Web development platform connecting startups and SME's with the best software development teams from around the world

Project details

• Problems identified

  I met with Devzy to discuss their existing website which wasn't communicating clearly enough their market proposition, and their web development project platform which wasn't user friendly.

  Having understood Devzy's problems, we agreed upon three areas I would look to provide solutions for.

  1) To better communicate who Devzy are and their market proposition on their website.

  2) To redesign a walk-through to make it as easy as possible for clients to submit a project brief whilst still giving the developers what they need to be able to quote.

  3) To re-design their existing web dev platform for three user types; Clients, Development agencies, and Account managers (as well as a super admin view).

  

• Dev platform: IA & Navigation design

  One of the global challenges I was presented with was that in the existing system there was no global navigation. Each page was reached from clicking on a link or button from the last page, and even though the site had lots of interrelated areas it was not clear where in the system the user was.

  So one of the first things I did was to look at was all the content for each of of the different pages simply by clicking on everything within the existing system. I then began to be able to map out the different information in the platform and then organise the information into logical categories.

  Off the back of this, I then began to design a global navigation based on 4 main areas of the system plus a dashboard. In the current system there was also no clear hierarchy or clear indication to the user where they were in relation to the system as a whole. So I also introduced a functional breadcrumb to firstly show the user where they are but to also provide the ability for them to switch what they are viewing without having to click backwards and forwards in the system.

  

• Dev platform: Table design

  The existing system contained several landing pages in a 3 column grid for each of the main parts of the system, but this really limited firstly the number of results a user could see on their screen, and also the amount of data which could be shown for each item.

  For each of the four main areas, Clients, Projects, Development agencies, and Account managers I asked the users what would be the most useful information for them to see. Reviewing the information gathered for each of the main areas,  I started to consider how best to display it so we could have a consistent style for each of the main landing pages. The solution I came up with was a universal tabular design which could work for for each of the landing pages.

  

• Dev platform: Reviewing proposals

  One of the specific areas the client asked me to look at was to improve the area where the client will review proposals. They wanted the user to be able to see their brief and up to 3 development agency proposals all on one screen.

  When briefed verbally, my initial reaction was that it could be a struggle to display so much information all on one page. Eventually after spending some time sketching sessions as well as looking for inspiration from other product platforms I came up with a solution which seems to be quite tidy and work well.

  In addition to the left menu, and the functional breadcrumb navigation, the client also requested that we show the user where in the Devzy  'process' they were. So having found inspiration from an ecommerce checkout, I designed a solution for this which sits nicely with the overall  site structure and navigation.

  

• Submit brief & walkthrough

  The main call to action identified was that Devzy wanted clients to submit a project brief, so we placed this in prominent areas making it very easy to find this.

  We also designed a clean walkthrough for the user to be able to submit their requirements using non-technical human language. This part of the design required finding out what the development agencies need to know in order to be able to provide an accurate quote, whilst also trying to not ask the user too much to overwhelm them. Time will tell how clients react to this walk through area and we can then look to refine and improve it further following our user testing.

  

• Marketing website

  Following some research, the main insights I came away with were that clients believed there were several problems with the development industry in general, in terms of struggling to find high quality, affordable and reliable development resource.

  So in the new marketing website we needed to identify these core struggles of developers being either be too expensive, poor quality, or unreliable, and present Devzy as being the development solution for startups and SMEs.