The app was created to connect offer authors with local contractors. Thanks to the app we are sure that contractors will finish a job they applied to. On the other hand, contractors’ salary are secured and they don’t risk losing it with no reason.

Problem to Solve

The process of cooperation between the sides in the case of construction, renovation, or other tasks without us was complicated and carries the risk of fraud.


The goal was to provide a simple and intuitive tool that will facilitate collaboration between offer authors and contractors.

Scope of Work

I think you all know how it is with startups - it's often a typical "one-man army" situation 😄.
In this case, it was quite similar - I was responsible for the entire design process and had one designer to assist me.

Fundaments

Throughout the entire design process, I tried to base my work on the Design Thinking approach to stay on track. Of course, it didn’t always look perfect, but the foundations were in the right place 👌

Empathy Map

In order to get a deeper understanding about user behaviours and decisions, I used Empathy Mapping Method.

Key Numbers

Next, I conveyed a survey among people from the target group of our app. I asked there about their experiences, behaviours and attitude with both working as a contractor and in cases of need to work with some of them. The most important insights are presented below:

96,3%

Survey participants encountered online payment fraud.

80,4%

Looking for contractors for various tasks online (plumbers, builders etc)

95,3%

Want to know about contractor’s experience and quality before hiring them.

91,6%

Find it important to verify identity of the contractor they want to hire.

Source: online survey conveyed among 110 people

Interviews

Another research method, which I focused on was IDI. By doing so, I wanted to have some deeper, better understanding of users needs. With IDI, I was able to point out even minor issues, which could be ignored without direct contact with participants.

It was a long process, too long for one case study… alright, let's cut to the chase.

Wireframes

Design System & Style Guide

This app follows the friend archetype for its users, so while creating the Style Guide, I did my best to convey a sense of friendliness, energy, and proactivity into the application.

Design Improvements

After creating the first version of the app and conducting initial tests, we identified areas that needed immediate improvement.

#1 Attempt

Along with making some UI adjustments, I shifted my approach. I realized that it's the contractors who know the amount of money they expect for a job, not the offer creators, who often have little understanding of the work required.

What did I do?

I had to find a way to give some flexibility to the users while keeping it simple not to be a nightmare for a technical team (as a startup we needed this product to be done asap, so the easier to implement features are, the better for the product and a whole team it will be).

Improvements #1

To keep things simple and easy, but give flexibility with price to the users, I implemented “Negotiate” feature. This way, if contractor would like to earn more than it’s written in the offer, they can propose their stake and wait for the acceptance.

Still some space to improve

Results were satisfying - people were choosing this option while creating an
offer during testing stage, but there were some comments from contractors, that
when they see an offer with too low stake, they would choose not to negotiate,
because expected stake was far beyond the stake offer’s author proposed. They simply didn’t want to argue with people why should they earn much more.

Ok, let's fix that - Improvements #2

Now I knew that the path was good and this feature has improved. I just needed to go a bit further.

What if a user has no clue how much to pay to contractor?

In this scenario, allow them to negotiate is too less.
There should be an option to leave this space blank, to give contractors the space to offer the stake.

SUCCESS!

Users admitted that’s exactly what they needed. When they don’t know how much should they pay, they just wait for contractors offers. Then, author can accept that or wait for some better deals. From the contractor point of view, they are free to offer how much they want to earn and that way, they are more satisfied with working in our app.

Final Designs

More than just a UXUI

Beside the whole app project, I also supported the marketing team with creating graphics for social media like: Facebook, Instagram, and LinkedIn

Result

I have to say that the result of my work is satisfying for me - after releasing the app on marketplaces I received many positive comments on how intuitive and user friendly this app is.
One month after my client released the app I left the project.