BrainMatch
The one of a minimum viable product
Project Overview
BrainMatch is a marketplace of mentoring professionals, such as coaches, teachers, mentors, hypnotherapists. The project arose from the users' demand for a platform where they could find these professional profiles, customer feedback, ratings, and make better choices when they are looking for mentoring.
Role:
Solo Designer
Tags:
Prototyping
User stories
Use flow
Interaction Design
Design challenge
To develop the Minimum Viable Product for BrainMatch, creating a simple and easy-to-use platform through which users can find, evaluate and select professionals. The interface was based on the brand's design system.
Designing the product
The first step of the project was to study all the material produced by the User Research Team and all the insights brought by the BrainMatch team. From then on, I started to plan how to create a product that would meet the needs and expectations of these users - looking for the ideal structure of the app content.
User stories
With the User Needs very well mapped, the first step was to translate them into User Stories format. By putting the user at the center of the discussion, we could have more clarity when thinking about the features and resources we could introduce into the system. Particularly considering this project aimed to build an MVP, we needed to develop a lean tool highly focused on relieving the user's most significant pains.
Features & prioritization
We then proceeded to the definition of design solutions to meet the mapped user stories, creating a list of possible features and resources for the project. Then we interviewed users taking the mapped features and asking them to organize this list according to the importance or impact of the tools we were proposing.
To determine the essential features for the MVP, we created a prioritization matrix with the vectors: "adds value for the user" and "easy to implement", and distributed the feature in it, considering the insights brought by the users and the complexity to implement each feature.
User flows
With the MVP features selected, I started to plan the application usage flows, defining the interactions to respond in an optimized and intuitive way to the needs of the user that were mapped. Thus, the user could complete the respective tasks on the platform quickly and objectively.
Wireframes & Tests
As these usage flows were being defined, I elaborated a wireframe mockup, so we could run tests with users. The feedback from them helped us understand if the usage flows were coherent and the presented features met the users' expectations. Thus, we were able to improve the proposed flows and features.
Sitemap
I consolidated the platform into a sitemap. This helped me better view the arrangement of information and tools on the platform, further iterating over this organization and how to simplify it. It helped me structure tools and interactions objectively and user-friendly.
Final product
BrainMatch is a marketplace to find the best mentoring professionals. Through the platform, the user finds a catalog of professionals to serve them close to their region or through videoconference meetings. As an MVP, many processes on the platform were designed to be executed manually (human backend), making the product leaner and straightforward.
Service catalog
Users looking for mentoring can search for the category of professionals they want. They can also select whether they want a face-to-face or online session. Then, they will access a catalog of professionals, being able to choose the options they find more attractive. Also, they can filter by ratings, price, and region.
Professional page
Professionals can register on the platform and create their own pages, to advertise their services. They can inform the types of service they do, prices, region, and other desired information. They can even add certificates and a presentation video to create more credibility for their work.
User rating & feedback
The rating system is one of the essential tools on the platform. System users aren't just looking for the contact information of any professional. They want to access recommended professionals, with feedback from other users - so they feel more confident about their choices when hiring a new professional.
Results
From the creation of the Minimum Viable Product, BrainMatch launched its marketplace, reaching several professionals and users - and validating their business hypotheses.
Validation of the business model
The platform obtained a significant number of registered professionals and users, showing that the market hypothesis is true, there is a big demand for that service, and the business model makes sense.
Testing revenue model
Throughout the project implementation, different revenue models were tested. The project allowed, through tests, to search for answers about which business model would make more sense for the company.
Users around the globe
The platform began to expand its operations in Latin America and Europe, showing itself as a product with potential for global operation.
BrainMatch's project brought interesting challenges, mainly from looking for lean solutions - which often meant resorting to manual processes or pre-existing solutions. This project gave me a great deal of learning about how we always need to have our eyes on the user. Because if we understand their main needs and how to solve them in a focused and objective way, we will successfully build great products.
