talent

Problem OVERVIEW

Creative vision should flourish without being limited by inexperience or doubt, especially when students are driven to push the boundaries of their imagination.

But with over 45,000 skilled students on campus, it’s almost impossible to find and make up the perfect team who have the same drive, expertise, and passion required to bring a specific project to life. With the additional divide between different schools of study, our network is limited. Putting up signs around campus is not ideal either.

USER DISCOVERY

How are “dream teams” formed?

Conducting 10 in person interviews with students from varying schools of study, my team wanted to better understand the motivations behind wanting to connect with other students for joint ventures. We also wanted to see how different creatives usually go about finding opportunities to both pitch their own idea and to connect with students who need skills to actualize theirs.

when do you work collaboratively?

1. Student Organizations/Clubs

2. Academic Projects/Assignments

3. Personal Project Idea

4. Creative Events (hackathon, design conference, etc.)

How do you discover creative opportunities?

1. School emails

2. Professors

3. Friends

4. Classmates

what keeps you from pursuing your ideas?

“I honestly just don’t know enough people around campus."

“The people around me aren’t that interested in startup ideas."

“I don't have the skills to make the whole project.”

HYPOTHESIS

On-campus creative collaboration can lead to innovative projects, stronger relationships and community, and more opportunities for all students to improve their skills and expand their repertoire.

the goal

To create a tool that allows students to take their ideas off the drawing board.

USC is a community full of students who are passionate about driving innovation through collaborative creative projects and want to transform concepts into concrete accomplishments.

OUR USERS

User Personas

After our preliminary interviews, my team and I were able to identify two main personas, each having different goals and frustrations.

BRIANNA

The Hustler

Sophomore Product Design major.
Hardworking, creative, goal driven.

Pain Points

1. Can’t find collaborative opportunities

2. Needs to expand portfolio

3. Difficulty making connections

DAVID

The Visionary

Junior Music Production major.
Collaborative, creative, passionate.

Pain Points

1. Needs a multidisciplinary team

2. Lacks specific skills for projects

3. Can't find a platform to connect with other students

User Stories

IDEATION

Survey Findings

We collected 43 responses from USC students across 26 majors, including undergraduate and graduate students, through a survey conducted via Qualtrics. From the obtained data, we were able to clarify pain points in the current method for communication and work search.

How might we connect students who want to bolster their skills with students who need collaborators to create a project?

Revised Problem Statement

App Map

Early Iterations

We started by building the screens that carried the core functionalities: a grid-view explore page, individual project pages providing further details, and a portfolio in a profile page type format.

Our mid-fidelity screens provided a way to visualize the interface with suitable colors and other key components.

After an additional Qualtrics survey with 29 responses, we adjusted the formatting of the grid-view on the explore page, addressed privacy concerns when chatting, reconsidered button placement, and rebranded to better fit the brand identity.

68% said the grid display on the explore page was too small + cluttered

Decrease the size of borders and increase the size of the images

The colors on the visual value proposition were neutrally received

Rethink color schemes and styles, especially in terms of accessibility and brand identity

Issue of trusting the skill of the artist users were connecting with

Insert a rating and review option + experience level on artists’ profiles

Final Product

Core Functionalities

SHOWCASE CREATIVE WORK

Allow users to add previous projects they’ve worked on to their profile

FILTER AND EXPLORE

Applies selected filters on explore page for efficient searching

Connect

In-app chatting for casual reaching out and easy communication

Post-collab

Rating system that helps users gain credibility and build connections

Design System

Looking Forward

Next steps

From our last survey, we gathered that select users would prefer to utilize TALENT’s explore page as an inspiration board of sorts. In future iteration, we could test adding a bookmark icon on individual project pages for users to bookmark and look back at a later time.

Multiple users also brought up having a group chat option. We had originally thought that users would use TALENT as a tool for the initial connection, however we could test having a group chat feature for more in-app communication.

Lastly, TALENT has the capability to be used in other universities as well. We could expand our survey demographic to include other students to fully understand whether or not TALENT would address a user need.

My Takeaways

Onboarding

A first-time TALENT user needs information that can be shown through an onboarding process. I learned that there is a delicate balance between giving a much too comprehensive tour and assuming users already know everything. Simple statements that guide through core features enhance user understanding and encourage repeat usage.

Let’s give it another go

Through multiple interviews and surveys across different parts of the process, I learned that designing requires continuous meaningful iteration. TALENT went back to square one after gaining insight that pushed my team in the direction of user needs instead of what we thought users needed. This iterative approach allowed us to refine and improve, ensuring that it remains user-centric and adaptable to evolving needs and preferences.