A community for artists of all levels to share, teach, and learn.
Prototype Link
Team
Overview
Challenge
Jump to: goals & metrics
For a designathon hosted by Twitch and Adobe XD, our challenge was to design a platform “that serves as a single-stop resource for any media related to a topic and encourages users to find new interests, events, and communities” in just 10 days. We focused on creating a space for sharing and learning about art.
results
jump to: key features
We placed 4th out of 400+ submissions, a big achievement for our first design competition. Judges appreciated our concept and thorough prototype, but felt the visual design needed refinement.
key learnings
jump to: reflection & Learning
This process taught me the importance of letting go when ideas don’t work. For example, if a visual design system gets in the way of usability and accessibility, it needs to change. On reflection, it also highlights the importance of user research–idealizing user behavior resulted in some unhelpful features.
Goals & Metrics
Goals
Address the prompt thoughtfully
Create an intuitive system for organizing and discovering wide-ranging content
Practice and improve design, teamwork, and prototyping skills
Key Metrics *hypothetical
Judge feedback and competition success
*Engagement with content, particularly comments and saves
*Amount of content uploaded
*Number of live events hosted, number of attendees at events
*Length of live event attendance
Research
For inspiration, we looked to popular platforms and websites that organize large amounts of media and help users discover new things. We asked ourselves what features we liked, and what we thought could be improved.
Twitch identifies content well with the use of tags, but the homepage is still overwhelming.
Tumblr has a diverse range of content types, including a Q&A feature. However, static content is heavily prioritized, and the interface is confusing at times.
Google is simple and effective. But perhaps the interface could be a little more visually appealing?
Key Features
homepage scroll with hover-reveal cards
Homepage
what it is
A central hub for media and livestream discovery.
why it matters
Since the platform aims to be a one-stop resource, it will have a lot of content. Users might get overwhelmed and not engage if it isn’t well-organized. The prompt also mentioned finding “new” interests, events, and communities, implying discovery.
how we approached it
Sections for featured, trending, and new-to-you content, as well as live and upcoming events, put discovery and community at the forefront of the experience. Displaying posts as cards, with more information revealed on hover, cuts down on the amount of text on the page to reduce visual clutter.
is it successful?
A “For You” section with a personalized algorithm would likely increase user engagement more effectively than our design. Our solution was based on an idealized user, rather than realistic behavior. The card hover interaction is also a little too reactive, defeating its clutter-reducing purpose.
making improvements
If I redesigned Laskó today, I would completely reorganize the homepage and restructure the app overall. With the goals of organizing content, facilitating learning, and encouraging community in mind, I’ve wireframed some initial concepts.
search function and results page
Search Engine
what it is
Helping users find specific content.
why it matters
We wanted our platform to facilitate learning. In order to learn, users would need to find specific information, which the homepage and following feed don’t provide.
how we approached it
We took inspiration from Google's classic search bar. We included an option for users who aren’t sure how to start searching, and our own version of “I’m Feeling Lucky”. On the results page, a summary feature serves the user highly relevant information up top. Recommended specialists and events also populate, in line with our community engagement goal.
is it successful?
“Show me my options” could be good for a beginner who wants to learn but doesn’t know terminology, but “Choose for me” feels unnecessary. If users want random or suggested content, they can visit the homepage. The results page summary is helpful and reminds me a lot of Google’s new AI summary! However, the page lacks additional direct results, and all “related” results should be moved to a less important location, like off to the side.
alternate concepts
Looking back, I think we had some pretty good initial ideas that should've been taken further. Filtering is a very useful tool to organize and find specific content, and these search result pages contain much more information directly relevant to the user's query than our final design.
join live event flow
q&a feed post / tap to see interest tags
Community Features
what it is
Tools to foster connections between users.
why it matters
Community can play a key role in learning. It was also a key part of the prompt. Fostering interactions became a core goal.
how we approached it
Interest tags in user profiles to quickly identify potential connections, private messaging for direct communication, and a Q&A system. Responses to Q&As are posted to public feeds so everyone can learn. Live and upcoming events are highlighted on the homepage and in search results to encourage real-time interactions.
is it successful?
Without time for more thorough research, our decisions were based mainly on assumptions. If I developed this concept further, I’d prioritize learning about the relationship between community and learning to understand which features would actually be helpful.
collections on user profile
saving and organizing content
Learning Features
what it is
Facilitating sharing and learning.
why it matters
Creating a platform for learning was another core design goal. This meant making information easy to share, find, and organize in various ways.
how we approached it
A save feature helps keep track of and categorize content. “Collections” on users’ profiles allow them to group their own content in a way that might be useful to others.
Reflection & Learning
what went well?
My teammate and I were satisfied with both our competition placement and prototype. We also did a great job of communicating and delegating tasks so that we could complete such an ambitious project under the time constraint, while staying cohesive with our flows and visual designs.
what would I do differently?
With more experience under my belt, there is a lot I would do differently–as noted in my reflections above. Overall, I agree with criticism we received about our visual design--it’s chunky and dated, and overpowers visual content. It also isn’t visually accessible, which is directly at odds with our stated goal of making art accessible to all. I would choose a much more neutral typeface and color palette for a redesign.
I would also give Laskó a new name. Having one accent mark separating us from a major small appliance manufacturer is less than ideal, to say the least!