8 months
Connecting People: Local Talent, Global Reach
The app is designed to bridge the gap between buyers and local artisans, offering a platform where a wide range of skills, from tech services to catering and beyond, can be accessed.
Unlike other platforms, it broadens the scope by connecting users with diverse talents in their local community, fostering a marketplace that celebrates and supports local expertise.
MY ROLE
I'm the solo product designer for this project. I collaborated with app developers (Williams & Seun) and an excellent product manager (Kosy Diamonda) throughout this project.
Here are the problems we are trying to solve with Life App:
Limited Visibility for Local Artisans
Many talented artisans struggle to reach a wider audience and showcase their skills. Life App provides a platform to increase their visibility and connect them with potential customers.
Difficulty in Finding Quality Artisans
Consumers often face challenges in finding reliable and skilled artisans for various tasks. Life App offers a curated marketplace where users can easily discover and compare artisans based on their expertise and ratings.
Inefficient Communication and Transactions
Traditional methods of communication and payment can be time-consuming and cumbersome. Life App streamlines these processes through built-in messaging and secure payment options.
Fragmented Marketplace
Local artisans and small vendors often lack a unified platform where they can showcase their services or products. This fragmentation forces buyers to search multiple sources, making it inefficient and time-consuming.
Lack of Support for Local Economies
The app aims to contribute to the growth of local economies by supporting small businesses and fostering community engagement.
Increase Visibility for Local Artisans
Provide a platform that allows artisans to showcase their work effectively and reach a wider audience.
Enhance User Experience:
Create a user-friendly interface that makes it easy for both buyers and artisans to navigate the app and find what they need.
Simplify the Search and Hire Process
Develop intuitive search tools, filters, and user interfaces that enable buyers to quickly find artisans based on location, skill set, or service type, reducing friction in the hiring process.
Foster Trust and Credibility
Implement systems for reviews, ratings, and portfolio displays that foster trust between buyers and artisans. The goal is to provide transparency in quality and reliability.
Support a Diverse Range of Services
Broaden the scope of services beyond tech-based skills, including creative, culinary, and hands-on services, making the platform inclusive and appealing to a wider audience.
Facilitate Efficient Transactions
Streamline the communication and payment processes to ensure a smooth experience for all users.
This is an ongoing project that I'm currently working on, but here are the potential impact I look out for once it's live
Boost Local Economies
The platform can significantly contribute to local economic growth by providing artisans and small vendors with more visibility and business opportunities. It empowers independent artisans to generate income and grow their businesses.
Empowering Underserved Artisans
Many artisans, particularly those in non-tech fields, often lack access to platforms that highlight their talents. The app provides a space for these artisans to showcase their skills, enabling them to reach a broader audience they might not have otherwise.
Increased Access to Local Services
Buyers will have an easier, more efficient way to access skilled artisans within their community, promoting the use of local services and reducing the need for buyers to rely on larger, less personalized platforms.
Visitors are mainly from Netherlands, United Kingdom, and United States.
Cultural and Skill Preservation
The app can help preserve and promote local, traditional skills and crafts that might otherwise be overlooked, giving artisans a platform to share and pass down their unique talents.
Increased Job Opportunities
Artisans, including those offering part-time or freelance services, will have access to a larger pool of potential clients, potentially creating more stable or frequent employment.
As a product designer, I'm aware that I design for two people (the user and the business) but let's focus on the users in this section :)
Understanding Our Users
To effectively design Life App, we had to identify and understand our target users. By creating distinct archetypes, we can tailor the app's features and experiences to meet their specific needs and preferences.
1. The Busy Professional (Buyer)
A person who enjoys doing things on their own but occasionally needs help with specialized tasks or wants custom products, like a handcrafted table or personalized catering for an event.
Jobs-to-Be-Done
Discover unique, custom-made products or services that aren’t available through mass-market providers.
Connect with artisans who offer personalized or niche services.
Ensure that the services are local, high-quality, and meet specific requirements.
2. The DIY Enthusiast (Buyer)
An independent artisan or service provider (e.g., caterer, craftsperson, tailor) who wants to grow their customer base and increase visibility.
