Introduction
Have you ever seen the products designed by Dieter Rams?
He has made long-lasting products which are pleasing to look at and very intuitive. It is as if we always knew how the things he designs work.
With this quality as the North Star, I set out to design software for Connektion — a platform that helps students get their first job.
To do this, I created an interface for the students that is a visual treat. It is made like an instrument to make them employable and get their first job. I also created behind-the-scenes machinery (modules) for Universities and Companies.
I undertook this project as an independent contractor taking 6 months from Research to the final Engineering Handoff.
The following process was possible because of a client that valued good design and also had the painstaking patience required for its production.
Lay of the land
Upon analyzing the data I discovered some silent assumptions for the main user — the student.
The client had provided me with existing reports, a feature list, and their time for discussions around the product and vision.
To test these out, I conducted interviews with 20 recent-graduates across diverse fields and interests.
I learnt about the forces that act on the students from when they enter college till they get their first job, defined perceptual dimensions, and discovered key pivot points for students.
There was an anomaly staring right at me.
I saw that in the seemingly similar stories of these students, there is an interaction that expands their awareness. It could be a field trip or a conversation with a senior but the interaction illuminates the jungle out there.
Away from the saturation of job portals, there was a gap no one was looking at.
If this platform could be the cause of such interventions, of enlightening the student about how the jungle is, what traps to avoid, it could change culture. We discovered a unique offering. It amplified the existing vision of Connektion.
Design
To effectively convey this, I created a pitch leading to the insight, outlining the steps to achieve that.
The client saw what I saw and we aligned the features with the new insight in the next few days. For clarity on the structure and flow, I drew up low fidelity wireframes for better communication.
Resisting the delicious temptation to organize the features into obvious categories, I began work at the heart of this platform: Jobs.
I designed the first widget: The Job Chip which had a two-line structure and easy to spot job-status indicators.
Piece-by-piece the entire Job Centre took form through such utilities. As if the Law of Compounding had taken a note of us, I created the rest of the Centres in 1/4th time per Centre. Consequentially, the primary navigation took form.
Jobs flow
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Uni Co.
The main instrument was ready. For University and Company modules we required a user experience that was familiar to them — the professionals.
Using coherent shapes and careful considerations of color, I created a familiar (but not unceremonious) UI system that would work well for both.
I kept the navigation and flows to be so obvious that the UI disappears and the only focus is the task at hand.
And that was precisely the brief.
Using the time that the client had originally reserved for creating software manual I created a software that wouldn't need any.
Complete scope for scalability is retained with a UI system that would still look fresh 5 years later. It's made like an instrument, it works like an instrument (using marvelous ReactJS).
One would say it is an instrument.
Dashboard and Jobs flow
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