Sphvere is a platform that aims to connect people of different skillsets together to work on projects. The prototype of the sphvere web app was already designed, but they wanted me to convert their web UI into a mobile app. I took full ownership over the mobile app design, and worked with the team to deliver the alpha prototype of the sphvere iOS app.
The founders of sphvere had ambitious visions and implemented a lot of great components into the web app. However, for a mobile app, it would've made the app seem excessive and scattered. As per Hick's Law, we needed to minimize the number of choices so users don't end up with decision fatigue.
After calling the founders a few times to define user and business needs, I realize that the focus of the mobile app should be on the search algorithm and project management tools. Ultimately, the core vision of sphvere is to help people find and manage projects to collaborate on.
The app's search function is Sphvere's core value proposition. The original web search page contained a lot of information and would have been too crowded for mobile, so I had to removed a lot of secondary components to prioritize the key functions.
I added categories on the main search page for users to easily choose a filter and be presented with a list without needing to input a search term.
All projects could be filtered by category tags, distance to user, experience level required, team size...etc.
Sphvere users are encouraged to create their own projects on the platform and find collaborators. When a project is created or the user is invited to another project, the team dashboard and messaging system also give users the ability to easily manage their tasks.
I spent some time designing and testing different prompts for users to input into the project creation form.
I re-organized the flow so that users would not feel overwhelmed by the amount of information
they need fill in to start a project. One of the key components is the ability for a user
to come back and edit their project later on.
After talking with the team, we decided to build out only the messaging system for the iOS alpha,
as there were not enough time and people to
design an extensive project management dashboard.
After wireframing out the user flow of the two core functions, I went to Figma to build out secondary features of the app. I made sure to design every component with different personas in mind, so that each choice and call-to-action would be clear and user friendly for everyone.
Currently, there are still a lot of parts of the web platform that have not been fully transformed to the mobile version. The web app itself is still in development, but I have transitioned out of the team to work on other paid projects.
Unfortunately, due to the lack of a user base, the team has not been able to test the prototype on a diverse audience. Most of the user requirements and analytics come directly from friends and family that the team reached out to. But the feedback we received were quite positive, and they were helpful in better mapping out user interaction with the app. Hopefully, the team can accquire more funding in the future to hire designers, developers, and testers, which would enhance the quality of the product.