ReadyMinds Case Study

My role: Product Designer
Year: 2021

Description

ReadyMinds is a global platform that links businesses with consultants, independent talent, agencies, and other business professionals. Where businesses and consultants collaborate in novel ways to realize their full potential. This platform is built on a motto of removing the barrier between these two parties, and avoiding businesses to throw their budgets on old useless marketing channels like cold calling, cold emails and such. With ReadyMinds your business can get meaningful conversation with professionals in different industries.

ReadyMinds orders dashboard and booking calendar

Our Process (HCD)

Human-centred design process: Empathize, Define, Ideate, Prototype and Test, with feedback loops between the steps

Project Timeline

Survey

How old are you?

<20
20-35
35-50
50-65
>65

Have you ever used freelancing platforms?

Which platforms did you prefer the most?

Fiverr
Upwork
Freelancer
Guru
Toptal
Other

How well did using these platforms meet your expectations?

Very High
High
Medium
Low
Very Low

Under which title did you mostly work with these platforms?

Expert
Customer

Which factor was influential in choosing this platform as an expert?

Less Commissions
Better Communication Tools With The Customer
Convenient User Interface
More Customers And Therefore More Projects

Which factor was influential in choosing this platform as a consumer?

More High Level Experts
Better Communication Tools With The Expert
Variety Of Services
Financial Guarantee

In what context have you mostly used these platforms?

Digital Product
Online Services (Consultation Or Tutorial)

Do you usually use mobile apps to manage your projects and online services?

User interview

1- Why did you prefer freelancing? I first became acquainted with freelance work in a period before I was hired by a company, and I was able to earn a good income this way, and the way it lets me work in my preferred work space and whenever I want. For me it is a good side income.

2- Which platforms did you work with? Fiverr, Freelancer.com, Upwork, Logotournament, Guru.com, PeoplePerHour.com, Toptal.com, ...

3- Which platforms do you prefer the most and why? Logotournament and Upwork. Logotournament has the best validation system, so it has more high level freelancers. And although Upwork has a higher commission price, it also has a higher competition level.

4- Which platform do you work with now? Logotournament

5- What is your specialized field and which platform is more suitable for your expertise and why? I specialize in logo design, and I work with Logotournament because it only works in my specialized field (logo design). Therefore, it has a more professional work environment than its competitors.

6- Which of these platforms offers a better price/revenue level? Logotournament

7- Do you use mobile apps to work with these platforms? What kind of use do you have? Yes, I use mobile apps to manage my projects and stay connected with my clients, and not for creating a new project, bundle or service.

Personas

Tom Warner

Toronto, Canada

Age:

Status:

Married

Education:

Master of software engineering

Occupations:

Software developer in a medium-sized company for 5 years

Income:

77,000 CAD per year

Places:

He spends most of his time in the office and the rest of his time at home

Devices:

Laptop, Smart phone, iPad

Most used app:

Instagram, Emails, Zoom, Spotify, Skype, professional software

Hobbies:

Music, Spending time with friends, Video games

Pain points:

1- He wants a better job.

2- He is trying to increase his income.

3- He wants to use his free time.

End goals:

1- He wants to work as a freelancer in order to earn more money in his spare time.

2- He wants to get personal projects through freelance sites.

3- He wants to be hired by larger companies by doing more projects and expanding his resume.

Scenario:

Tom is a front end developer. He works for a company and works in his specialty. He plans to use his free time and get personal projects to increase his income.

Leonardo Benigni

Rome, Italy

Age:

Status:

Single

Education:

Student of sport physiology

Occupations:

Project Assistant at the University

Income:

24,000 € per year

Places:

He spends some time at university and some time at the club, and usually goes home at night

Devices:

Laptop & smart phone

Most used app:

Instagram, YouTube, Messengers, Emails

Hobbies:

Spending time with friends, Yoga, Traveling

Pain points:

1- He is a blogger and content producer.

2- He needs a website.

3- He is looking for a web designer and a logo designer.

End goals:

1- He wants to start a specialized website to publish his content on it.

2- He plans to start building a personal brand for his future career.