Jobs-to-Be-Done
Discover unique, custom-made products or services that aren’t available through mass-market providers.
Connect with artisans who offer personalized or niche services.
Ensure that the services are local, high-quality, and meet specific requirements.
3. The Local Artisan (Seller)
An independent artisan or service provider (e.g., caterer, craftsperson, tailor) who wants to grow their customer base and increase visibility.
Jobs-to-Be-Done
Showcase their work, services, and products to a broader audience.
Manage orders, inquiries, and client interactions in one place.
Build a trustworthy profile through client reviews and ratings.
Easily manage availability, bookings, and payments through the platform.
4. The Small Business Owner (Seller/Buyer)
A small business owner who may sell products or services but also needs local artisans to support various aspects of their business (e.g., catering for a business event or custom packaging for products).
Jobs-to-Be-Done
Find reliable local artisans or vendors for one-off projects or ongoing support.
Use the platform to connect with other artisans for collaborative projects.
Offer their own products or services in a trusted marketplace, expanding their business reach.
Bringing the Vision to Life
Our journey to building this app was intentional and strategic, guided by our mission to connect buyers with local artisans. Here’s a breakdown of the process we took to achieve our goals:
We started by diving deep into understanding the market gaps. Through user interviews and surveys, we learned that local artisans were struggling with visibility, and buyers were frustrated by the fragmented process of finding reliable, local services. This research phase was critical in shaping our direction—we weren’t just guessing; we were listening.
Survey answers on the problems local artisans and buyers faced
Defining Our Happy Paths
Happy paths are the steps it takes for a user to achieve a task e.g how a user who uses amazon goes from point A (opening the app) to point B (purchasing a product).
With our research insights in hand, we defined clear happy paths and mapped their journeys. We sketched out the exact steps a buyer would take to find an artisan and what the artisan would need to showcase their skills. We aimed to ensure that both sides of the marketplace had a seamless, intuitive experience.
Mapping out the flow of our Happy Path
Designing the Core Experience
The next step was design. We focused on creating a user-friendly interface that would cater to the needs of both buyers and artisans. I prioritized clean navigation, easy search functions, and a straightforward onboarding process. Prototyping was a constant cycle—design, test, tweak. We involved real users at every stage, getting feedback to refine the flow and design until it felt right.
Building the MVP (Minimum Viable Product)
For the MVP, we concentrated on the essentials: a robust search function, profile pages for artisans, booking features, and a rating system. Our goal was to validate the concept quickly, so we built a lean version of the app that could be tested in the real world. We made sure to keep the development sprints short and iterative, allowing us to pivot quickly based on user feedback.
Testing and Iteration
We launched the MVP to a small audience, paying close attention to how users interacted with the platform. We didn’t just test functionality; we tested emotional responses. Did users trust the platform? Was the booking process smooth? This phase was all about learning and iterating—adjusting the design, fixing bugs, and enhancing features based on real user input.
Scaling Features Based on User Needs
Once the MVP proved its value, we began scaling. We added more detailed artisan profiles, improved the communication channels between buyers and sellers, and developed features like performance tracking for artisans. Our goal was to keep building value incrementally, responding to the evolving needs of our users.
Continuous Feedback Loop
Even now, as the app grows, we keep a continuous feedback loop with our users. We’re always learning, improving, and iterating to make sure we stay aligned with our users' needs. Our process doesn’t end—it evolves, driven by the people who use the platform every day.
While the previous section painted a picture of a seamless design journey, the reality was far from idyllic. I encountered several constraints that significantly impacted our timeline, design decisions, and overall project trajectory.
Timeline Pressures & Feature Prioritization
One of the biggest challenges was managing an extremely tight timeline. The client was eager to see the app live, and this impatience put pressure on the development cycle. With limited time, I had to make tough decisions about which features were essential for the first release and which could wait.
Learning to prioritize features became critical—I focused on delivering core functionalities first, pushing non-essential but valuable features to version 2.0. This required constant assessment of what was truly necessary for launch versus what could be enhanced later.
