Project Overview
KONECT (conceptual project)
Adobe hosted a Creative Jam contest in collaboration with General Assembly. We were challenged to design and prototype a mobile app that connects and empowers artists and creatives. The event took place over one week and Adobe XD was our primary design tool. We placed within the top 15 of 103 participants.
The Team
Myself and another designer
My Role
Visual Designer & UX Writer
Platform
Mobile Application
The Problem
Creative professionals feel like there isn’t really a true platform for them to connect with one another. Many want mentorship from experienced leaders in their field but don’t know where or how to find it. They can reach out on LinkedIn, Twitter, etc., but veteran creatives are often inundated with hundreds, if not thousands, of similar requests.
The Opportunity
To provide a space tailor-made for bringing creative professionals together. With KONECT, one can find anything from mentorship to networking to even relevant job opportunities.
FINAL DELIVERABLE
KONECT gives creatives a professional place to:
Connect with those working in similar fields.
Seek out and/or provide mentorship.
Find new professional opportunities.
*Our project placed within the top 15 of 103 entries!
JUST A BIT OF RESEARCH
A quick weekend
We only had a few days to work on this app since our project brief called for a mostly complete prototype on a tight deadline. We are UX designers though and had to do at least some research - so we spoke with 6 friends/family who all worked in a creative field!
And we found our problem
In order to catch a glimpse of the issues creatives face in their community, we asked a few general questions and this is what we learned:
LinkedIn feels almost too professional - displaying work is somewhat inconvenient and networking with people in the same line of work can be a hit or a miss.
Portfolio hosting websites are just that - Behance, Dribbble, etc., are great for showcasing work but feel like an awkward place to connect.
Mentorship is crucial but hard to find - many creatives want mentorship, but those with experience in their field have an overwhelming amount of similar requests.
FINAL DESIGN & RATIONALE
Creatives can connect and showcase their work.
LinkedIn is great for connecting while Behance and Dribbble excel at showcasing work. KONECT provides a place for creative professionals to build a profile, display their projects, and network with those in similar fields.
Every opportunity on one app.
Users choose their primary interests when creating a profile so that any relevant opportunities to them are presented right on the home page of the KONECT app.
Finding the right mentor.
During onboarding, creatives seeking mentorship answer specific questions and are then matched with available mentors based on overall compatibility in terms of having matching schedules, industries, interests, etc.
LEARNINGS AND REFLECTION
There IS always enough time
As a designer, it is so easy to get stuck in your own head and feel those walls of pressure caving in, especially on a tight deadline. We hit a point during this project where it felt like we weren’t going to be able to produce anywhere close to what we had envisioned in our minds - and (spoiler alert) we didn’t and that’s okay! This was a stressful design sprint in terms of time, but submitting any version of your product is better than not having anything at all.
Next steps
I think the next steps for this project would be to come up with a way to encourage and entice those who are willing to mentor to actually come and volunteer their time on the KONECT app. There is already a clear incentive for those who are looking for mentorship, but there would have to be a reason for available mentors to continuously use this app.