Pixnode Case Study
The demand for photographers in Thailand is considerably high especially in the city area. However, although there’re plenty of photographers but people still struggle to get one. A current platform for customers and photographers to meet is unreliable, disorganised and extremely time-consuming. Pixnode aims to solve this issue them and make everything becomes much easier, faster and safer. It helps customers to find the right photographers and photographers to gain much more customers in just few clicks. As a UX/UI designer, my role was to conduct researches, gain deeper understandings and come up with the design that would be a solution for the current issue
My Role
UX analysis (Researches, User flows and Sitemap)
UI Design (App Interface)
Prototyping (Flow and interactions)
User research (Interview)
Tools
Sketch
Principle
Illustrator
Photoshop
Problem and Context
Facebook is the only platform that’s available for this, therefore, it shouldn’t be hard to imagine how frustrated this could be for a customer to find a photographer or a photographer to reach out to more customers. Customers always face paradox of choices whenever they post something in the group. It’s also impossible for photographer to stand out from the crowd. Moreover, the issue is not only the absence of an official platform for this but also the lack of credibility.
The application was aiming at 2 target users, which are photographers and customers. The main objective was to create an effective platform where both of their needs will be met. The strong emphasis was placed on an idea of solving existing problems, creating good user experience and making it more appealing to target users.
Project Goals
To create an effective and credible mobile platform
To solve the existing issues and create better user experience
To make it more appealing to existing users
DISCOVERY
Research
As a previous photographer and customer, I get some useful user insights from my personal experience. However, in order to design an application with great user experience I have to truly understand their needs and problems before going to the design phrase. I conducted direct interviews with 20 respondents who fit in a potential user group both for photographers and customers. I did find out some interesting insights from users, which later were extensively used in the application design.
User Insights
Information Architecture
After we had a clear picture of our users' needs and their behaviour, I had a brainstorm session with my colleagues to come up with ideas about the app's layout and its main features which is the solution for the existing issues. Next, I came up with a sitemap, user flow and wireframe.
Site Map
Task Flow
I wanted to deliver a better user experience to users by making it faster and easier for them to accomplish their goals. To do this, I started by creating task flow to understand the ways a user might go through the site.
solutions
Increases user’s credibility with Rating & Review and Photographer Showcases
Makes searching easier with Filter
Stands out more with Plan and Ads Management which is also a main monetary way for the App
Books a photographer instantly without the need to wait for his/her’ response
Includes a Cash Payment since that many Thai users aren’t comfortable with an online payment.
Allows a photographer to set a price for his/her work, therefore there would be no more bargaining from customers
Initial Sketches
DELIVERY
User Interface
I firstly came up with low-fi sketches, designed high fidelity mockups with Sketch App and created prototype with Principle App to show interaction design which are shown below.
Discover & Filter
Search and Filter features aim to help a customer to find the right photographer faster and easier. Photographers are categorised into groups based on their work category, so that customers can filter unwanted options out.
Rating, Review & Photographer Showcase
A photographer profile displays all necessary information that is essential for a customer decision making such as work albums, pricing, general detail and reviews from previous customers, which also helps with a user’s credibility.
Booking
A customer can simply hire photographers from their profile without the need to wait for their responses. Booking can be done in 3 steps; It starts with choosing preferred date and time, a payment method and then confirm it! Easy, time saving and very effective.
Schedule
A Schedule shows an available and unavailable date of each photographer, which is tremendously crucial for a booking process. Moreover, It will notify users when a booking has been made and remind them when the working date is close. They can always come back to see all the booking details at anytime.
Shift to photographer
The client wants to have more customer users than photographer ones. Therefore, all users will first start as a customer, but they can easily shift to a photographer at any time.
Chatroom
A Chatroom is more than just a chatroom for a photographer and a customer. Each chatroom contains an Order feature which is a place where a photographer sees the order details and submits works to his/her customers for their approval.
Plan & Ads Management
Plan and Ads Management features are a monetary way for the app, which serves the business goal. It makes photographers become more visible and stand out in the crowd so that they will have higher chances to be hired. This doesn’t only increase an exposure but also allows them to add more work albums in their profile.
Colors
The scheme was blue and violet pastel before, however most users think that it looks outdated and boring. Most respondents stated that they want the app to look friendly, fun, modern and warmer. I decided to go with yellow which perfectly suits with brand image and remains a strong contrast with photos which is a key element of this app. I tried to provide the white space in the application as much as possible to avoid giving users an eyestrain while remains an amount of yellow.
Typography
Avenir is chosen to be used in the application due to its geometric, clean and modern look. In term of colours, most text are in black and I created a hierarchy by reducing opacity of texts that are less important. Black and yellow looks standout on each other due to the strong contrast they both are.