PRODUCTION BEAST
The LinkedIn for the film making industry
THE PROBLEM
Production Beast is a platform for the film industry. It connects film professionals with available gigs. Think LinkedIn specifically for making movies and television shows. They want to add vendors to the service.
Production Beast has created an innovative platform connecting film productions with available freelancers in the film and television industry. Each user is able to create a profile with past projects and if they are currently available for work. They are looking to enter a new market and add vendors to the mix. We were tasked with designing that onboarding experience to attract vendors.
The industry currently relies on Rolodexes and relationships to find vendors per production. Production Beast wants to turn the process digital. In order for this concept to work, we needed to understand the industry and how vendors work. From there, we were able to design the process of vendors creating profiles.
HIGH LEVEL TIMELINE
This was a 4-week project
MAKE OF THE TEAM
The team consisted of 3 UX designers.
KEY GOAL
Onboard vendors into an existing social network.
MY ROLE
This was a team project that everyone chipped in on. I specifically led the user interviews, competitive/comparative analysis, design studios, wireframes and prototyping.
We created a flow that allowed the vendor a quick initial sign up page, collecting the minimum information to create a vendor profile. The remaining information was added or edited on the company home page including services, employees and projects that would showcase and connect the vendor with others in the industry.
The user interviews were key. The team was not familiar with the ins and outs of how the film industry work. We were even less exposed to the behind the scenes stuff, including vendors. I led multiple user interviews with film professionals across many different vendor services from catering to sound and stage equipment.
UNDERSTANDING THE USER
The film industry has relied on networking and a Rolodex to fill needed positions. Most other services have been deemed irrelevant and abandoned, but why?
USER RESEARCH
The first objective was understanding what the clients needs and goals were. I began interviewing project coordinators to learn how, why and what was the process of contacting vendors. I spoke with different vendors to learn how they were marketing, likes and dislikes and how their end of the process could be improved.
PERSONA
Our persona was developed after a detailed interview with a vendor in the stage and lighting space. He was a busy man with a clear goal; a simple and reliable way to promote his business. He hates when things don't work, waste his time and provide inaccurate information.
ANALYZING THE MARKET
Our client wanted to improve on the competition, so there was an extensive analysis of the competition and any other comparable platforms. I learned what similar services our vendors were actively interacting with, not interacting with and where improvements could be made.
Deep Dive. Action out of insight
With all of the data gathered and analyzed, it was now time to put it all together and deliver a winning and simple tool benefiting all sides of the film industry. A successful vendor portal would also make Production Beast a one-stop-shop for all industry needs.
BREAKING DOWN THE PROCESS
Creating an experience vendors will use and that hiring managers will find value in. The goal was this portal be immediately recognized as something different than the rest
MVP & USER FLOWS
The signup process and profile completion needed to be quick, simple and let the vendors easily return to edit information. The path to creating a vendor profile was minimized and adding additional company information for a full profile was all in one page.
WHITEBOARDING AND DESIGN STUDIOS
The team brought in our client to participate in a design studio. Our goal was to gain perspective and align the client with what I had discovered through research and interviews.
WIREFRAMES & PROTOTYPE
I drafted the first low fidelity wireframe using Sketch. I used InVision to make it clickable for testing.
ITERATIONS
Each tester was given a backstory and an end goal to achieve. After completing each test, I asked a few questions to make sure the flow made sense and to get any other information that could be used to improve the design. I was able to flush out and redesign areas in the flow causing confusion and slowing down the signup process. The high fidelity prototype with annotations was prepared and delivered to our client.
THESE WERE SOME MAJOR LEARNINGS OR POINTS WE WANTED TO CALL OUT
Easy profile set up. Less is more
With only one required initial form with basic account info, vendors can easily join the network and create a profile. Completing or editing the vendor's profile information can all be done on one page.
Vendor
connections
Our vendors can connect and grow their customer base through employees and projects they have worked with. In a competitive industry, where it's all about who you know, this is big. Think of it as a resume for each vendor and user.
Accurate marketing
With the services listed on a vendor profile, they can reduce the number of irrelevant offers they receive, something our persona faced often. People should know right away what a vendor offers and only contact them if they are in need of their services.
Digital transformation
There is a clear void in this industry needing to be addressed, something that will save a lot of time and clean up this current inefficient process. Vendors and hiring managers spend too much time reaching out when all available info should be accessible online.
Social proof of capabilities
The existing platform incorporates connections and past projects for reference, a key advantage and huge benefit with vendors. This resume shows projects they have worked on, who worked on these projects and when. This created a peace of mind when reaching out to new vendors.
TITLE OF THE CALLOUT BLOCK
LESSONS LEARNED
Everyone is busy in the film industry. Networking is a key way for vendors to generate business. That will always be the case, but Production Beast is a solid digital alternative.
Networking is the main way for vendors to generate business. Rolodexes are how hiring managers with individual productions find those vendors. Production Beast adding vendors to their platform improves the lives of both groups.
Vendors are skeptical of marketing services. Research showed the existing sites and services were old, dilapidated and not useful at all. Knowing this, we knew adoption would be tough so the signup process needs to be as painless as possible.
Once on the platform, each vendor wanted to be able to shine a bit and show how they stand out from the competition. The vendor pages allowed for each vendor to showcase accolades and track record.
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