Chat design
Chat system design to promote healthy collaboration
WEB DESIGN
I led quantitative and qualitative research as well as UX and UI of a feature that lets domain sellers and logo designers collaborate on a logo creation in a safe and healthy manner.
This feature was created for Brandpa. Brandpa is a website where people can find a registered domain name to compliment their business. Brandpa uses sophisticated AI algorithms to seamlessly and intuitively connect buyers with their perfect premium domain. The domain name comes with a free logo design and 3D brand renderings. It was designed to simplify the process of starting a new business. Visit: brandpa.com.
Problem
Due to an increased popularity of Brandpa, more and more sellers were coming in and needing logos for their domain names. Demand increased from 43 logos per month to over 1000 per month. With one designer on board, designing 1000 per month wasn’t sustainable and needed to be addressed.
Solution & Impact
The goal of the project was to design a chat system the sellers and the logo designers could use in order to collaborate on the logo design. Impact within the 90 days since the launch of the feature:
Saved 19 hrs per week on logo creation
Sellers comms satisfaction: 8 out of 10 (up from 3 out of 10)
732 logos per week more (at peak) than before the change
Research
What I did
I planned and conducted 5 remote interviews with designers and surveyed 139 sellers. I also did a competitive analysis of other products that use a chat system as a form of communication.
Key insights
1. Designers need clear logo vision instructions to know what to design.
2. Designers need to feel respected for the work that they do
3. Designers require guaranteed income (some platforms only pay if they “win”).
4. Sellers need direct communication with designers.
5. Sellers want a mobile-friendly Brandpa dashboard.
6. Both sellers and designers want to be able to request help from Brandpa admins.
Personas
Persona #1 - The Seller
Persona #2 - The Designer
Creating a safe place for collaboration between the sellers and the designers
Whilst there were a lot of needs both the sellers and the designers had, I’ll focus on describing one of them that I believe is crucial to do right in the way we communicate in today’s world. A lot of communication nowadays happens online. And because of that, people often feel like they don’t need to be polite to the person on the other side. Research indicates that the lack of physical presence, anonymity, and reduced accountability contribute to less restrained behaviour online. It essentially causes people to be more rude and aggressive. Read more here.
And that’s one of the major worries our designers had. In their experience:
they were disrespected for the way they spoke / worked
they’ve been spoken down to
they were taken for granted
They wanted Brandpa’s approach to improving communication between them and the sellers be harmless and safe.
Simplified flowchart of the designer and Brandpa within the chat
Other sections on the website - wireframes
I created wireframes to layout content and functionality on paper. This took into account user needs and user journeys based on my previous research as well the use cases including:
main chat-view for the designers
main chat-view for the sellers
main chat-view for Brandpa admins
logo selection screen for the designers
logo submission stage for the sellers
In total, there were about 20 different use cases that needed to be accounted for.
Wireframes of the chat system
High fidelity screens
Below is a sample of a few screens developed to meet the needs of both the sellers and the designers during a process of communicating any requirements related to a logo design.
Seller dashboard
Chat - web notification
Logo design selection
Submission page for a logo
Chat - logo design preview