ROLE
Research, UI Design, Testing, Prototyping & Testing, Interactions, Information Architecture, Marketing, creating Design System, Co-ordinating with Developers and PMs
ABOUT COMPANY
Bitgrit is a platform offering a global network and community for data scientists to interact with each other. Aiming to establish an AI marketplace where transactions and interactions are based on smart contracts and blockchain technologies.
BACKGROUND
I joined bitgrit as a Product Designer and was the only designer in the company with around 30 employees between engineers and PMs and other departments. I supported design across every aspect of the business and was responsible for leading the UX and UI of the overall product and website. Both User wise and Client wise.
I've grown and learned a lot while working at bitgrit, and here are some key achievements:
- Defined a design language that speaks of the brand
- Implemented a design process
- Improved usability across the platform
- Created a UI Kit which kept growing to become a design system
THE PROCESS
I followed a lean UX design thinking process to ensure that my decisions were supported through user research and feedback.
THE PROBLEM
Before proceeding with anything related to design, we conducted detailed brainstorming workshop sessions about the product with the marketing, sales, and product owners, managers. This helped us identify where the product is and where it must be, by setting specific goals.
Diving deeper into the product, and getting to hear feedback from a couple of users, we were able to identify potential customer needs and pain points and their expectations and behavior when using our product. Using that and a couple of surveys we decided on the main goals and objectives of the project, and identified the user personas. And started the WORK!
Research encompassed:
- Understanding the user needs and end goals.
- Uncovering pain points with the existing flow and user journey.
- Determining the success of tasks and goals we should focus on.
- Make sure our users understand the impact of their skills and how to effectively use them.
The core issues were the functional architecture of the application and the understandability of certain key features, which prevented the users from extracting maximum value from the application’s offering.
HOW DO WE MEASURE SUCCESS?
We needed to have some metrics in mind to make sure the design was successful.
UNDERSTANDING BITGRIT AND ITS CUSTOMERS
I began my case study with a brand analysis of bitgrit, learning about its competitors, how they’re solving those problems, how we can stand out from them, and customer demographics along the way.
TARGET AUDIENCE DEMOGRAPHICS
Bitgrit is the AirBnB for Data Scientists' target demographics is in Asia, ages between 18–50 years old, with and without experience. Its customer base also includes companies, analysts & researchers looking for AI Solutions.
INTERVIEWS INSIGHTS
Conducted 7 user interviews (the ideal amount according to the Nielsen Norman Group) To understand more about what our users are looking for. Based on a couple of questions, here are some high-level findings.
- Participants want to be equally rewarded, wherever they are.
- Participants want to learn in the process and grow their skills.
- Participants want to showcase and highlight their hidden talents and skills.
SURVEY STATISTICS
I conducted an online survey to further understand user motivation and behavior. 9 questions were taken by 20 people.
PERSONAS
Based on our research, we recognized that there were 3 key user types that our product tried to solve problems for. The Data Scientists, Analysts and the researchers/companies looking to improve decision-making
GATHERING INSIGHTS
I conducted affinity mapping with my team to synthesize the pains identified. We grouped these problems under common themes and features in the platform.
Based on a couple of brainstorming sessions and daily standups. We identified the following key user stories:
- Competitions create teams with friends and get fairly rewarded no matter where you are while learning.
- Profile is linked with competitions, through points that highlight your true skills.
- JobBoard is linked with your profile/competitions that generates a Resume for you.
- Datasets To easily practice your Data Science skills and to save time
- AI Solutions sells services for companies looking to improve their business through AI
USER FLOW MAP
SKETCHING - LOW FIDELITY WIREFRAMES
WIREFRAMES - HIGH FIDELITY
USER INTERFACE DESIGN
DESIGN SYSTEM
PLAY WITH PROTOTYPE
MORE DESIGNS IN DIFFERENT RESOLUTIONS & SCREEN SIZES
RESULTS
3 LEARNINGS & TAKEAWAYS
Design thinking is key to effective products.
The lean framework really helped to shape the workshops and discussions with the team & users as it allowed me to stay focussed and keep track of everything.
User testing never ends!
Design is a constant iteration of improving the experience for the end users. Always find ways to collect and listen to your user's feedback.
Always involve your team.
This helps to reduce going back & forth with technical limitations upfront, and helps us inform the design strategy.
