Punchline

Design Thinking at every step.

🌊 Overview

Punchline is a mobile app that helps comedy fans in Hamburg discover and book stand-up comedy shows in one place.

I designed this as a personal project, following the full Design Thinking process from research to hi-fi prototypes.

👉 Read the full case study on Notion 👈

👉 Access the prototype here 👈

🎯 Goal

My goal with Punchline was to gain hands-on experience in every single step of the Design Thinking process, from empathizing with users through research, to defining problems, ideating solutions, prototyping, testing, and iterating.

I chose the challenge of stand-up comedy in Hamburg because there was no centralized platform for shows, making it a fitting case to explore research, ideation, prototyping, and testing end-to-end.

👤 My role

UX Designer (end-to-end)
- Conducted user research & interviews
- Created personas, journey maps, and problem statements
- Designed wireframes, prototypes, and hi-fi UI
- Planned & ran usability tests, iterated designs
- Built accessibility into the design system
Timeline: May – July 2025

⚒️Tools I Used

Figma → created the design system, built prototypes, refined UI.
ChatGPT → acted as a co-designer throughout the process: brainstorming ideas, synthesizing research outcomes, sketching flows, and critiquing design drafts.
Google Gemini → generated visuals and moodboards.
Figma Make, Google Stitch & UX Pilot → produced wireframes, explored layout variations, and tested different scenarios.
Mobbin → researched competing apps and gathered design inspiration.
FigJam → managed the project, organized research, and created collaboration boards.

🎯 The Problem

Comedy fans in Hamburg face:

Scattered event info across multiple sites (Eventim, Meetup, social media).
Difficulty judging quality & vibe of shows or comedians.
Frustrating, inconsistent booking flows with hidden fees.

🔎 Process (Design Thinking)

I followed the full design thinking cycle:

Empathize → 5 user interviews, empathy maps, personas, journey maps.
Define → problem statements, hypotheses, prioritized pain points.
Ideate → How-Might-We, competitive audit, AI-assisted brainstorming.
Prototype → lo-fi wireframes, hi-fi prototypes, design system.
Test → 2 usability studies (lo-fi + hi-fi), iterated based on feedback.

User persona

User flow

Information architecture

How-Might-We

Lo-fi prototype

Hi-fi prototype

✨ The Solution

Punchline provides:

A centralized feed of comedy shows in Hamburg.
Powerful filters (style, language, price, venue).
Show ratings & reviews to capture the “vibe.”
Smooth booking with transparent pricing.
Reminders & alerts to avoid missing popular shows.

🧪 Usability Testing & Iterations

I ran two usability studies:

Lo-fi prototype (4 users): found filters felt like a long survey.
Hi-fi prototype (3 users): issues with busy card layouts and missing filters.

Some changes included:

Replaced filter checklists → chip-based bottom sheet.
Unified card layouts → consistent, clean hierarchy.
Added comedian/club search → more personalization.

🌍 Accessibility

From the start, I designed for inclusivity:

AAA contrast colors with alt greys for balance.
Nunito font → highly legible for children & dyslexic users.
Motion respects OS “reduce motion” settings.
Fat-thumb-safe tap areas (48dp+).
Components with screen-reader labels built in.

📌 Key Takeaways

Applying the full Design Thinking process end-to-end gave me confidence in tackling complex UX challenges.
AI tools like ChatGPT, Figma Make, and Stitch are powerful for ideation and speed, but require careful guidance and judgment.
Usability testing surfaced issues I would have missed alone, proving the value of testing early and often.
Building with accessibility in mind from the start is easier and more effective than retrofitting later.
Even an imaginary app can deliver real growth when treated like a real-world project.

🔗 Full Case Study

👉 Read the full case study on Notion 👈

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