WiseHer
On-demand expert advice to women in business
Platform | Web Application
Industry | Business Consulting Service
Team | Alyssa Ovadis, Taylor Spellen
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Project Duration | 5 Weeks
My Role | Primary Research, Style Guide, Wireframes, High Fidelity Design
Overview
WiseHer is a web platform that allows business owners and professionals to discover, schedule, and connect with experts for advise on how to build their company or career.
Problem
Wiseher was experiencing a client shortage, and very few calls were being scheduled. Our team utilized this information to identify usability issues with the present wiseHer website and revamp parts of it to provide a more intuitive user experience and increase the number of clients and scheduled calls.
Research
Competitive Analysis
Analyzing the competitors, I discovered that the consulting service business was fairly saturated, with little to no differentiation in terms of features. The focus was primarily on how these competitors wanted their users to schedule expert consultations. WiseHer has a window of opportunity to differentiate itself and disrupt the existing paradigm by offering a business advising service. I looked at the closest competitors to see what would be considered a competitive premium.
Timeline & Deliverables
Experience
The CEO gave our team insight into how potential users would react and how it would affect not only women, but all genders in the near future. We then talked as a group how we could make WiseHer the most useful tool for these users. The user personas were then constructed by Taylor.
We created our primary users based on the results: Theresa, Mira, and Sean
Design Audit
Before we started designing, we wanted to do a design audit to establish the basic strengths and shortcomings of the current wiseHer's website.
Wireframes
Based on the gathered design inspirations, prepared user stories, and user flow, I started to create sketched wireframes on paper.
My Main Feature
Once we figured out what exactly we needed to develop for WiseHer, we spent some time on Figma drawing up some very primitive wireframes for each main screen. This was when we decided to each take on a big feature and develop screens and flows for that specific task/feature.
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I decided to tackle the main home screen that included featured experts, business categories, and testimonials.
With business categories shown on the home screen, users would find it simple to find what they need quickly and efficiently
Featured experts provides insight to users on the variety of experts WiseHer provides
User testimonials increase the trustworthiness of the WiseHer website and make it appear more valuable to someone who is visiting for the first time.
Hi-Fidelity Mockups
The team made an agreement with going along with my wireframe as the pinpoint for the other screens and we then began working on hi-fidelity mockups. I built new screens out of existing components such as the architecture and tone as per the CEO's needs.
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The CEO wanted to maintain the present WiseHer website's blue tone, so I created a color palette that fits with it. Dark blue represents depth and professionalism, whereas lighter blues represent power and tranquillity. The orange is a nice complement to the blue and adds a nice pop to the page.
Initial Home Page
Initial Experts Page
New Home Page
New Experts Page
Hi-Fidelity Prototype
As a team we wired up hi-fidelity screens and turned them into an interactive prototype for moderated usability testing
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The Validation
We were unable to conduct usability testing as a team due to time constraints and an inability to connect with the CEO due to personal reasons. We eventually got a response, and in terms of criticism, they loved the new WiseHer screens we designed. We're hopeful they'll run a usability test with our high-fidelity prototype.
Reflections
This was my first real-world design experience collaborating with other designers and a direct client. I've realized it's critically important to scope the project with realistic timelines and deliverables or else you will be unable to deliver. As a designer, it is important to try and gain a holistic understanding of the business and look beyond the pixels. I learned so much during this experience and I'd be interested to see how WiseHer will be in the future.
Next Steps
I would be interested to see the flow of users if they had the option to do a free trial when booking a call with an expert
Usability testing was not done due to time constraints, hence it is still an open item. If the opportunity presents itself, I'd like to explore it.