There are many sites that offer creatives a place to post their work and share with others. These sites however are their to also offer social status, even if that was not their intention. Many sites for creatives make it difficult for creatives to connect unless by mere chance. I set out to create a site that allowed creatives post their best work on their profile and eliminating public display of “likes,” “connections,” and “followers.” I want to remove any bias that might sway users to believing a user is good or not based on their following. This was based among what others are felt in the creative field, many feeling they were not good enough based on numbers. Users also wanted a go-to place to read more about studios they admire or wanted to apply to, so Studio Profiles was also implemented into the design.
Persona: Jamie
PROBLEM STATEMENT:
Jamie is a recent graduate who needs make new connections because they want to make friends and find a job.
Site Map
Once the persona was created and their user journey map was drawn up. I created the site map that would be used when creating the responsive design.
Paper Wireframes
Paper wireframes were created once the sitemap was established, I started with desktop version and then moved on to create the mobile version of the designs.
Low-fidelity Prototype
The low-fidelity prototype showcased the overall user flow of navigating the site and was used for usability studies with users.
Mockups:
High-fidelity Prototype
The final high-fidelity prototype presented a cleaner user flow for navigating and viewing other members. It met the user needs for stress free interactions with no biases influence.
Conclusion
WHAT I LEARNED
While designing this project I learned a lot of what other creatives feel and think when networking. Creating a site such as this one where there was less stress in making connections really helps creatives that are typically introverted. There were still several users who were more extroverted that thrived best in social settings. It was important to create space for both types of users.
IMPACT
The app is simple and straightforward to users. There is less stress and intimidation to connect with new creatives, a big factor for this was the removal of social status in friends/followers.
“I like how this site functions! I think the individual artists’ pages with the expanding art and the cartoon social media links are my favorite part. Seems like it’s very easy to use and not overwhelming”
