The goal of this UX case study was the design of a relevant digital, portable solution for a defined target user group which included the "digital nomads" and all those people identified with a different and today popular working lifestyle as "the gig economy", where flexibility and freedom represent the ideal core.

UX / UI Design | Native Mobile App | High Fidelity Prototype

Project time

UX Team

My Role

What I Did

• UX Project from A to Z

• The entire Design Thinking process

• Research about the users ' needs

• Define the users'needs and problems

• Challenge assumptions and create ideas

• Create a solution

• Test my solution out

• Recommendations and improvements

My Tools

• Desktop PC & Tablet

• Whiteboard & sticky notes

• Pen & paper

• Figma

• FigJam

• Adobe Photoshop

• Maze

• Google Apps

• Canva

Duration

This project is about the design of a native mobile app called FlexJob ,specially designed for freelancers, digital nomads and part- time workers in Norway which struggle in finding relevant available flexible jobs during their travels or according to their lifestyle, not related permanent forms for employment.

The goal was to apply the UX knowledge, concepts and techniques in my hands, to come up with an innovative solution able to possibly relieve, solve the target user's problems, issues often related the ability to look for flexible, project based jobs.

The results were materialized into designing an application that first of all could solve the target user problems, with an improved user experience and usability. A solution able to offer the users easy and relevant information, schedule possibilities thus getting quickly hired no matter time and location.

• Users felt often frustrated as a result of often lack of open availability for flexible,part-time jobs in their living area.

• Users felt often the need to be able to plan their work schedule & leisure time in a more complex way than full-time workers.

• Their working choice often varied according to lifestyles, educational purposes, temporary living a life abroad, on holiday or on permanent basis.

• Users struggled to access relevant, valuable and necessary information that could fit their working criteria.

• For profit reasons employers in general were less interested in hiring part time workers and users.

• Unreliable productivity and low profits were the reasons often why flexible jobs were not so easily put on the map by big companies.

• Market competitors own "gig apps" offers were in most cases lacking or missing some essential functionalities for their target user group.

After conducting attentive research i found out that this target user group faced the following issues :

According to my plan, the idea was to design a possible digital solution, a tailored portable application able to inform and help digital nomads in Norway about how to look for flexible jobs in their area of choice.

A smart , free of charge and convenient digital tool, designed to minimize the difficulties users faced often today, and a usable tool that would also offer users the chance to share and influence others about their personal working experiences within the rising popular gig business economy and lifestyle.

Since i had a five weeks limited deadline, my first step was to plan a timeline as a guideline to follow and refer during the whole project.

A student project for my UX Design course at Noroff Institute of Technology and Digital Media.

Project Type

Project Timeline

Empathize . Define . Ideate . Prototype . Test

Understanding the User | The Research

To solve a problem, reflecting on a possible solution and having defined the context,it required the use of an empathic approach first to find out and understand the user , their needs and goals through research methods.

To collect and analyse qualitative and quantitative data i conducted a literature review, a survey and competitive analysis.

By running literature reviews collecting facts from the web i got a more general understanding of the "gig economy" ,their typical users, their problems.

Survey

Then to get better user insight ,i created an online survey with 28 participants and submitted a set of open and closed ended questions. People were recruited through my family , co-students and friends network getting results as:

Competitive Analysis

I gathered information about a couple of competitors in order to define the basic features of my solution through a competitive analysis and using the SWOT technique.

• The two competitors were both user friendly and with an intuitive design.

• They were both available for IOS and Android

• Not all the features and services offered were for free

• Some of the functionality was not so well designed

• Not so good payment options and overview

What did i find out?

Empathy Map

To collect, group and later analyse data results captured during the three research methods applied, i used an empathy map followed by an affinity mapping technique.

Step 2

Based on my assumptions from the research , i reflected about which could be the possible content,features and requirements for a new solution and found out some as :

• A personalized custom solution, profile, min.salary/working hours.

• A "market place"where hiring people, meet and share available offers.

• Ratings, references from hiring companies and gig workers.

• Map for users to check local areas with work opportunities.

• Chat and an integrated payment option through the app.

• Required qualifications, car/transport, total hrs per shift.

• Personalized calendar with matching jobs available in the selected period.

• Portfolio, language required, video meeting chat,search function/filter.

• Online community

• Sign in / sign up

• Navigation

• Offline Access

• Social media

Step 1

On the affinity map i started first to collect, and group the data and the collected notes during the research process and then i arranged them into clusters based on the subject and the meaning i perceived from them.

Then to get a further insight and understanding i analysed and synthesized the data included into clusters and group themes.

Affinity Map

Persona

How Might We?

Then i decided to use the technique of the How Might We? questions to help me to further define and ideate a solution according to the problem statement.

These were the questions able to frame the problem for ideation.

• How might we offer the gig workers a user-friendly,portable and convenient smart solution able to include all the available updated information about the availability of flexible jobs in their area of choice?

• How might we motivate the target users to get interested and use my solution in their lives?

• How might we help the users to accomplish their goal

• How might we consider the idea of designing a digital mobile application?

• How might we make sure that the users will be enough motivated to understand the meaning and purpose of my product?

• How might we create solution with a good user experience ?

• How might we improve the design, the content and the functionality in relation to other business competitors

• How might we, through my product, motivate the users to think and choose flexible jobs instead of regular full-time employment?

