Design of user-centred digital platform for MSMEs to improve their business
In collaboration with Small Surfaces, we worked with a global nonprofit on a mission to create a fair and inclusive economy for people left out of the financial system. We supported the client in building a digital product for micro and small business owners based on the principles of gamification to help them solve their business challenges and teach ways to improve their business.
We worked with a diverse team of content developers, designers, and researchers to run 3 design sprints over a period of 5 months to turn the concept into a finished MVP that could be handed over for development.
Approach
In each sprint, we had very defined goals for research and design workflows. We worked with user insights that the client had gained from previous research to flesh out the concept of the digital product. With each sprint, we tested the prototype of the product with specific goals in mind for usability and relevance. We were able to incorporate the feedback received from the research into the next design sprint and improve the product incrementally over 5 months.
"It will be good to learn from how others are using the app or what are they doing and how is it helping them to learn from others' experiences"
MSME business owner
Remote Research
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Deliverable
In the end, we identified patterns of usage through each research round and were able to build a repository of user insights that helped the client gain an in-depth understanding of their target user. With each design sprint, we could evolve the design based on user insights and, in the end, were able to deliver a user-centred MVP that would fit the user’s needs and would be effective in helping them solve their business challenges and thus ensure adoption.
Impact
The ability to move in rapid design and research sprints helped us to create a truly user-centred process for the client. We were able to build a thorough understanding for the client on the users’ challenges, triggers, and motivations, which helped them not just in this project but also in other parallel products/projects. The final design that was delivered for development evolved over a period of 5 months based on data provided by the users, and, therefore, the team felt more confident about its adoption and relevance.
Project Team
Project Manager
Research Lead
UX Researcher
UX/UI Designer
