The problem and why:
-
Linkedin doesn't have a way for creatives to visually showcase their work - Creatives don't use Linkedin as much as other platforms where they can showcase their design work
-
Find a way to streamline how recruiters can see both your job experience and portfolio - Make your job experience and art portfolio more visible to recruiters
Meet Indigo
I always send my portfolio to jobs and its frustrating because people don't care about cover letter or resume, portfolio is most important.
Our Solution:
1) Create feature so creatives can customize their portfolio layout
2) Design a profile for creatives that they can more easily express artistic expression and personalize
3) Create a search function in the context of creative tools and fields
Usability testing:
Main Takeaways:
-
User’s couldn’t find where to “add project” on Indigo’s profile
-
button was too small, we need to add a plus button in order for it to be clear for users
-
User’s were confused by “edit” symbol on dashboard
-
added "Portfolio Mode On" so would be clearer to users they are in edit mode
How was your experience adding a project?
MAZE.CO RESULTS:
14%
of users said
amazing
29%
of users said
pretty good
43%
of users
said good
14%
of users said
bad
NEXT STEPS:
Although my team and I were successful during our usability testing we still wanted to implement these ideas going forward:
Discover if creatives wanted more flexibility with customizing their profile, such as changing colors or whether that would fit with the Linkedin aesthetic
Design a flow of looking at a project, what details you would see to get a sense of visual storytelling
Consult with a developer how to implement our features
IN Conclusion
During our process we lost a team member due to unforeseen circumstances but my teammate and I swiftly made decisions to make sure our deadline. I am very lucky we both collaborated well to pick up the extra pieces. In future teams I will make sure everyone comes to an agreement about our work process.
My first designs were very visually inclined and I got very stuck on the visual aspect but forgot that our users come to Linkedin for it's professional branding. Although I wanted to make sure creatives felt at home with my new designs, collaborating with my teammate really helped me stay consistent to the Linkedin brand to make sure this felt like a Linkedin product. I learned how to balance visual design while keeping the brand identity consistent. In the future I will be more aware of product and business branding.
Overall I really enjoyed the process and working with my team member!
DeVELOp
Version 2: Lo-Fi
Next I had the task to make my sketches come almost to life. I changed around some of the wording, placement of text and how the user is to interact with the profile page based on Linkedin's mobile application.
Version 3: Mid-Fi
Ready to add the final details of pictures, Indigo's picture I was then ready to start working on final high-fidelity wireframes.
Version 1: Sketching
Ready to start sketching, I decided that the most important thing creatives said was that Linkedin was too boxy. I first sketched the main elements of Linkedin but in a rounded form to make it more inviting to users.
WHO ARE OUR COMPETITORS?
My team and I decided to check out the competition. We decided to compare Linkedin to three other portfolio platforms on the market and see what each has to offer. We looked at Dribble, Behance and ELLO,
DRIBBLE
-
Search for jobs with art portfolio
-
Good for content sharing
-
Resources easy to find
BEHANCE
-
Has social media options features
-
Highlights tools used in projects
-
Can see project views
ELLO
-
Big community of artists
-
Can see project views
-
Customizable profile