Hey there!
I’m Tony.

I love working alongside people
to creatively solve problems
so that everyone can do their best work.

Case Study: Pro-File

Problem:

Over the pandemic a lot of people took up hobbies with all their spare time. Woodworking exploded as so many people took to YouTube to learn to be the next Bob Villa. But all those new woodworkers found themselves with very specific problems, and no YouTube video telling them how to solve it

Solution:

And that’s why I came up with Pro-File, a web app for hobbyist woodworkers to connect with experts via video chat, to help them find the answers they needed to get their projects finished.

My Design Process

Discover

Competitor Analysis
& User Research

Define

Defining the Problem

Develop

Creating a solution

Deliver

Testing & Refining
to final product


Discovering our user’s needs

We know there’s plenty of people out there building, but what are they building? How did they learn? Do they want to keep learning? With all the free information out there, why would they pay for the Pro-File service?

Competitor Analysis

Fine Woodworking

SWOT Profile:
Strengths:
• 45 Years of experience and industry relationships
• Name Recognition and vast library of plans and articles

Weaknesses:
• Not beginner friendly
• Doesn’t appeal to younger audience
• Not social media savvy

Opportunities:
• We could provide more community and personalization/connection

Threats:
• Magazine Subscriptions falling

The Maker’s Mob

SWOT Profile:
Strengths
• Savvy creators that have their own built in audience
• Experience with social media and modern marketing
• Community build-along series

Weaknesses
• Most content is video based, limiting usability
• Plans tend to be less detailed
• Smaller Library of Projects/Plans

Opportunities
• We could provide one-on-one connection with experts and audience

Threats
• Limited number of experts could mean instability if they were to leave platform.

User Survey

Research Goals

  • Identify the general attitude of users towards one-on-one video conferencing with experts.
  • Identify what users would hope to learn from speaking with an expert.
  • Identify the pricing model users find most desirable for the service.

Results Analysis

I struggled with a lot of assumptions about how people would respond to the app idea, which gave me an opportunity to analyze my questions for bias. I ensured they assumed nothing, and sought to answer my research goals. The goals really helped me to form the questions.

  • Hobbyists tend to work in fits and starts, and not consistently
  • Most build useful things like furniture
  • Woodworkers tend to be frugal and not very willing to pay for services
  • Video chatting makes some people nervous
  • Pay-As-You-Go is the by far preferred.

User Interviews

I conducted interviews with 3 woodworkers, focusing on how they participate in their hobby. I wanted to get an idea of their consistency, motivation, and purpose. Additionally, I wanted to see how they learned to expand their skills and deal with problems that arise from woodworking. Using this information, I could determine how likely they would be to use Pro-File, and what kind of usage I could expect.

Key Insights
  • Users would seek answers for very specific questions in regards to their personal projects, and with the tools they have on hand.
  • Despite being a hobby, most woodworkers use their skills to build functional projects they use in their daily life.
  • Users have many different resources for learning at many different price points. Much of it is free.
  • This abundance of info can be overwhelming, but also lack specificity to a user’s needs. 
  • Users enjoy problem solving and the creativity it requires. This also creates very specific hurdles that are hard to find info on how to overcome.
  • On-demand, pay-as-you-go pricing is the most popular pricing model
  • Some users may be uneasy about engaging with experts via video
  • Timeliness in response may not be a worry for us, since users can easily put off work until next weekend, etc.
  • Users find join in creating, which can be used in our marketing.
  • Users work in fits and starts, for various extents of time. 

Defining the Problem

Using the data gathered in the Discovery phase, I created 2 User Personas to guide decisions made in the Development phase.

Personas

Using the data gathered in the Discovery phase, I created 2 User Personas to guide decisions made in the Development phase.

Cathy

Motivations:
• Growth through overcoming challenges
• A sense of ownership through customization
• Providing for family

Pain Points:
• Feels like she’s underestimated because she’s a woman
• Low quality resources
• Finding time to woodwork


Drew

Motivations:
• Joy of building
• Productive hobby
• Building confidence

Pain Points:
• Nervous about interaction with new people
• Not enough free time
• Hesitant to spend money

User Journeys

With Personas I can put myself in the mind of a user and imagine how they would solve a specific problem they may encounter.

With Drew we have the scenario where his focus is on improving his skills. Using this outlook I can visualize how he would interact with Pro-File and better understand what he would need from us to feel the service is worthwhile.


Using these Journey Maps I can look at tasks a user would perform to achieve their goals, how they might feel during the process, and opportunities for Pro-File to uniquely meet their needs.

This process helps me make sure my motivations serve the user first, and meet their needs.

User Flows

Now that we understand what a user needs for these specific tasks, I can create User Flows that help me understand what specific pages my web app will require.


Developing a Solution

Now that I know what my users need, I can start designing solutions that meet those needs and are effortless and joyful to use.

Sitemap

Thanks to data gained from the User Flows, I can now create a sitemap that includes all the pages needed for Pro-File to give users what they’re expecting.

At first I’d designed the site to be a series of libraries. A user’s Questions, their Projects, and finally the library or Experts. However, I found that this required the user to have prior knowledge of this concept, or they would have to learn it as they went. This would be especially difficult at the beginning when they have not yet posted any questions or projects.

In the revision, I bifurcated the site into two sections: user generated, and Pro-File generated. All the experts and courses are what we provide, and all the questions and projects are what the user provides. This has a more natural feel and requires less inference from the user.

Paper Prototype

Paper Prototyping taught me the importance of fast iteration and trying things that may or may not work. Unlike working on digital prototypes, nothing about this process can be the final draft, so it keeps you from trying to perfect every detail, and instead focus on different ways to create a Minimum Viable Product.

Mid-Fidelity Prototype

Now that we’ve iterated on ideas and concluded what’s best, it’s time to create a semi-functional digital prototype. Using Figma, I created a few of the task flows that came from our User Journeys.

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