B2B SAAS / INTERNSHIP / SUMMER 2025
What should be a
quick search isn't.
Redesigned Cvent Event Diagramming's venue search flow to help event planners find faster, scan quicker, and move forward with confidence — addressing 3 failure points identified across 10 Datadog session recordings.
10
Datadog sessions analyzed
3
core pain points addressed
10
weeks, end-to-end ownership
OVERVIEW
A B2B event planning tool with a search flow that worked against its users.
Cvent Event Diagramming (CED) — formerly Social Tables — helps event planners visualize and design event layouts. Within it, venue search lets planners find the specific venues and floor plans they've contracted to start building their diagrams. I owned the design process end-to-end: from research to final UI, identifying critical usability gaps and redesigning the experience to make finding, filtering, and differentiating venues faster and more intuitive.
ROLE
Product Design Intern
Cvent / Event Diagramming
TIMELINE
June - August 2025
10 weeks
METHODS
Datadog, Usability Tests
Audit, Design Workshop
TOOLS
Figma, FigJam
Glean AI, Cvent Design System
THE PROBLEM
Event planners know what they're searching for.
They just can't find it.
DISCOVERY
Event planners enter this flow with a venue already in mind — and still get lost.
The original flow presented a flat, undifferentiated list of venues with no visual hierarchy, minimal filtering options, and no clear distinction between similar venues and floor plans. Users were forced to manually scan every result to find what they'd already contracted. What should be a quick task turned into a frustrating hunt.
⌙ User Journey: Friction points across the flow
RESEARCH
Understanding the gap between
what planners need
and what they had.
METHODS
Looking at the problem from different angles.
I compared findings across behavioral data, platform comparison, and team ideation, giving me a full picture of the friction before designing any solutions.
10
DATADOG sessions
Observed 10 user sessions to understand where and how users were experiencing friction in the live product.
1
internal audit
Audited Cvent's venue sourcing platform to benchmark what planners might expect before arriving at CED.
1
design workshop
Led a workshop to ideate on gaps and explore preliminary design directions with the product team.
Three findings, three design priorities.
FINDING 01
Navigation and structure
Users couldn't find venues because the layout felt empty and confusing — no clear hierarchy or visual anchor.
FINDING 02
Search efficiency
Poorly organized or overloaded results caused frustration and frequent abandonment of the search process.
FINDING 03
Action clarity
Users were unsure what was clickable and what actions were possible — slowing their progress at every step.
EXPLORATION
From ideation
to tradeoffs.
TRADEOFFS
Three decisions that shaped the final design.
Guided by the three research findings, I explored early solutions through sketching and wireframing — and hit three real tradeoffs that required deliberate calls.
01
AI personalization vs. filtering clarity
->
Recently contracted venues pulled from cross-platform data for personalization.
Cross-platform data linking introduced technical ambiguity around feasibility.
Pivoted to AI suggested venues using only in-platform user data.
Less ambiguous, more buildable.
02
Filter interaction model
->
Multiple separate dropdowns for different filters — too many clicks, potential cognitive overload.
Added friction at each filter step instead of reducing it.
Consolidated multi-option filters into one dropdown, surfaced binary toggles alongside it.
Fewer clicks, quicker filtering.
03 / USABILITY TESTED
Saved vs. unsaved venue separation
->
Saved and unsaved venues in separate sections.
Usability testing with 2 participants revealed users didn't scroll past the first section, assuming the page had ended.
Consolidated into one ranked section with saved venues appearing first.
Hierarchy preserved, below-the-fold problem eliminated.
FINAL SOLUTION
A search flow that prioritizes relevant results,
boosts scanability, and builds confidence.
WHAT CHANGED
From a list you read to a layout you scan.
BEFORE
Dense text list — users had to read every result to compare venues
No result count, no filters visible upfront, no relevance signal
Collapsed sections hid floor plan details entirely
AFTER
Visual scan of saved venues at a glance — photos, key details, hierarchy
Top matches shown with clear count, tags, and filters surfaced upfront
Venue photos, room specs, and direct path to diagramming immediately visible
NAVIGATION & STRUCTURE
Redesigned layout to support natural scan patterns and hierarchy
Clearer flows between search results, individual venues, and floor plans. Visual cards replaced the flat text list — giving users a way to scan rather than read.
SEARCH EFFICIENCY
Enhanced filtering, sorting, and result relevance
Consolidated filters reduce clicks. Updated algorithm surfaces the most relevant venues based on user input. Built using Figma to prototype the full interactive search flow within Cvent's established design system.
ACTION CLARITY
Clarified buttons and actions to reduce friction
Improved visual cues make next steps obvious. WCAG AA contrast verified on all text-over-gradient combinations using a contrast checker before finalizing the visual design.
ACCESSIBILITY
Reducing cognitive load is itself a foundational accessibility consideration — a connection raised by an audience member during our technology department presentation, affirming that usability improvements and inclusive design are deeply intertwined.
"Great job using the design system so well in your prototype and design. Huge win."
LEAD PRODUCT DESIGNER @ CVENT
"Great work tying your design decisions to outcomes for the users!"
PRINCIPAL PRODUCT DESIGNER @ CVENT
IMPACT
Research-grounded decisions,
validated before final delivery.
10
Datadog sessions analyzed to identify failure points
3
core failure points resolved across the redesign
2
usability test participants caught a critical layout issue
Usability testing caught a critical layout issue before final delivery: users weren't scrolling past the first result section, assuming the page had ended. Consolidating saved and unsaved venues into one ranked section resolved this entirely.
REFLECTION
What I took away from my first B2B design internship.
DESIGNING WITHIN A REAL ECOSYSTEM
Every decision had to hold up against the broader Cvent product. That constraint made the design stronger — it forced me to think in systems, not just screens.
WHAT I LEARNED
Working within an established design system at scale is a real skill — understanding not just the components but when to push against them and when to stay consistent.
IF THIS SHIPPED, I'D MEASURE
Search abandonment rate, time-to-first-successful-page, and support ticket volume, which are the three areas our initial research flagged and the clearest signals that navigation is actually working.
Built from curiosity, shaped by empathy.