Upwork: Project Summary
Designing a new volunteering feature for Upwork’s freelance platform through user research, testing and design.
UX Concept Project | 2 Weeks | 4 People
The below case study showcases a summary of the project. To read my full UX process please click here.
Overview
Upwork is a global freelancing platform where businesses or individuals connect to conduct business for their hiring needs within specialised fields.
This was a group project assigned to me through General Assembly’s design course which was all online due to Covid-19. The end deliverable was a high-fidelity prototype for Upwork’s new volunteering feature and a final presentation.
My Role
User interviews, surveys, competitor analysis, experience mapping, leading and participating in the design studio, affinity mapping, ideation, usability testing, wireframing and building the mid and high fidelity prototype with the user in mind.
Process
We used the double diamond model to discover, define, develop and deliver the project.
Software
Sketch and InVision to create the wireframes and prototype. Trello for project management, and Miro for the design studio and collaboration.
Research Methods + Deliverables
Survey, user interviews, competitor analysis
Affinity map, persona, empathy map, experience map, storyboard, problem statement
Design studio, retrospective, impact vs. effort matrix, site map
Usability testing, low/mid/high fidelity prototypes and a style guide
Highlights + Challenges
What excited me about this project was demonstrating my passion for UX in a team environment. I did this by providing constructive and critical feedback on deliverables, bringing out people’s strengths, being proactive at every stage of the process, and taking lead when necessary to deliver the work. Delivering the project as a team required the ability for me to push back on ideas which were miles out from addressing the brief or research findings, but being inclusive enough to listen to everyone’s perspectives. As volunteering is a topic I have strong positive opinions on, it was important for me to put my preconceptions aside and build empathy with users through the research.
The brief
We needed to expand Upwork’s offering to include a new volunteering feature, without confusing it with their core function of being a platform for paid work. The new feature would allow users to browse opportunities and apply for jobs directly on the platform.
Constraints
Producing an interactive prototype within 2 weeks resulted in some limitations of site functionalities and the elimination of a card sorting exercise to inform the global navigation. This was not detrimental to the project.
Who did we design for?
The survey, interviews and competitor research led to the creation of our persona, Erick. He’s a 24 year old graphic design graduate who is looking for skill-based volunteering opportunities to add to his portfolio.
The user research and competitor analysis was crucial in uncovering ideas for the key features that led into the final design solution
The two main aspects which the new volunteering site revolved around were users being able to trust the company and job description, and searching for cause-based work, e.g. homelessness. We successfully did this by allowing users to search for a volunteering opportunity by cause or skill.
As trust was paramount from the research, I developed a feature that allows job seekers to get in touch with previous volunteers to have an honest and open conversation about the company and role. The actual implementation of such a feature in the real world would require marketing support and GDPR compliance and further testing of its placement on the page.
The high fidelity prototype incorporated changes from previous iterations and most issues from the user feedback from usability testing
The prototype below is a demo walkthrough of the website, which demonstrates the two flows we created:
The user journey of the volunteer searching by cause.
The user journey of the volunteer searching by skill.