• How might we include the essential functionality and content in a smart and inclusive way, for all type of users

• How might we design a solution capable to inspire the app's users in sharing with others their knowledge gained through my solution?

• How might we make it possible to create a competitive product and still keep it free of charge for the users?

Based on the user research, i set up a primary persona to describe the characteristics of the target group, the digital nomads, including some main features related the user's emotions, motivations and goals.

• The persona had a scenario that identified a realistic goal the user might have through his working activity.

• The information included in the persona focused on its goals, frustrations and challenges.

I run an ideation workshop using three techniques as a storyboard, mind mapping and brainstorming to gain gradually a deeper insight in the users problems and craft a meaningful solution.

At first i used divergent thinking to brainstorm quick ideas and widen up the creative space in my mind as sparking ideas "out of the box".

Then through convergent thinking i tried to connect and aggregate insights into a final solution , thus getting also a clearer and closer picture of the connection between these ideas.

Ideation Workshop

Storyboard

I created a storyboard to communicate visually the user scenario through the use of selected illustrations displayed in a sequential way, mapping the main events.

The reason why i used this method is because by visualizing images, a storyboard has the power to provide a team or stakeholders additional context in a quick and easy way to remember.

Chosen Solution

At the end of the ideation process a chosen solution was defined in the form of a native application for mobile phone and tablets i named FlexJob and the reasons of this choice were listed here:

• A portable,accessible on the go solution

• Stable database and quick loading times

• Multitude of design options and possibilities

• Easy development and optimalization

• Personalised user experience

• User friendly, consistent, good usability and accessibility factors

• Social media network integration

• IOS/Android smartwatch compatible

• Onboard training give users the opportunity for learning

• Quick sharing and filtered information and search based on certain criteria

• Cloud hosting services for safe database and recovering

• Easy and intuitive access to resources and regulations

• Fast Wifi/4G/5G connectivity + GPS Navigation

• Video conference tools

• Automatic firmware updates

• Online support/chat

UX Flows

I created a diagram with the user flows to map every step of the user interaction required to achieve a number of different goals on the app.

For example how a user uses the app to send a work application for a selected project and hiring manager or company.

Sketching the Solution

I started with some basic sketches of how i wanted the overall layout to be structured to begin the design stage.

I wanted the user to be able to get an easy overview of the available business categories and subcategories to eventually apply for and i also had in mind the possibility for the user to have a clean user friendly overview of his finances, thus including total balance, income, expenses and invoice functionality.

Once the final sketch layout was completed, it was time to incorporate those early, raw ideas into low fidelity wireframes and to help visualizing how the app should be structured everything was moved into Figma.

Low Fidelity Wireframe

Then i created a wireflow to give a visual representation of the screens and interactions the user adopts to fulfill a specific task. it combines elements of the wireframes, task flow and flowchart to illustrate multiple navigation paths in one diagram.

Wireflow

Usability Testing Low Fidelity Prototype

With the help of the Maze online testing platform i conducted a remote unmoderated usability testing with seven participants asked to test the interactive low fidelity prototype of the app.

The reason why i did a first round of usability testing was to gain enough valuable feedback and insight so that i could identify possible issues or a confusing user experience ; useful elements to let me improve ,edit the design and take it to high fidelity.

High Fidelity Prototype

After the first round of usability testing, i had enough good results to improve the design so after some iterations i got back to Figma and developed an high fidelity prototype of the app, ready to be tested for the final round.

Usability Testing High Fidelity Prototype

As in the first round of usability test, to validate my proposed solution, i asked the test participants to perform a set of tasks using the prototype, followed by post test questions.

Then i collected data and feedbacks to be analysed after the test conclusion by the participants.

The overall results show an usability total score of 77/100 as a calculated mixed result of key performance indicators: mission success & duration, test exits, and misclicks.

Usability Test Results

All users managed to successfully complete three of the four tasks and their feedbacks on the prototype were absolutely useful to find out about the usability level of my designed solution and possible improvements for a further development or if an iterative process should take place in the future.

The Positive

The Negative

• "No issues encountered, user flow is clear as the UI components”.

• “The walk through didn't show any big difficulties, so all was pretty easy to get through”.

• " All good from UX perspective.”

• “The paid and due icons were a little confusing, it looked like i was going to approve or not approve something”.

• “Not so intuitive layout ”.

• “Visual hierarchy could be more balanced”.

Recommendations & Improvements

• An improved navigation.

• A more intuitive layout for usability purposes.

• A more balanced visual hierarchy within design elements, icons & visuals

• Some aesthetic refinements.

My Solution

My solution named FlexJob is a native mobile app designed with the goal in mind to help digital nomads and freelancers in Norway.

FlexJob has been designed to provide in a smart portable digital format, different features as i.e. providing essential information on available project based jobs, hiring companies ,payment services, filtering options, helping the user in their flexible working lifestyle,no matter location and time.

Outcomes & Learning

• From an educational point of view, this project was an extremely positive experience, full of rich interesting details and learning about the importance of all the design process in relation to the user perspective and expectations.

• Considering the fact that i did everything on my own and with a limited time, it was definitely a journey full of challenges, difficulties ,but also rich of positive personal achievements in the understanding of the whole ux process and the power of observation,perception.

" We must design for the way people behave, not for how we would wish them to behave. "

- Donald A. Norman