Paer

Conceived and designed an app that helps musicians and other creatives network and find paying work

Background

Point of View

For years, artists of all kinds have had no single, centralized resource for finding work, discovering potential collaborators, and connecting to other members of their community. The multifarious marketplaces on the internet create a disjointed and confusing experience for any artist looking for new projects (paid or not).

How Might We

  • Help artists find more work in general?

  • Promote more community among like-minded artists and spaces where they can meet and collaborate?

  • Help artists of all kinds find work in a more streamlined, reliable, and safe way?

Artists have a number of resources for finding work and connecting with others, but none of them adequately addresses the main problem I identified: there is no place for creatives find work in a streamlined, reliable, and safe way. From the wild west that is Craigslist to the cutthroat service marketplaces Fiverr and Upwork, finding paying work online can be a long and frustrating process.

After completing the analysis, I had a few takeaways. Can I combine the simplicity of Craigslist, the “buyer” and “seller” communication style of Fiverr and Upwork, and the indelible visual flair of Instagram? In my estimation, incorporating these three unique strengths would help me have a successful product.

Research & Analysis

Insights:

Most importantly, the artists want a product that:

  • is easy to navigate (not all are tech-savvy)

  • transparent (about pay amounts and negotiating)

  • focuses on PAID work (no product available that is solely centered around this)

Next I conducted user interviews in order to define where the true needs were. The process of interviewing and conversing with different type of artists helped me empathize with their frustrations.

I conducted 5 interviews and then sorted the information into 5 distinct categories, which were: Current Connections, Challenges, Would Like, Finding Work, and Current Products Used

User Personas

Next I created User Personas so I could visualize potential users as well as find possible pain points not mentioned in the User Interviews.

Ashley is a young musician and student looking to find more paying work to supplement her income. She hopes to build strong and long-lasting connections to hopefully become a full-time working musician one day.

Donald is a retired auto worker who now sells his visual artwork to contacts he’s made organically over the years. He is wary of digital products in general but is open to trying something simple that will help him grow his network of clients.

Task Flows

Now that I had defined the main needs of the artists, I could begin ideating possible design solutions. I started with task flows that focused on three main tasks which were: Find Work, Search, and Profile Set Up/Edit.

Legend

Find Work

Initial process of searching and finding a job and messaging/negotiating a rate of pay and accepting an offer

Search

Conducting a more specific search using search filters

Profile Set Up

Adding profile photo, basic info, and type of work sought

With the Task Flows and the insights from the User Interviews and Personas, I was able to brainstorm possible layouts and necessary components for the screens. My designs centered around the three main desires of the interviewees: easily navigable, transparency in regards to pay, and an overall focus on paid work. Below you can see the natural progression from very basic low fi drawings to better fidelity digitization, and lastly the final Hi Fi designs.

Low Fi

Find Work

Search

Profile Edit

Mid Fi

Find Work

  1. A user enters their homepage where they will see featured jobs that may be curated to their specific needs set up in their profile.

  2. Users can freeform search and filter as well.

  3. If a user wants to know more about an opportunity they can tap on the item and see a profile which will provide some more detail.

  4. Reaching out, they can start a message with the prospective hire to figure out if its a good deal.

  5. If it’s a match, users will be given an offer which they can accept, counter offer, or decline

Search

  1. A user enters their homepage where they will see featured jobs that may be curated to their specific needs set up in their profile.

  2. User can use search bar to input a more specific search like “Local Bands”

  3. Search can then be filtered with specific search parameters

  4. Filtered search appears

  5. User can then make a selection and see more artist/job details

Profile Edit

  1. A user enters their homepage where they will see featured jobs that may be curated to their specific needs set up in their profile.

  2. User taps the profile icon in the nav bar

  3. Select profile photo, add

  4. Fill in basic details

  5. Profile information is completed and now can be saved

Hi Fi

Find Work

Logo incorporates a money sign and the name “Paer” has a double meaning referring to “pay” and “pairing” people together

Detailed artist bio page with job details and simple, straightforward layout

Easily navigable direct messaging with “offer” natively embedded

Search

Easy to use Search Bar which prompts user every time they log in

Expandable filters and distance slider which help user fully customize their searches

“Filter By” highlighted and filter selections shown to remind user of unique search criteria

Profile Edit

Streamlined profile screen with customizable location finder

Seamless iOS integrated photo selection

Detailed profile info page that is easy and quick to edit

After creating the final designs, I was ready to test them with potential users. The testing brought up some fundamental design flaws and confusion inherent to the designs that I have detailed below.

Find Work

Task:

Imagine you are a new user looking for paying work

Expected:

Users were able to complete the task in a reasonable amount of time and found the experience easy and intuitive

Unexpected:

  • Majority of users wanted more details in the band bio section

  • Need “counter” or “deny” button in Offer screen

Implications/Recommendations:

  • Add more details about band and offer

  • Add “counter” or “deny” button in Offer screen

Search

Task:

Imagine you are searching for more specific work based on your skills

Expected:

Users will find the filter button and be able to easily navigate to find the correct band option


Unexpected:

  • Multiple users didnt know what the filter icon was

  • Mulitple users wanted to filter first before putting in search

  • Distance slider not working on mobile

  • Should be “Perm” instead of “Join Band” (consistent copy)


Implications/Recommendations:

  • Fix distance slider

  • Write out filter instead of icon

  • Fix copy inconsistency

Profile Setup

Task:

Imagine you are setting up your profile for the first time

Expected:

Users will easily find and navigate adding a profile photo and bio details


Unexpected:

  • Multiple users didn’t know what “Enable Location Finder” meant

  • Multiple users didn’t know what “Medium” meant

  • Filter copy not same as bio detail copy


Implications/Recommendations:

  • Use Icon/different copy instead of “Enable Location Finder”

  • Remove ‘Medium”

  • Change copy inconsistencies

After compiling and synthesizing all of the data from the User Tests, I decided to make some additions and changes. While I did not elect to implement all of the recommendations, more affordances and clearer UI were needed on multiple screens. With more testing, I would be able to get a larger consensus and possibly implement even more changes to the designs.

Added more detail on the “Artist Detail” screen after multiple users requested it

Added a “Counter” button and “Decline” option to empower artists to negotiate offers

Added “Filter By” next to filter icon as an extra affordance

Changed “Select Photo” to “Add Photo” as a clearer description of action being taken (photo has already been selected)

Overall this was a successful design because I was able to address my potential users’ core needs (easily navigable, transparency in regards to pay, and an overall focus on paid work). If had more time, I would consider adding more in depth features and artistic mediums as these three task flows are solely music-focused. However, even without those add ons, I am confident that Paer has the potential to be a successful go-to-market product.

Thank you for reading!

  • The UI and overall visual design were received very positively

  • Further testing would be needed to establish consistent pain points, but some significant changes have already been made

  • ALL users would recommend product to others

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