Overview
I was approached by a client whose company is developing a new digital platform that operates in a two-sided market. This platform connects freelance graphic designers with small businesses seeking custom design services. The platform's goal is to streamline the process of finding, collaborating, and transacting between these two user groups.
Goal
The goal is to design a feature for this digital marketplace that enhances the interaction between freelance graphic designers and small business clients. The platform currently facilitates basic search, communication, and payment functionalities. The task is to design a feature that improves the matchmaking and project collaboration experience. The requirements were to propose a feature that helps both freelancers and businesses to:
Efficiently find the right match based on specific project needs and designer skills.
Facilitate smoother communication and project management.
Enhance the overall user experience on the platform.
Create user personas from provided data for both freelance graphic designers and small business clients. Base your design decisions on these personas.
And the deliverables were:
Wireframes for key interfaces.
High-fidelity prototype for critical screens.
User journey showing how users interact with the new feature.
Show how this feature can be integrated into the existing platform and scaled for a growing user base.
My contribution
Developed detailed user personas and identified key platform challenges.
Designed advanced matchmaking and project management/collaboration features.
Created wireframes and high-fidelity prototypes for critical screens.
Mapped out user journeys and highlighted feature touchpoints.
Outlined integration and scalability plans, along with impact metrics and risk mitigation strategies.
Year
2024
Process
Action Plan
When working on projects from ideation to conceptualization I like to utilize the CUPS-PDM framework as it provides a structured approach to addressing complex problems. The framework ensures that every aspect of product development is covered comprehensively. It stands for Clarify, User, Problem, Solutions, Prioritize, Design, Measurement & Risks.
Clarify
This step involves clarifying the problem and connecting it to the company’s mission and vision to ensure alignment with broader business goals. In this context, I'm developing a feature for a platform that improves the matchmaking and project collaboration experience. The primary users are small business clients and freelance graphic designers. For small business clients, the platform addresses challenges such as difficulty finding skilled freelancers, communication issues, and the lack of project management tools. For freelance graphic designers, it tackles the time-consuming nature of project searches, the complexities of managing multiple projects, and ensuring timely payments.
User
The following personas were developed based on the data my client provided.
Problem
I listed the platform problems and assigned priorities for each of them in a table.
Solution
I did the same for potential solutions to each of the problems mentioned above. I also added a Story Points column to highlight the estimated effort required for each feature.
After going through the solutions, the client and I agreed to tackle the top most impactful features - Advanced Matchmaking and PM/Collab Workspace.
User Journeys
I developed a typical journey for both user personas and highlighted the UI elements they interacted at each step. I then marked touchpoints that corresponded to the two features we plan to design first.
Designs
Outcome
I outlined some metrics that could be tracked to measure the impact of the design solution. These include evaluating the accuracy and relevance of project and freelancer recommendations by tracking the percentage of accepted recommendations, assessing project completion rates by measuring the time taken to set up projects, track milestones, and manage tasks, and analyzing the effectiveness of communication and collaboration between clients and freelancers by monitoring the frequency and quality of interactions and resolution time for project-related issues. Additionally, potential risks such as user adoption challenges and platform performance issues were identified, with strategies like comprehensive onboarding materials and optimized code for performance suggested to mitigate these risks.
Get in touch
Have a project in mind?
If you want to chat about a project, opportunity, or anything really — just send me an email on hi@brettchien.com.
Currently based in California — available for remote-friendly work.
©2024 Brett Chien
