Idea behind project conception
WeFix is from the idea that life at the community level should be an easy going one, such that will bring about better standard of living and general community development.
I started this project to try and bridge the gap between skilled Artisans and the lack of access to available paid services in the community and to ease the stress of people going out in search of available Artisans to take up Artistic Jobs for them.
Excess Artisans and lack of access to available Jobs in the community is one of the factors that hinders community development and affects living standard. Lack of access to available skilled workers to take up home repairs like fixing broken tap can affect the house and also brings shortage in water supply in the community. The goal with WeFix Project is to bridge this gap and connect artisans with the available Jobs and also connect the residence with the available Artisans in the community.
Project Overview
Job-Board platforms have been vastly popular globally as various Tech companies tries to fill this same gap. However, while these products provides vital functions, they do not account for menial Artistic jobs in my targeted location.
The Product:
WeFix is a regional cross platform Artisans listing and Jobs listing platform, covering major areas in Abuja, NIgeria. WeFix connects Artisans with available Artistic jobs in the community and also connect community residence with the available Artisans in the community. It makes it easy for Artistic services in the community to be attended to, as it creates income avenue for Artisans in the community.
Project duration:
March 2023 to May 2023
The Problem:
Residence in the community often find it difficult to get a skilled Artisan to take up menial home repairs like plumbing or electrical fault in their homes as most skilled Artisans do not have the financial capacity to set up a workshop where they can be located. At the other hand, some Artisans in the community finds it difficult to see Artistic jobs in the community to take up in order to support their family financially as there is no means to connect them with this jobs.
The Goal:
WeFix will connect Artisans with available Artistic jobs in the community and also connect community residence with the available Artisans in the community. It will make it easy for Artistic services in the community to be attended to, as it creates income avenue for Artisans in the community.
My Role:
Lead UX/UI designer, UX researcher, etc. I designed the Dedicated mobile App and Responsive web App for WeFix from conception to delivery.
Responsibilities:
Conducted interviews, draw paper and digital wireframes, designed low and high-fidelity prototypes, conducted usability studies, account for accessibility, and iterate on designs.
User research
Summary:
The primary user group identified through research was skilled Artisans, house owners and people that took rented apartments either for living or business purpose
in the community. I conducted research and created empathy maps to understand the users I’m designing for and their needs.
The feedback received through research shows clearly that users are excited about the opportunities WeFix could bring to the community and would be open to receive an easy-to-use tool will help connect Artisans with available Artistic jobs in the community and also connect community residence with the available Artisans in the community.
Persona 1:
Sam is a working student who wants to be able to provide regular paid services in his neighborhood So that he can support his education and also provide for his family.
Persona 2:
Ahmadu is a retired civil servant who wants to be able to hire skilled Artisans anytime from his house so that he can keep my house running well and also enjoy his retirement with less stress.
Competitive audit:
An audit of a few competitor's products provided direction on gaps and opportunities to address with the Job-board dedicated Mobile App and Web App.
Ideation:
I did a quick ideation exercise to come up with ideas for how to address gaps identified in the competitive audit. My focus was specifically Artisan listing, Job application, Artisan hiring and Job posting.
Starting the design
Approach:
Considering my targeted users and the device they easily and often use to get things done, I decided to approach the design phase with the Progressive Enhancement approach (Small to Large). I decided to start by creating a dedicated mobile app. Designing for the main functionalities of the platform and leveraging on the four Cs; Consistency, Continuity, Context and Complementary.
Dedicated Mobile App
User flow:
I started my design process by outlining the main functions of the mobile app by creating a user flow. This helped me keep the big picture in mind.
User tasks: Use the WeFix App to select and hire an artisan or select and apply for a Job
Paper Wireframe:
This design sketch iterations prioritizes the home screen, in the effort to make it easy for users to browse through their favorite listed artisans or jobs and go through a quick hiring or application process. This design iterations drafted on paper ensured that the elements that made it to digital wireframes would be well-suited to address user pain points.
The blue diamonds were used to highlight the elements from each of the five sketches that made it to the final refined paper wireframe of the home screen and to the digital wireframes.
Digital Wireframes:
After ideating and drafting some paper wireframes, I created the initial designs for the WeFix app. These designs focused on selecting and hiring an artisan or selecting and applying for a Job.
Mid-fidelity prototype:
To prepare for usability testing, I created a low-fidelity prototype that connected the user flow of viewing artisans and also listed jobs and applying for those jobs as an artisan or hiring an artisan as a client.
View WiFix Mid-fidelity prototype:
Usability study: parameters
Usability study: findings
Amongst the findings uncovered by the usability study, the following was considered as priority:
Refining the design
Based on the insights from the usability studies, I applied design changes like providing a clear button from the home screen to click and apply for jobs or click and hire an artisan.
Mockups:
High-fidelity prototype:
The high-fidelity prototype followed the same user flow as the low-fidelity prototype, including design changes made after the usability study.
View WeFix High-fidelity prototype:
Accessibility considerations
Clear labels for interactive elements that can be read by screen readers.
Initial focus of the home screen on personalized labels and landmarks help define the primary task or action for the user.
Responsive Design
With the app designs completed, I started work on designing the responsive website. I used the WeFix sitemap to guide the organizational structure of each screen’s design to ensure a cohesive and consistent experience across devices.
Paper Wireframe:
Responsive Website Wireframes: Mobile, Tablet and Desktop Screens
Digital Wireframe:
The digital wireframes showing the app home page still follows the Mobile, Tablet and Desktop Screens sizes using the sitemap as a guide. User feedbacks from the App usability study was taken at this stage to iron out functionalities and smooth flow of the web app.
Responsive designs:
The designs for screen size variation included mobile, tablet, and desktop. I optimized the designs to fit specific user needs of each device and screen size.
Mobile Screen design
Tablet Screen design
Desktop Screen design
View WeFix Desktop Hi-Fi Web App Prototype
View WeFix Tablet Hi-Fi Web App Prototype
View WeFix Mobile Hi-Fi Web App Prototype
Going forward
Impact:
Users shared that the app makes their hope of seeing daily jobs in the community a lot higher. One quote from peer feedback was that “the WeFix app helps bring available jobs near me right into my palms without much stress and that alone is hope that we can still make something right in the community.”
What I learned:
I learned that even though the problem I was trying to solve was a big one, diligently going through each step of the design process and aligning with specific user needs helped me come up with solutions that were both feasible and useful.
Next steps
Conduct research on how successful the app is in reaching the goal which is to connect Artisans with available jobs in the community.
Add more professional categories to cover for wide range professionals.