Scenario:

Leonardo is a student of sport physiology. He is also a professional gymnast. He has recently been creating content on social media in his field and has been thinking of creating a personal website to grow his audience. So he is looking for a web designer to design a website for him and also a logo designer to design a special logo for him.

Jillian Capa

Berlin, Germany

Age:

Status:

Single

Education:

Bachelor of Graphic Design

Occupations:

Freelancer

Income:

48,000 € per year

Places:

She often works at home and in her room

Devices:

PC, Laptop & iPhone

Most used app:

Facebook, Emails, Netflix, Zoom, professional software

Hobbies:

Series, Gym

Pain points:

1- She has a small income.

2- She has difficulty finding new customers.

3- Some customers do not meet their financial obligations.

4- She takes a few projects and has a lot of free time.

End goals:

1- She wants to increase her income.

2- She wants to be able to do big projects.

3- She likes to work as an international freelancer.

Scenario:

Jillian is a graphic designer who has been working in this field as a freelancer for 4 years. She has difficulty finding customers and is looking for a way to find more customers.

Brigitte Bellon

Paris, France

Age:

Status:

Single

Education:

Master of Architecture

Occupations:

Owner of Architecture and Design studio

Income:

900,000 € per year

Places:

She spends most of her time in the office and the rest of her time at home

Devices:

Laptop & iPhone

Most used app:

Instagram, Emails, Skype, YouTube

Hobbies:

Traveling, Tennis

Pain points:

1- She has no purposeful activity on social networks.

2- She wants to update the design of her website.

3- She also needs expert advice for these tasks.

End goals:

1- She wants to expand her business.

2- She wants to have a website with a modern design so that she can present her projects on it.

3- She wants to do this with careful planning to get the right result.

Scenario:

Brigitte is an architect and owns an architecture and design studio. She intends to introduce her brand more widely. Therefore, she decides to have a purposeful activity in social networks and also to update the design of her website.

Customer journey map

Scenario

User Expectation

User expects to

Have a lot of experts available
Be able to compare them with each other
Can pay with crypto
Be able to communicate with the expert

Stages

Research

Consideration

Expert selection

During project

After project

Doing

Search in google

Search in job seeking platforms

Talk to friends

Reading users’ comments

Compare Ready Minds with competitors

Examine strengths and weaknesses

Compare experts together

See details of bundles

Reading users’ comments

Comparison of experts’ scores

See portfolios of experts

Choose a bundle

Complete information

Pay the bundle’s fee

Check dashboard

Provide additional information required by the expert (if required)

Project delivery

Giving feedback (to Ready Minds)

Giving feedback (to expert)

Giving feedback (to job seeking platforms)

Remember Ready Minds for later works

Touch points

Google

Advertisements

Job seeking platforms

Friends

Ready Minds website

Competitors website

Job seeking platforms

Ready Minds website

Personal dashboard

Ready Minds website

Messages page

Personal dashboard

Ready Minds website

Job seeking platforms

Expert

Thinking

I want to find someone to design a logo for me

I want to find someone to design a website for me

I need to find a freelance website

I need to talk to my friends about this

Which one has better features?

Which one has a better user interface?

I have to find one of the best

I should be able to pay less

I need a professional designer

I hope to be able to deliver the project on time

I can also visit this website for future work

I have to introduce this website to others

Feeling

I’m excited to design and launch my site

How can I trust the person I give my job to?

I’m worried that this product will fully defend my rights as an intermediary between me and the expert.

It’s great that I have so many choices and comparability

I’m stressed, I have to find the right person

I am satisfied with the process of the project

I feel good. This is what I wanted

Opportunities

We need to make ourselves available to users as much as possible and introduce ourselves and our features more and more.

We must assure the user that his material and intellectual rights will be fully protected.

We must provide the customer with complete information about the experts so that he can choose the right expert according to his needs and not be confused.

We need to have the right platform so that the expert and the customer can interact with each other so that the work is done in the best way and both the customer and the expert are satisfied in the end.

We should ask the user to give us feedback on the features we have provided. We can also encourage the user to introduce us to others by giving a series of additional features.

