Zillow + Disney Scavenger Hunt App
Role
Research, Content Creation, UX
Platform
Web App
Deliverables
Team building activity, Web App
Contributors
Joven Matias, Senior Director of Product Design
Katie Anne Naylon, Senior Content Designer
Will Froelich, Principal Design Technologist
Overview
For the 2024 annual Design Summit hosted by Zillow Experience Design in Orange County, the theme was "Quality Through Every Detail." It was an inspiring event, featuring prominent keynote speakers like Meghan Borsic, SVP of Design at Disney, who shared insights on design excellence. To wrap up the Summit on a high note, the department planned a fun activity—a trip to Disneyland. However, securing the budget for taking 200 attendees required a solid business justification.
THe Challenge
While the idea of a Disneyland outing was exciting, the real challenge lay in demonstrating its value to the leadership and justifying the expense within the corporate budget. Just months before the Summit was set to take place, I was selected to be part of a small team that needed to highlight how this activity would align with the Summit's theme and contribute to the attendees' professional development and the company's overall objectives. If we could achieve this, then we were headed off to Disneyland!
(Spoilers below) 🙃
The Solve
We determined that a scavenger hunt within the Park would be the ideal activity to inspire participants, learn about ‘quality through every detail’ at the happiest place on earth, and encourage them to connect in person with their peers and partners. I was tasked with creating the hunt’s content, including identifying specific ‘items’ or ‘experiences’ for participants to discover, and incorporating fun facts. Additionally, I ensured that each element tied back to the Summit’s theme. Furthermore, I assisted in designing how this content would be presented in our interactive web app, shaping the overall participant experience.
Research
I conducted thorough research to compile an extensive list of potential scavenger hunt items and experiences. This involved re-watching all episodes of "Behind the Attraction" on Disney+ and combing through online articles to gather relevant facts and trivia. The main challenge was to make sure that any ideas I had for the hunt could be tied back into the Summit’s theme on quality.
Brainstorming
Following my research, I created a brainstorming Figjam and facilitated a session with our team to review my findings and explore additional ideas. We started with general ideas and progressively refined them into specific categories: Food, Rides, Immersion, Everyday Items, Tech, and Customer Service. We agreed that these categories represented key areas where Disney excels in innovation and demonstrates quality through every detail. Our department could learn and be inspired through these examples.
Next, I collaborated with the team to narrow down our final ideas. I then mapped out the locations of these items or experiences on the Disneyland map to visualize their distribution and estimate the time required for participants to complete the scavenger hunt. We wanted to make sure our scavenger hunt would be feasible in the time allotted at the park.
low-fidelity Mocks
To visualize our ideas and how they might look in a web app experience, I created low-fidelity wireframes in Figma. This was mostly for presentation purposes and to share with the Summit committee so they could get a better idea of what this experience might look like.
Presenting & gaining buy-in
I presented our refined ideas, along with low-fidelity mocks of the web app, to the larger Operations team to provide visibility into our progress and secured sign-off from our Chief Design Officer. We received approval to proceed with this activity, and the budget was sanctioned based on our comprehensive business justifications—focusing on inspiration, relationship building, and connectivity.
Content flow & Web app Experience
I partnered with our content designer to determine the hierarchy and flow of our content, creating a cohesive web app experience. This included designing a welcome splash page, crafting the wording for each question, and planning the process for revealing hints. We also established how participants would submit their guesses along with photos of the items or experiences they found. Additionally, we incorporated a feature for participants to reflect on the overall experience and connect it back to what they learned at the Summit. We wrote out detailed scripts and reviewed and refined them collaboratively.
Wireframing APP FLOW & appearance
Next, we passed this content over to our Design Technologist and I collaboratively worked with him in Figma to wireframe the web app's functionality and appearance, progressing towards high-fidelity design. Due to the tight turnaround on this project, we agreed to borrow the setup of a previous web app that the Design Technologist had used for a previous business need. That meant that I helped incorporate the official style guide for the Summit, integrating the colors, logo, and illustrative assets into our app pages, along with some fun Disney-themed easter eggs such as hidden Mickeys. Additionally, we mapped out the app flow, detailing how participants would receive a question, make a guess or reveal a hint, and submit their answers.
Testing
One of our team members lived close to Disneyland and was able to conducted a test run of the scavenger hunt and web app. He was able to explore the park and experience the app firsthand, providing us with valuable feedback and insights on its functionality and user experience. This trial allowed us to confirm that finding all of the items and experiences in our scavenger hunt was achievable within the allotted time.
Refinement & Launch
We moved our designs into final stages just in time for the Summit. We successfully launched the scavenger hunt app, with participants able to download and use it on the day of our Disneyland trip, fully engaging with the meticulously designed interactive experience. To add a competitive edge, we established a prize for the team that completed the hunt the fastest with the most correct answers—custom lightsabers!
The Results
The scavenger hunt activity and app launch was a resounding success, as evidenced by the participation and feedback from attendees. These results highlight that the Disney outing not only reinforced the Summit’s theme of 'Quality Through Every Detail' but also significantly contributed to professional networking and relationship-building among participants.
Participation & Completion
Total Participants: 161
Participants Who Finished All 9 Questions: 115
Impact & Feedback
Inspiration Derived: A significant majority (91%) of participants felt at least somewhat inspired to approach their work in new ways by learning about Disney’s approach, demonstrating that Disney's emphasis on quality had a positive impact on the Summit.
Building Relationships and Connections: When asked, "Which of the following components of the Summit did you find the most beneficial for building relationships and connections with others?", 37% of respondents selected the day at Disney, stating they found the day at Disney to be the most beneficial for building relationships. This was the highest percentage for any of the other events at the Summit.
Kudos & Shout-outs
“Wren, thank you so much for your enthusiasm and hard work on the ZxD Summit Scavenger hunt! It was amazing to work together and share our passion for Disney. Your research was foundational for the success of the app and experience. It grounded each activity/item in the core of our summit theme while still encouraging learning and celebrating delight. Everyone is still in a buzz for the amazing experience, and judging from the responses in the database, ZxD learned a lot! Thank you, thank you, thank you!”
“Wren! Thank you so much for inviting me into our top secret ZxD offsite project. You’ve done a remarkable amount of work and I’m honored to be a part of it. It’s nice to have a chance to collaborate with someone new who is so thorough and takes so much time to discuss creative ideas together.”
“Your team did a killer job with the prompts - I’ve told at least 3 people about the trash cans at Disney since then - thank you all for creating such a high quality experience for us.”
“The highlight of the Summit was definitely going to Disneyland and the scavenger hunt. It made me feel really close to my colleagues and being able to meet and see familiar faces through the first two days helped when going to Disney and recognizing more team members. It was a fantastic week!”
“Apps and technology have such a large opportunity to enhance a real life experience. This activity made me think about how Zillow users might use our app in real life situations, locations, and interactions and how we can show targeted, contextually relevant tools and content to enhance that.”
Deliverables
Team building activity
Web App