Freelancermap

A marketplace for freelancers and
project providers.
Case study on the provider’s side.
Challenge of the project: How might we help project providers to find the right freelancers.
Gif how to use the shorlist.

As a team of three designers, we worked for Freelancermap, a platform designed to make connections between freelancers and recruiters easier. We were asked to work on the English version of the platform.

Our goal was to focus on the recruiter side, by redesigning the homepage, the dashboard, and a specific feature of the website: the watchlist.

The Shortlist: recruiters need the ability to save suitable candidates.

What is the Watchlist? 

This was the first question we tackled and got feedback on, while conducting qualitative interviews with recruiters.
Due to a misinterpretation of the German word "Merkliste" we learned that “watchlist” appear to be the wrong word, “shortlist” been the proper one: a tool for recruiter to select and save their best candidates for a job.

We also learned that recruiters need a useful and detailed search feature; knowing freelancer’s availability is crucial and location by country make more sense to know the time zone.

Interactions with the website 

Parallel to those interviews, we also conducted usability tests to observe how user interact with the platform and whether they understand the purpose and naming of each feature. Those tests brought clear pain points such as a lack of clarity in the structure of the website and the actual vocabulary used to name specific feature is confusing.

Insights of usability tests.

How might we improve Freelancermap?

Problem statement: Freelancermap's tools lack visibility and clarity.
Hypothesis statement: we will improve clarity and visibility by designing a clear and focused structure.

Looking at the website's current layout, we identified a few issues with the information architecture. The purpose of the three main sections (freelancers, projects, and companies) was unclear, and the Watchlist that’s supposedly located in the Dashboard isn’t accessible from this page. Also, the Projects section isn’t prominent and hard to notice within the Dashboard.

To improve the experience for recruiters, we knew we needed to make some structural changes. Our first decision was to divide the website into two main parts: one for freelancers and one for recruiters, so all audiences can feel that they get the focus they deserve.

Existing layout
New Layout.

Home Page

Red Line.
Mockup Landing page

The search result page

Red Line.
Mockup Search result page

The Daschboard

Red Line.

The Shortlist

Red Line.
Mockup Shortlist

Candidate Profile

Red Line.
Mockup Freelancer profile.
Reflection
This project was a great experience of what a tasked assignment would be like when working on an already existing product, having to improve some specific features of it while corresponding with our client. In two weeks of work, we have successfully delivered what was requested, but with more time and the opportunity to work more with the client, a few steps could be added:

- First would be to test our prototype with recruiters to validate the design and get new insights on what works and what need improvement.

- Furthermore, some features would need to be designed like the project page, saved search page, or the inbox.

- Finally, to really complete this project, it would be thrilling to start working on the freelancer side, with their own homepage and dashboard.
Go back: Leelo
Read more about the research on medium
Read more on medium.