This is sometimes overlooked but I tested the website on various browsers (Chrome, Firefox, Safari, Edge) to ensure consistent rendering and functionality across different platforms.
Constant Revisions and Solo Design Workload
As the only designer on the project, I faced the exhausting task of revisiting and revising designs repeatedly. Testing the designs with users often revealed gaps that needed to be addressed, prompting frequent updates to screens and flows that were already considered final.
This constant back-and-forth took its toll, but it was necessary to ensure that the product met user needs. This experience pushed me to find new ways to stay resilient and manage my workload, as redesigning became a normal part of refining the product.
image of userflows
Communication Gaps and Scope Creep
At the early stages, the project’s main goals were not clearly communicated by the client, which led to significant scope creep. As we progressed, unclear directions meant that some features had to be reimagined, and initial designs were often abandoned.
This lack of clarity caused frustration and delays, as the evolving expectations required constant adjustments to the overall design strategy. The shifting scope taught me the importance of establishing clear communication and setting firm boundaries early on.
Team Dynamics and Collaboration
Working with a team of developers presented its own set of challenges. The fast pace of the developers often clashed with my design process, leading to disagreements about flows and priorities.
This dynamic required me to adapt quickly, finding ways to work more efficiently to keep up. I trained myself in Deep Work practices (highly recommend “Deep Work” by Cal Newport) to improve focus and speed, helping me match the developers' pace and reduce friction in our collaboration.
Despite these constraints, I was able to overcome obstacles and deliver a product that met the client's expectations. The lessons learned from these challenges have shaped my approach to future projects, equipping me with the skills and resilience to navigate similar hurdles.
Potential Challenges
Here are limitations that we noticed the app could face regardless of our works and decisions. Nevertheless, it was something we sort out to have in mind
Competition: The app may face competition from other similar platforms or traditional marketplaces.
User Adoption: It may take time for users to discover and adopt the app.
Quality Control: Ensuring the quality and reliability of artisans can be a challenge.
Technical Issues: Technical difficulties or bugs can impact the user experience.
Sketches
Wireframes
To ensure that Life App remains valuable and relevant in its industry, several future steps can be taken, even if I'm no longer actively working on the project. These recommendations could go in version 2.0.
Establish a Regular Feedback Loop with Users
Create a system that continuously gathers feedback from both buyers and artisans. This could include in-app surveys, feedback forms after transactions, or periodic interviews with key users. Regularly analyzing this feedback will help identify pain points and areas for improvement, keeping the app aligned with user needs.
Expand and Diversify Service Offerings
As the platform grows, consider expanding the range of services to include new categories that align with market demand. Regularly conduct market research to identify emerging trends and artisans that could be valuable additions. Diversifying services keeps the platform fresh and attractive to a broader audience.
Enhance the Onboarding and Education for Artisans
Provide ongoing support and educational resources for artisans on how to best present their services, manage their profiles, and utilize the platform’s tools effectively. This can include tutorials, webinars, or an artisan success program that empowers sellers to maximize their potential on the platform.
Focus on Mobile Optimization and Performance
As more users access services via mobile, ensure the app remains optimized for a smooth mobile experience. This includes regular updates to enhance speed, reduce load times, and adapt the interface for various screen sizes. Prioritizing mobile performance keeps the app accessible and easy to use on the go.
Implement Advanced Analytics for Decision-Making
Integrate advanced analytics tools to track user behavior and platform performance. Understanding what features are used most, where drop-offs occur, and which areas generate the most engagement will provide valuable insights for making data-driven improvements.
Stay Ahead with New Technologies
Keep an eye on emerging technologies that can enhance user experience, such as AI for personalized service recommendations, AR for product previews, or blockchain for secure payments. Experimenting with new tech can position the app as a forward-thinking leader in the industry.
And that's it!
This was one of the most complex project I've worked on, with a lot of learning curves. But the challenges made me a more in-depth thinker so I enjoyed the process from ideation to development. Special appreciation to my project manager Kosy Diamonda! Couldn't have achieved much without her.
Thank you for reading through! Hope you enjoyed learning about my design and thought process. :)
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