PROJECT OVERVIEW
MY ROLE
User Research In person and online interviews Sitemap Analysis Suggestions on the overall structure of the already existing tool features and the incorporation of new ones Wireframing Iterating existing wireframes and sketching new ones Usability tests and iterations Test scrips, conducting tests, evaluating and rating issues and iterating accordingly in close collaboration with the team MVP UI design and basic design elements incorporating the landing page colour scheme and basic design system Landing page Design, icons and logo brainstorming |
MY TEAM
Project manager Front- and Backend developer I joined the team at their early discovery stage were a prototype of the tool they wanted to build was in place and my task was to evaluate the current level of usability and to give suggestions on how we could ameliorate it. I have also helped with the landing page. TIMELINE • 3 months
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USER RESEARCH
I got the the target group hypothesis from the PM and we that in mind I have interviewed people who would fit
that profile and adjusted it based on them. To get a better perspective on a slightly wider group, I have also ran a an online survey. |
SURVEY INSIGHTS
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People don’t really believe in “All in one ” tools |
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Finding new clients is the hardest part of freelancing |
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Freelancers have a lot of free time : myth busted |
USER PERSONA
PLATFORM STATUS QUO
As the 2 founders of Cuthalion were developers themselves, there was a proto-platform already in place, supposed to help future users to show their business online as well as to function as a co-working space itself.
My task was to look trough it and point out weak spots and possibilities for iteration. I have performed an heuristic evaluation, trying to concentrate on the main function that was supposed to make their product unique - the project collaboration area. I have used the Normal Nielsen 10 Heuristics for all the pages they had already. |
MAIN PAINT POINTS
SITEMAP ANALYSIS
Mapping out the current state of the platform was a challenge itself since features and sections haven't been added with a clear user goal in mind.
What we have decided was to concentrate on the projects area and to define it better. The ambitious goal was to have multiple working spaces - for small teams to collaborate and for their communication with clients. The complexity of the features planned required a thorough onboarding, which I have planned and design, but wasn't implemented for the time I was working on that project. What I managed to push trough were multiple guiding popup upon first visit of a page to provide some more clarity on the functions available. |
WHERE FROM SHALL WE BEGIN?
The main problem of the so far existing platform was the overall confusing about it.
What is it supposed to do? How is it supposed to help people in their daily work? Their first interaction with it was an overview dashboard from where multiples tasks could be accomplished : Create a project, manage it, edit a personal website, contact team members and clients, etc. Currently this dashboard wasn't actionable and the "start" of all those tasks was supposed to be a cluttered navigation sidebar. So I have started by cleaning this one in ordered to make the dashboard itself an entry point for the workflow. |
SIMPLIFIED LOW FIDELITY DASHBOARD
Task flow :
Create a project and send a proposal to a new contact Here is an example of a user flow with starting point the presented dashboard.
In order to save time and have a better overview of their work, we have created the Porject area, with differentiated stages for each project, thus providing easier control and faster access to all documents and contacts involved. |
REFINED DASHBOARD
PROJECTS AREA
PROPOSALSLESSONS LEARNTI’d love to have had more time for discovery and to be trusted more on my doubts about the scope of the project and it’s complexity while prioritising features.
Altough my work brought some more clarity to the overall look, feel and logic of the platform, I wasn’t fully included in the planning of the further development of the project due to lacking funding. I have personally learnt to trust my research more and to not hesitate to stand up for “my people” (in this presentation often called users). |
(to be continued...)