LINKED CARDS
Making networking easier and increasing connections made
THE PROBLEM
Business cards are old school and there should be an easier way to share, organize and store contact information. Networking should be as easy as possible, and we should not be expected to keep and hold business cards when there are digital solutions possible.
We also tackled the problem of connecting on LinkedIn with someone LinkedIn thinks you do not know, forcing you to add their email address.
We designed a concept app that allows sharing your business card with people around you, organizes that information and enables connecting on LinkedIn, verifying that a connection exists. Our solution makes networking a much less daunting experience.
Update: Since designing this concept problem, LinkedIn implemented a QR code for quick connecting and a feature to find people near them.
HIGH LEVEL TIMELINE
This was a 3 week concept project completed at General Assembly.
MAKE OF THE TEAM
The team consisted of 3 UX designers.
KEY GOAL
Provide an easier way to connect and stay connected after meeting while networking.
MY ROLE
Gaining insight on how professionals handle networking, both in person and digitally and applying that to a digital solution.
This was a team project that everyone pitched in on, from the beginning research to the mid-fidelity prototype. This was a mock project completed during my 10-week UX immersive boot camp in Los Angeles (cohort 5) and completed in roughly 3 weeks.
Once we did wrap the project up, I was not completely happy with the design and took it upon myself to redesign the entire app to give it a more updated look. You can find select screenshots below.
You may be asking why I would include this project in my portfolio after so many years. Well, the answer is pretty simple. LinkedIn basically implemented our solution. Our research was spot on.
UNDERSTANDING THE USER
Understanding the outdated. What works, what doesn't work and identifying where improvements in networking could and should be made
USER RESEARCH
I started this project with my own perceptions of business cards and managing a network; inconvenient and in desperate need of modernizing. I conducted user interviews to learn how others work in similar situations. We also sent out surveys to reach a wider demographic.
PERSONA
The research categorized a user into one of two categories - hiring managers and those looking for jobs. We put together a persona from each category and included traits based on the in-depth interviews I conducted and data from the survey. Goals when networking? Technological aptitude? Motivation? Pain points?
DEFINING USER GOALS
The initial user research yielded expected results, but also shed light on the inefficient ways in which business cards were organized. The most common issues revolved around:
1. Tracking and organization
2. Connecting on LinkedIn, the most used social network
3. Overwhelming expectation of a digital alternative
Networking can be hard. It doesn't have to be.
People tend to shy away from networking events. Making new connections and meeting other professionals can seem overwhelming when it doesn't have to be. You can still make that connection, whether you had a conversation or not.
BREAKING DOWN THE PROCESS
Action out of insight. Impact with design. Analyzing the user data and research around networking and business cards. There is a huge opportunity and a number of professionals ready to adopt a new way of fruitful networking
COMPETITIVE/COMPARATIVE ANALYSIS
I dove into the different networking tools available and any other tools used to connect professionals I found the best competitors either lacked the capability or completely missed meeting the user goals. It was quite obvious why most of the current tools hadn't gained much traffic.
MVP & USER FLOWS
The user flow was designed to be quick and intuitive. The onboarding flow would allow uploading the current business card for branding purposes but was easy and could be skipped. Determining the MVP focused on existing networking and derived from user research. I found some of the competition to be overwhelming with features catering to a very niche market. Avoiding segmentation while still meeting the needs of our personas were integral.
WHITEBOARDING AND DESIGN STUDIOS
Next up, more team collaboration. We had a solid foundation of the user and market analysis to base our initial designs around. Brainstorming and ideation sessions revealed slight variations on how the issues were perceived and could be addressed. The design studio allowed us to align our thought processes and the best, user-centric ideas to improve on.
SKETCHING
Working with a tight deadline, I quickly moved the best ideas to a low fidelity wireframe we used to run early user testing.
WIREFRAMES & PROTOTYPE
The sketches were solid but we needed digital to continue with meaningful tests. I used Sketch to create the low fidelity wireframes and Invision to bring it to life. Testing provided feedback for minor iterations and the high fidelity prototype. To ensure quality, a few more tests were conducted before preparing the final deliverable.
ITERATIONS
The feedback we received regarding the design was really great. Minor iterations were needed with spacing, text size and nomenclature.
THESE WERE SOME MAJOR LEARNINGS OR POINTS WE WANTED TO CALL OUT
Business card alternative
Our user's wanted an updated way of sharing business cards. Forgetting, losing and running out of cards were all problems encountered while networking. As long as you have a phone, you will always have your digital business card ready to share.
Storing and organizing connections
The research found that most of our users stored business cards they received in a desk or filing cabinet if they did at all. LinkedCards organizes and stores all received information in a contact list for easy navigation.
Connect easily on LinkedIn
When it came to maintaining a professional network, LinkedIn was the platform most used. Most users would make an effort to connect shortly after meeting. Occasionally, LinkedIn will ask for an e-mail verification while sending requests causing a lot of missed connections. LinkedCards overcame this obstacle.
It's a digital world with digital expectations
Technology continues to evolve and embed itself more and more into our lives. With that, we as a people have certain technoligical expectations, especially when it comes to meeting and keeping in touch wtih new connections. Everyone agreed, it was time to move on from business cards.
Actually staying in contact
People are bad at keeping up with each other. Social media makes that a bit easier. As LinkedIn is the social media for business professionals, it only helps us keep in contact with new connections. Instead of exchanging business cards, we need to exchange LinkedIn.
TITLE OF THE CALLOUT BLOCK
LESSONS LEARNED
Networking is hard. People can sometimes lack the motivation to keep up with new connections. LinkedIn helps alleviate that, even if it's the occasional congrats or liking of a status.
Our memories can be short. Our ability to keep and maintain a collection of business cards can be a chaotic mess if they can stay out of the trash. People expect digital solutions.
We designed a concept app that allows sharing your business card with people around you, organizes that information and enables connecting on LinkedIn, verifying that a connection exists. Our solution makes networking a much less daunting experience.