Creatively
Overview
Challenge
Add a new collaboration feature onto the existing Creatively product while designing with very strict restraints. Brand is non-negotiable. Be wary of how small design choices may mean massive changes needed throughout the product
Who
Creatively is a fantastic resource that enables creatives of all kinds to share their work, discover the work of others and even seek do some job seeking within the various creative fields.
Why
While they are able to share and view creative works, there are limited resources to help artists find people they are interested in collaborating with and also be able to know it will be a compatible match. This new feature offers both the ability to make posts seeking collaborators and ensure they are a good fit with a compatibility questionnaire.
My Role | UX and UI designer
Duration | 3 weeks
Tools | Figma, Procreate
Research Methods
Competitor Research
I researched Discord, Are.na, Daisie, and Magma Studios. I learned to think more out of the box to find beneficial elements that could potentially add value to Creatively’s new feature.
Potential User Interviews
Even without an abundance of resources to find collaborators, I learned that creatives were doing what they do best to overcome this challenge- making something out of nothing- the majority were depending on their own community to find people to work with.
Key Insights
I gained two key insights from user research:
An in-site chat feature is a MUST- Potential users are understandably wary about sharing too much personal information online. Every participant found a chat feature to be very important if seeking a new collaborator on Creatively.
Collaborating is like a relationship - Talking to someone you want to work with is one thing, but collaborating with someone on a long-term project is another (remember those dreaded group projects?). Having a way to filter out potential collaborators based on personality traits in addition to just skills was also very important to every participant.
Defining the Product
User Persona
Meet Josie! She is a working professional who has a passion for being creative in her free time in addition to at work. I based her goals, needs, frustrations, fears, motivations, and collaboration knowledge off of my potential user interview participants.
Task Flow
I repeatedly referred back to both my competitor and user interview research results in order to find a flow that felt best and included all of the important details one needs to know when considering jumping into a new project.
Design
High Fidelity Wireframes
Designing the wireframes for this feature was a much greater challenge than I expected. Since I needed to stay within the strict parameters of Creatively’s existing project, I found myself having creator’s block. The site was already black and white with a very simple layout. I decided the best approach would be to repurpose and tweak their existing UI and layout for adding content to a portfolio to avoid conflicting design choices.
Building the Prototype
The majority of the functionality of the feature involves entering project-specific details and photos, then being able to receive messages through your published post. Those interested in collaborating would also need to take the compatibility test to see if they would be good match with the original poster.
Usability Planning and Testing
I opted to have participants go through 3 tasks to put the feature to the test. Overall the feedback was that it was very simple and straightforward to use. All participants liked having the ability to chat. The main improvement needed was to make the questionnaire multiple choice in order to make responses more comparable. The other primary revisions requested were related to the design of the original site.
Priority Revisions
Make the Compatibility Questionnaire multiple choice.
Add more space to type in a description for the project being posted
Tweak some design elements to be more accessible and easier to read while staying within strict contraints.
Take Aways and Next Steps
Adding the collaboration feature was significantly more challenging than simply creating an entirely new site from the ground up. While most may prefer to already have most of the design decisions made, I found myself wanting to improve the site overall and felt stuck at times with how relatively little I could make myself.
I loved the challenge in the end and it was a great learning experience that showed me areas I could grow in- patience with strict parameters and not getting stuck when I can’t lean on my creative problem solving strengths.
The next step will be to add the revisions based on usability testing, keep an eye on Creatively to see if they update their site with more user friendly design elements, then reiterate this project with a fresh eye.