Partiful Redesign: In-App Bring List for Parties

Note: This is a self-initiated, personal redesign sprint. Partiful was not involved in this project; it's a speculative exploration of how the experience could be improved.

Overview

Partiful makes inviting friends to events fun and lightweight. But the second an event turns into "hey can people bring things?"... chaos. Hosts usually drop a Google Sheet link, guests intend to sign up, but the extra step gets in the way. The result: low participation, duplicates (three bags of chips), and missing essentials (zero plates). 😬 So I redesigned Partiful to make bring-lists native, one-tap, and visible in real time so coordination happens inside the invite and stays social instead of stressful.

Role:

Solo UX/UI end-to-end ownership (Research → Flows → UI → Prototype)

Time Frame:

Rapid sprint (1.5 week)

Goal:

Reduce friction and improve visibility around "what to bring."

What is the Problem?

Most hosts rely on Google Sheets to manage "what to bring." Because this functionality is not built into Partiful, guests must leave the app to participate. This context switch introduces friction, causing guests to delay, forget, or bring duplicate items. As a result, hosts are left to manually resolve gaps and overlaps.

A beach day was organized using a Google Sheets signup, but very few people actually signed up. 😞

Which brings us to the

Problem Statement

Hosts need a low-stress way to crowdsource supplies, so they don't end up managing spreadsheets and chasing guests.

Research

To validate the problem quickly, I ran a fast research pass under time constraints.

Methods

5 short interviews

2 hosts, 3 guests

Walkthroughs

of recent potluck invites on mobile

Competitive scan

of item sign-up tools

Key Pain Points

Guests intend to sign up, but extra steps cause them to drop off.

Unclear visibility makes people hesitant to commit.

Hosts end up managing logistics manually.

Coordination happening outside the invite disrupts the experience.

Insights

1. “People usually just do whatever’s easiest.”

People want to help but they only follow through if it’s easy in the moment.

2. Even motivated guests abandon tasks that take more than ~10 seconds or require sign-in/app installs.

3. “Seeing who is bringing what prompts coordination and reassures guests the essentials are covered.”

4. “Guests don’t want to be first.”

People hesitate to claim items when a list is empty because they don’t know what the host expects or what others will do. Once a couple items are claimed, participation picks up fast.

5. “Hosts need control without micromanaging.”

Hosts want to set direction (essentials, quantities, dietary notes) but don’t want to assign people individually. The best system lets guests self-select within clear boundaries.

Design Goals

Keep “bring-list” coordination inside Partiful

Make claiming one-tap

Provide real-time shared visibility

Reduce host stress and reminders

Match Partiful’s playful, low-pressure tone

Solutions

A native “Bring List” embedded directly in the event.

Host

Try out the prototype!

Click or use arrow keys to navigate

Guest

Try out the prototype!

Click or use arrow keys to navigate

Everyone

Expected Impact

Higher item claim rate

No context switching

Fewer Duplicates

Live visibility

Lower Host Follow-Up

Guests self-coordinate

What are the next steps?

The next steps are to usability test discoverability and claim speed, validate how useful the templates are across different event types, and explore V2 features such as smart suggestions, assign-to-guest, and budget splitting.