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Flashmentor.io was a nascent idea by a client who had a dream to facilitate professional mentoring and networking. This was a yearlong freelance side-project from idea to MVP stage. This was a more UX heavy project.
Led UXUI research & design, product & vendor management for a mobile app. Designed logo, brand book and other branded assets.
Thus ensued weeks of market research, setting learning goals, and strategising, peppered with condensing reams otcf research findings for stakeholder presentations.
Our learning goals were the hi-level research objectives. These help us validate our previous assumptions. What questions will help us zero in on and achieve our learning goals?
In these initial stages, surveys and polls are a great discovery method. For the one on one interviews, a popcorn diagram↓ for my questions helped keep the interview aligned with learning goals and the conversational flow more natural than a formal interview script.
User journeys envisioned as a result of all the user interviews, surveys and corrected assumptions. How a user uses a product is always unique to them. Creating mock user journeys helped pinpoint the emotional responses the product would target at different touchpoints.
Whiteboarding helped consolidate the ideas, market research, opinions and features. Clustering the themes & identifying patterns kickstarted the user story ideation process.
The user personas varied in their demographics thus targeting different facets of the app. Delving into personas kept conversions user-focused. They made it easier to introduce the target users to stakeholders, acting to resolve conflicting opinions and priorities.
Aligning on the brand identity with the client was crucial in this initial stage. This questionnaire helped condense the lengthy team conversations from the previous stage. Crystallising the brand compass, marrying these values to the research from the strategy phase.
Abstracting stylization helped isolate the conversation onto the most necessary flow and features. These low-fidelity frames were subsequently overlaid with styles.
The goal was to evoke reliability, professionalism and simplicity. To better visualise colour scheme options, I presented colour options overlaid on a few high-fidelity screens. Talking through colour theory and emotions evoked became a more concrete discussion.
Welcome
The sign up process is distilled into 3 simple steps, The progress bar sets expectations upfront. The messaging and visual elements tease the UI and brand values.
Matching Interface
The matching algorithm was the USP of the product. It recommended users to one based off of their saved interests.
Profile View
Platforms like this depend on the network effect greatly. Thus profiles were showcased in 3 swipes.
Social Community Features
The app included a community feature - for a dedicated space about topics of interest. The Hubs acted as micro-feeds within the global feed.
Profile Features
To boost the personal angle - features like prompt-based sharing were added. This allowed one to show their experience, instead of merely listing out their skillset.
Profile Completion
Encouraging complete, well-though out profiles was important. Thus, the process of filling out one's profile was gamified with the levels: Beginner > Intermediate > Charged > Super Charged.
During this project, I wore multiple hats. This being my first foray into freelancing, there was a learning curve in blending camaraderie with expertise to work better with the clients. Utilising external developers meant that I handled a fair amount of vendor and product management responsibilities. I learnt how to communicate obstacles, concerns and processes better, how to build a brand identity and operate as a self-employed individual.
