MVP iOS app connecting freelancers with business providers in the hospitality industry.
FlairMakers
🔎 Background
UK hospitality is the 3rd largest private sector employer. It represents 10% of employment, 6% of businesses and 5% of GDP. An acute labour shortage in hospitality caused the industry to lose £21 billion in trade.
Movers & Shakers connects freelancers with business providers in the hospitality industry. It is a customised talent on-demand platform designed to connect freelancers (e.g. students, single moms, etc.) with businesses in the UK hospitality industry.
The team consisted of two people, a product designer (myself) and a product manager.
My role was to research the competition and design an iOS app for freelancers (B2C) where they can create a strong profile, view and apply for jobs, and receive payment.
I also designed a platform for the partners (B2B) where they can post shifts, review participants, and pay invoices.
The budget covered six weeks of work for our team. We had to supplement the initial proposal by two weeks, to a total of eight weeks of work, to deliver the project.
Due to budget and time constraints, our team had to skip essential steps to deliver the project. We only researched the competition and did not validate our decisions through testing. I validated the designs with the client, and they were primarily based on our research of the competition.
⚙️ Working process
The team collaborated with the client via email for weekly updates. We communicated the weekly progress, what went well, and what went wrong, and pointed out the blockers.
We used WhatsApp for quick updates. Google Meet for weekly meetings and presentations. In Miro, we prioritise the project and write user stories. We uploaded all deliverables to Google Drive.
Overview of the prioritisation document.
The competitive research, wireframes, design proposal, style guide, and final design were delivered using Figma.
I chose Figma because is simple to use and understand by anyone. It has excellent collaboration features and the comment feature is easy to follow.
🤔 The problem
We had a poor understanding of how the industry apps work and how freelancers and businesses collaborate through them. The client wished to understand how the competition manages the account creation of the users, how displays shift, and what information asks to make payments. The client also desired to include a badging system to motivate users to build robust profiles and use the product.
The tested apps observed the competition indicated in the preliminary industry research made by the client.
I am presenting the preliminary information for the competition research.
The competition research revealed significant findings introduced in the product after a client presentation and heavy prioritisation sessions.
- For a good connection with freelancers, some apps use a phone number login and registration method to access the account.
- To validate the experience and the account, freelancers must have a live interview with the app representative.
- The onboarding process may be complex in confirming the freelancer's experience.
- Some apps offer the option to propose a higher hourly wage to accept the shift.
- Others allow freelancers to set specific working criteria (e.g. manipulating pork meat) for future jobs.
- Apps can suspend a talent’s account for not presenting to an accepted shift.
- A talent can earn and unlock Badges by reaching certain milestones and demonstrating particular abilities or skills.
Overview of the presentation deck prepared for the client containing the competition research.
📐 Sketching the screens
The app for freelancers has a profile, a search for shifts, and a schedule for managing upcoming work.
I sketched screens based on research from the competition and the client. The flows followed the user stories written by assisting my product manager colleague.
Preview of the user stories.
I made the wireframes for the iPhone 8 screen and designed them to be compatible with smaller iPhone screens, leaving room for larger ones in the future.
I used simply shaped elements to create the screens. I used only two fonts to keep the wireframes intrusive and comfortable to read. I used black and white to eliminate the client’s natural feeling of considering the wireframes a design proposal.
Wireframes containing some of the “Profile” screens.
I aimed to quickly create and present wireframes. To ensure accuracy, I suggested validating copy and flows before moving on to the design proposal. I utilized Figma to create and prototype the wireframes and shared feedback.
Most of the feedback was about copy changes. I included the changes in the final design. My colleague and the client agreed to save time for the design phase.
The feedback process came with a major change in the Profile’s flow. After consulting with the product manager and the client, I decided to break the Experience section and transform all tabs included into separate sections. This change simplified the interaction and profile update, bringing all major profile sections in front and not hiding them from the user.
Wireframes containing some of the “Home” screens.
🎨 Exploring the design
I designed two screens, the home page and profile, for the proposal. The challenge was that the client did not have a brand book yet.
I focused on the top section of the app, where users can take immediate action. The section displays cards with options such as creating a profile, starting a shift, and catching the timer for an ongoing shift. The yellow accent draws attention to these cards.
After presenting two designs, the client was not convinced. One design used too much yellow and the other too little. They didn't like the proposal of using two fonts, so we decided to use only one. I had to create a new version.
I am presenting the first two design versions.
The third version introduced a wavy header to maintain a stylish look and apply the colour accent to all screens. The header's wavy shape was designed to remind users of the hospitality industry's classy and elegant nature, and it also supports the focus area.
The overall elements and pages had a cleaner appearance and the design started to take the final shape.
The client loved the third version. The final feedback was to develop a small update to the focus area. The fourth version was the final one. The next day I started the sprint of covering and designing the apps.
The design proposals for the “Profile” screens, from the first (left) to the final version.
The design proposals for the main menu, from the first (left) to the final version.
🖌️ Designing the screens
I invested my most time into creating a coherent style guide. It helped me to save precious design time in the end.
Sections of the style guide created in Figma.
The profile is the most important for the user, so he must have a complete profile and schedule an interview with an app representative to apply for shifts.
If the talent skips a step when creating the profile he has the chance to finish the process in the app.
The profile section offers the possibility to edit all personal information a talent may want to update.
Selection containing screens from the "Profile" section.
The Home section is where talents search for shifts. Talents can filter shifts for quick searches. When a talent clicks a card he can review the job post in detail to decide if he wants to apply or not to it.
Selection containing screens from the "Profile" section.
Selection containing screens from the "Onboarding" process.
✒️ Final thoughts
After eight weeks, the project was completed and delivered to the client, who was satisfied with the final product.
I successfully did competitor research on the UK hospitality apps. I helped the client have a better view of how the industry connects freelancers and businesses. I delivered designs for two platforms, for freelancers and businesses.
The final “Weekly report”.
Looking at what could be improved at what I did, I cannot stop thinking of understanding how the industry validates the final product. We suggested the client take the time and do some testing to validate our assumptions.
The product needs more time invested into iteration. Looking with fresh eyes over the flows, I see room for improvements and errors to solve. It was a sprint and the time limitation did not allow us to look twice over what we proposed for the product.
Working on this project allowed me to work and adapt to short-term changes. I had to quickly draw conclusions and act on them. I learned to create and present my work and research findings briefly to the client. I also had to create a design system that could adapt to future changes in clients' brands.
