Hi everyone, my name is Sally Wang and I’m a freelance product designer. Thanks for taking the time to meet with me and listen to some of the really exciting projects I have been working on. Before the presentation, I want to introduce a little bit about myself. Let me first begin by telling you how I got here. I loved to draw ever since I was a kid. I would draw whenever I had a  chance to. That led me to get a college degree in Design. During my college student life, I explored design with digital tools, such as AI and PSD, and It opened up a whole new world for me. I loved that I can draw in pixel perfect and iterate quickly. My family owns a few sushi restaurants so I help them a lot with graphic designs, such as banner, menu, posters, and more. I am originally from taiwan and came to the states about 6 years ago for my MFA degree in AAU. After I graduated, I worked as an apparel designer and product developer. I learned a lot about how to work with people from different departments in the company, I enjoyed apparel design, however, I also learned how polluting the industry was so I decided I want to do something different, where I can use my creativity but also impact the world with a positive way. I have been working as a product designer for almost a year now and I really enjoy every moment of it. I believe that behind every design decision I make, there should be an intention or even a date to back it up. I have worked on projects in various industries including finance, real estate, and more.  My strong visual design skill and relative experience are probably what caught on the recruiter’s eyes. She told me about this opportunity and I was really excited so here I am 

 

 
 
 
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Project Overview

Create an onboarding flow for real estate agents to use Muze platform to list properties

 
 

COMPANY

Muze is an all in one real estate marketplace that was founded in 2019, focused on empowering real state agents with data, knowledge and connecting them with the best local professionals who can help.

 
 
 
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Discovery

Understand consumer behavior and identify their needs

COMPETITIVE MARKET RESEARCH

  1. We found that Zillow, Redfin and MLS are the main platforms real estate agents use to list properties.

    We focused on the opportunities we found, like providing photography service and the analysis of the onboarding process.
    We listed out the pros and cons relative to Muze and what we should have in mind while designing.

 
 

COMPARATIVE MARKET RESEARCH

We also performed comparator analysis on a variety of media upload tools to find the best solution and have a deeper understanding of what the criteria for uploading 3D Media are required. Below are the products we did research on.

 
 
 
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User Research

Where and how can we help them list properties easier?

We conducted a 1 hour user research interview with each of the 4 real estate agents.

GOALS FOR THIS RESEARCH:

  • To understand real estate agents’ existing workflow in generating marketing materials for their listing so we can develop features that fit their needs.

  • To identify problems that real estate agents currently experience when listing properties on existing comparative platforms in order to create an onboarding experience that’s simplified and user-intuitive.

 
 
 
 
 
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Design Goal

  1. EDUCATIONAL- Help users to understand what service we provide and how it can benefit them. Action-oriented, not instructive.

  2. CONVERSATIONAL- Rather than having user filling out a form, could answer a series of questions. Communicating key information along the way

  3. ENGAGING- Avoid lengthy descriptions and long forms; clean and simple interface to prevent drop-off. Evolving, not fixed.

  4. EFFICIENT- The flow should be designed to capture the bare minimum amount of information and documentation at each stage

 
 
 
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Information Architecture

Collecting essential information from users within precise steps

Before starting ideation, we created a user journey with a clear information architecture. This helped me to visulize how a user interact with a product and allows me to see a product from a user’s point of view

 
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 Ideate

Create coherent interfaces for uploading different media assets that requires different forms

 

With those insights in mind, we then started brainstormed and sketched the wireframes on the whiteboard. We iterated on how to make the interfaces coherent since each media type requires different forms of upload.

 
 
 
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Design Detail

Media upload

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Hire a professional

Be excited! and enjoy sally!

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 Results

5/6 Users thought navigation was simple and easy

 

We conducted 6 rounds of validation test with high-fidelity interactive prototype. We observed the users and asked viability, comprehension, usability questions. The interviews was conducted by 1 facilitator and 1 to 2 notetaker. After the interviews, we synthesised the insights and here are the results:

I felt really rewarding and happy to see the number but also know what can be imporveded.

 
 
 
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User Research

Findings from six StreamLoan current users

To better understand the mindset of potential users, we conducted user interviews with 6 StreamLoan current users who are loan officers to know their behaviors and goals

 
 
 
 
 
 

Discovery

Outdated system and too many features in a single page can make a product hard to use

 

COMPETITIVE MARKET RESEARCH

LendingQB and Encompass are the 2 main tools loan officers use. Below is a brief summary of what we found and learned:

 

  • Too many features can make the software overwhelming at times

  • Availability to tracking loans from origination to closing and beyond is important

  • Both of the software are limited to desktop, available on tablets and mobile devices would be beneficial to users

 

COMPARATIVE MARKET RESEARCH

We also performed comparator analysis on a variety of generating information tools to find the best solution and have a deeper understanding of form fields

 
 
 
 
 

Information Architecture

Organize, label, navigate the structural design before creating UI

TASK FLOW

With these insights and pain points, we created an initial task flow. As a team, we figured out what to include and what we should think about when designing. We also discussed with our clients to make sure the task flow make sense in their profession.

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Ideate

Explore solutions

 

After the task flow is clear, we iterated individually and come together to discuss our design and brainstorm. That really help the team to reach conclusion by Consensus.
LOW-FI

 
 


GENERATING PAGE

Generating letter includes heavy information. How might we simplify this step for users to be more efficient? We explored 3 different solutions and the team dot voted then discussed with the founder. We decided to go with #1 since all the information was pre-populated, hence, collapsed design with partially expend would be most efficient for the users to modify specific information.

 
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FILE DETAIL PAGE

File detail page includes many actions users can take. According to user interviews that share is the main action they take after generating the letter, hence, we ultimately choose #2. Share history display the person’s name and profile photo to reduce cognitive overload for the user.

 
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Final Deliverable

 
 
 

GENERATING PRE-APPROVAL LETTER

  • Partial expand form fields give users the flexibility to only expand the specific areas they need to modify.

  • Pre-populated data speeds up the process.

  • Toggle switches provide easy access to include or exclude property address and borrower checklist.

 
 
 
 
 
 

sharing and saving

  • Giving the option to show or hide the file on the same page to reduce screen transition.

  • Display the most recent share history for a quick preview with the option to view all if need it.

  • Expire clock icons give users awareness of file valid time frame.

 
 
 
 
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Results

Looking forward to the implementation in Q2 2020

 

but we are looking forward to seeing the outcome of this project after the feature is implemented. we provide the metrics to the client that they can using to evaluate the success of the business after it’s implemented.


METRICS OF SUCCESS

Quantitative

Qualitative

 
 
 
 
 

Final Learnings

Design for B2B startup

 

  • Content and copy are just as important as the design itself
    When the business model is B2B, copy plays a very important part of the design and must be weighed heavily alongside design to ensure goals are met. Hence, communication with the client and users is the key to ensure we get the right terminologies.

  • Set design system in early stage
    Work as a team, it is important to have the design system for everyone to follow. Once the design system is ready, the process will be much faster and smoother.

  • Good design emphasizes the usefulness of a product
    A product has to satisfy certain criteria since it is brought to be used.