Scenario

Tom is a front end developer. He works for a company and works in his specialty. He plans to use his free time and get personal projects to increase his income.

User Expectation

Users expect that

Operate in an international context with diverse customers
Be able to display different aspects of their work
Be able to communicate with their customers in a dedicated space on the platform
Guaranteed payment of their work wages

Stages

Research

Consideration

Become an Expert

Before project

During project

After project

Doing

Search in google

Talk to people

Search in job seeking platforms

Compare Ready Minds with competitors

Reading users’ comments

Examine strengths and weaknesses

Entering personal information

Entering professional information

Creating service bundles

Creating meet&greet bundles

Checking bundle’s interaction information

Review competitors and offer better services and prices

Recheck and edit bundles

Checking timelines

Get the project

Check project details

Request more details from customer (if required)

Doing the job and delivering to the customer

Receive project revenue

Getting feedback from the customer

Giving feedback (to Ready Minds)

Giving feedback (to job seeking platforms)

Planning for doing more projects

Touch points

Google

Word of mouth

Freelancers

Advertisements

Job seeking platforms

Ready Minds website

Competitors website

Job seeking platforms

Ready Minds website

Personal calendar

Bank account

Crypto wallet

Ready Minds website

Personal dashboard

Competitor freelancers

Ready Minds website

Personal dashboard

Messages page

Ready Minds’s exclusive video call platform

Ready Minds website

Job seeking platforms

Customer

Friends

Thinking

I want to get a freelance project

I need to find a freelance website

Who can I get help from?

It would be good if I could receive my income in crypto

Which one has better features?

These have a lot in common, I have to see which one is the best

Which one has attracted the most user satisfaction?

Which one has more ability to attract customers for me?

I have to enter my complete information

I have to show my best works

I have to create my bundles as soon as possible

Very good, I can have customers from all over the world and receive crypto

There are many freelancers with my expertise here. How should I compete with them?

I have to offer a better price than my competitors

I think I can get good projects

I need to be in touch with the customers so that I can give them exactly what they want

That’s right, I finally got my first project to do

I have to do my best to get a good score from the customer

I think I can get good projects here

I can share this experience with others

Feeling

I’m worried. Are all of these sites valid?

Is my privacy and my work protected?

I’m very curious, I have to ask several people about this

I need a proper evaluation of these

I’m excited, I have to try it

I feel good, I think it will have good results

I’m worried that I will not be able to get a project

How long do I have to wait?

I have a good feeling about doing the project

I like working with these conditions

I hope to get more projects soon

Opportunities

We need to make ourselves available to users as much as possible and introduce ourselves and our features more and more.

We must have a comprehensive introduction of ourselves and the full service we provide on the homepage and about us. Also provide the user with the opportunity to consult our experts if necessary about issues that remain unclear to the user.

We should optimize this route as much as possible over time and after users use it so that users can give us complete information with the least difficulty.

We must enable the customer to record complete information for their order so that the expert knows the full details of the work from the beginning and does not get confused later.

We need to have the right platform so that the expert and the customer can interact with each other so that the work is done in the best way and both the customer and the expert are satisfied in the end.

We should ask the user to give us feedback on the features we have provided. We can also encourage the user to introduce us to others by giving a series of additional features.

Problem statement

Every day there are hundreds of hours wasted on acquiring the right talent, and on talents getting connected to the right businesses. The world of business needs not only freelancers but also professional consultants with very specific specializations. It’s very difficult in the current climate for businesses to find the right consultants, and in the consultants’ world, a lot of time and money is wasted on repetition of meet and greet, and there is no monetary incentive for consultants to talk to businesses. That’s where ReadyMinds comes to play: to not only connect businesses and consultants, but also to have an incentive for consultants and professionals to make sure their time is not wasted.

Ideation

We wanted to make sure to have an easy way for consultants and businesses to connect to each other through the ReadyMinds platform, with low to zero training on how to discover each other. The idea was that through our verification process we make sure the integrity of both parties is preserved. At the same time, businesses can find the right consultants with the least amount of time.