Project Type
Startup
New Product Development
B2B & B2C
Skills used
Sketching
Wireframing
Information Architecture
Prototyping
UX Writing
UX Research
Usability Testing
Analysis
Conversion Optimisation
UI Design
Visual Design
Branding
Tools used
Adobe Photoshop
Adobe Illustrator
Google Analytics
InVision
Hotjar
Unbounce
Project DURATION
8 Months • May 2015 - January 2016
Airbnb for Office Space - Workspace on demand
We came up with the idea for MetroDesk during a reed.co.uk Hackathon. We intended to bring the sharing economy to the workplace by creating a platform where organisations with spare desks could connect with people who needed flexible, cost-effective workspace. In short, we aimed to be the 'Airbnb for office space'.
After a frantic two days of hacking, we won the People's Choice Award, and after pitching the idea to the Board of Directors, they allowed us to create the business for real. As co-founder and the sole designer on the team, I was responsible for championing a user-centric approach to validating our idea and delivering a world-class experience for our B2C and B2B customers.
Discovery
We started by researching user needs, behaviours and pain-points to better understand how people rented office space.
We created some assumptive personas and quickly validated them by conducting user interviews.
We regularly referenced these personas when making any product/design decisions to establish and maintain empathy as a team.
Homepage
After testing the initial homepage designs, we established that the two most important variables to all of our personas were location and the number of desks.
We used progressive disclosure to allow users through the funnel as efficiently as possible while still maintaining relevancy.
We later iterated on this design with tabs for different types of spaces - such as meeting rooms and training rooms.
Below you can find the homepage design.
Search Results
The search results page was initially designed without a map as it would have delayed our minimum viable product, staying true to our principles as a lean startup.
I proposed that we add a map button to each of the cards - the button would only trigger a message stating that we were working on the feature - but by tagging the click/tap event we were able to get quantitive proof that it was a feature a high proportion of our users wanted.
Another critical insight from usability testing and visitor recordings (via. Hotjar) was the ineffectiveness of having the filters in a sidebar. I moved the filters to the top of the page, increasing their usage and aiding the conversion of the page.
The final search results design.
Space Details
An early insight gleaned from user testing was the importance of imagery. Just like when looking for somewhere to live, high-quality images can help sell a space, as well as help and allude to one of the harder aspects to quantify - the atmosphere/vibe of a workspace.
Once arriving on this screen most users would interact with the image panel, cycle through the light-box of images and be able to make a judgement based on what they saw, so we were sure to keep a CTA to request a booking above the fold. Our B2B customers wanted something that could showcase their space, so we emphasised high-quality imagery from the start, and for those who didn't have professional quality photos of their workspace, I went to take the photographs.
We focused the majority of our MVT testing on this page as it was a significant part of the conversion funnel and when a user started to show real intent. The majority of tests were on the booking panel, with emphasis on the messaging and the amount of information required to request a booking - trying to establish a happy medium between conversion and good quality leads for our B2B customers.
Similar to the homepage, we found that using progressive disclosure worked best for booking enquiries - which by their nature were softer leads with a lower barrier for entry. For spaces bookable on the site, we experimented heavily with the amount of information needed to pass through the booking funnel and chose this to be the point to ask for registration to capture the lead.
Below you can find the final space details page design.
User Acquisition
As the only person on the team with previous marketing experience, I also took charge of all our marketing efforts. As an early-stage startup, a lot of our initial traffic was paid, and as such, I was continually testing and iterating on various adverts and landing pages to optimise our acquisition through the multiple paid channels (Adwords, Facebook, Twitter).
Here you can see a responsive showcase of the live site.
MetroDesk was one of the most challenging and rewarding projects I've undertaken. Having the opportunity to immerse myself fully in the running of the whole business gave me a holistic perspective which has, in turn, made me a better designer.
It gave me a chance to be part of a world that I had long wanted to be part of and although a strategic decision at board level meant that we had to come back to the central business - I'll be forever grateful for the opportunity which I feel gave me the equivalent of many years experience in less than one.