Defining the goal
Assess the appeal of a collaborative skill-swapping platform among freelancers and digital creatives by exploring their motivations, needs, and perspectives on existing freelancing platforms.
Revolancer
UX/UI
Startup
Web App
Context
Role
Design Intern —
Product Marketing Manager
Collaborators
Ewa Gorka
Karl Swanepoel
Skye Brady
Methods & Tools
Figma, Survey, Digital Ethnography, User Interviews, Usability Testing
Practices
User Research, Product Thinking, Product Documentation
Platform home
2023
Discovery
Understanding the people
Starting my initial research, I sent out a survey and observed online freelancing communities on Reddit and X to determine current pain points of freelancers, how they interact with each other online and what for. I reviewed the qualitative data to identify themes and assign codes, revealing main pain points of freelancers including —
User Pain Points
🚀 Difficulty getting traction
🛠️ Difficult to build specialization
🏆 Competitive market
⚖️ Work-life imbalance
👥 Difficulty building social proof
📉 Financial uncertainty and instability
I also conducted research interviews with new and seasoned freelancers as well as people interested in kickstarting their freelance business to understand how they get started with new platforms, how they typically use online freelance tools and how they expect them to perform.
"I'm looking for a straightforward process (not too many steps in the process), the freelancers are verified and deliver consistent quality, the price point, easy messaging system, customer filters, also something to ensure that businesses don't try to take advantage of the freelancers"
— Participant
Key Insight
Participants favor a shared space that facilitates connection, discovery, and collaboration on joint projects, suggesting that freelancers hold a positive attitude toward skill-swapping.
Solution
A platform that allows digital creatives to grow their skillset by creating work for other freelancers — real work for real people
I helped create a high-fidelity Figma prototype of account setup, posting a portfolio project, and applying to collaborate on a project for credits which we used to perform usability testing with freelancers. Freelancers are able to get feedback, gain connections, and reviews to build social proof for their portfolios and help them in their job search. There is also a job board to find contract work.
Prototype for Usability Testing
2023
Platform walkthrough
2023
"Revolancer is a great way to combine the benefits of LinkedIn with a sort of portfolio"
— User
Most Impactful Improvement
After usability testing, we discovered a need for introducing clear guidance and user education during onboarding, highlighting the difference between projects and jobs. While in development of contextual help through progressive disclosure, I created product documentation and a marketing campaign to support the bartering system. The documentation provided step-by-step guides and FAQs on our social media and in our newsletter, while the campaign educated users on the benefits through visuals and success stories.
Reflection
Know what I don't know
Working at a startup taught me to find out what I don't know and seek out the answers because execution matters, especially with limited time and resources.
Consult your users
Speaking directly with users not only informed key design decisions, but also helped foster a sense of community and shared ownership in the solution.
