launch during my internship, but shifting engineering timelines delayed development. Similarly, updates to the selling checkout flow (my other project) were continued after I left. To set my team up for success, I documented user flows, visual QA notes, and held thorough handoff meetings.

Building confidence when sharing ideas with internal stakeholders.

Pitching to senior leaders was intimidating at first, but I grew more confident by asking questions, sharing progress, and speaking up in meetings. By the end of the summer, I presented my summer’s worth of work to the entire company.

Recognizing the value of exploring any and all ideas.

I learned to start wide and refine later. Even ideas that push beyond scope are valuable, and sometimes those explorations spark broader conversations. Early on, I hesitated to think beyond my immediate project, but I came to see that bold thinking is what makes the difference between good design and great design.