Understanding the Industry
Comparing Trailblaze to other products on the market
During competitive research, we looked at Industry leaders like LinkedIn and Indeed and also at smaller companies like Otta.
Trailblaze is the only modern job seeking platform that utilizes conversation AI for young professionals in the US who are looking to kickstart their careers in the era of modern technology and an ever-changing job market. I completed this project with Scout Studio at Northeastern as a studio designer.
During competitive research, we looked at Industry leaders like LinkedIn and Indeed and also at smaller companies like Otta.
Before designing, we conducted 3 employer interviews and 5 student interviews. We also sent a survey which got 30+ responses. From our research, here's what we saw:
Next, we jumped into user stories to get a better ideas of features or pages to include for Trailblaze. Since Trailblaze is for both seekers and employers, we pulled from our research to create the statements below.
The three descriptors we landed on for the new brand were unconventional, conversational, and clean. We crafted moodboards and design strategies and went with "Modern Fun". Modern Fun is on the idea that the job searching process can be fun and engaging. With cleanliness, and modern touches this strategy represents a new but understandable way to search for jobs.
For our marketing website we had four main pages: the hompage, for employers, about, and blog. The homepage and for employers showed off the features of the application while the about page provides company stats.
For the marketing website, I owned the homepage. Like outlined in the sitemap, the homepage mainly served as a place to display the features of the app while showing a demo and companies already on Trailblaze to add some credibility.
When working through lo-fis I went through several iterations. In the beginning, I based most of it off the existing website. However, the client allowed us to completely step away from that and add or remove sections. We then started working through abstract ways to display the capabilities of Trailblaze.
Halfway through our hi-fis, Scout hosted an user testing workshop. We decided to test out different colorways along with our demo presentation.
Our client wanted to steer away from the beige background we originally chose and add in more neutrals.
We also got feedback that the layout on the left made it look like Trailblaze was a web experience and not a mobile one. We decided to make the mockup the size of the phone and adjust copy.
Check out the final iteration of the home screen and how everything came together.
Don't spend TOO much time on concepting. In the beginning we spent several sprints working through a UX concept. In the end we went a different direction and could've used that time to explore other features.
Don't be afraid to try something different! At first I was concerned the design strategy I came up with was too "trendy" and wasn't very timeless. However, design is always evolving and it ended up being a great direction for our clients.