Platform that connects the world's professionals to make them more productive and successful
The Problem
"I'm a project-based professional trying to include a portfolio on my LinkedIn, but I can't find the option to add industry specific experience and portfolio sharing."
The Goal
Re-design existing LinkedIn site to make it more accessible to creative project-based professionals that is currently only supported in a limited capacity. This limitation is driving the aforementioned industries to use other platforms to connect and display their work.
Design Process
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Discover: Interview Research Participants over Zoom and create current site User Flow and Site Map.
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Define: Create Affinity Map in Miro to iterate on Problem Statements of target Personas.
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Develop: Conduct Design Studio to form sketches, which inform Wireframes. Conduct Usability Testing in Maze.com to validate design decisions for Hi-Fidelity Prototype in Figma (mobile and desktop versions).
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Deliver: Present Canva slide deck to highlight design process and applicable metrics to stakeholders and provide detailed Research Report and artifacts.
Role
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UX Researcher and Designer
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Analysis and Strategy
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Wire-framing and Prototyping
Tools
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Figma
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Canva
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Miro
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Trello
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Maze
Key Insights
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LinkedIn does not have integration capabilities to embed portfolio website
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LinkedIn does not allow for customization of how projects are presented on profile page
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LinkedIn is not always used as commonly as other sites such as UpWork and Behance in order to search for contract/freelance and/or creative field jobs.
Feature Analysis
My team and I chose to complete a competitive analysis to get insight on the scope and functionalities of different companies. Using feature analysis, we were able to determine the similarities and differences of how LinkedIn stacks up against their competitors. A lot of our inspiration came from sites that users cited in their interviews that they preferred to use over LinkedIn for presenting their work.
User Interviews
My team and I conducted interviews with five individuals. Participants ranged in backgrounds from architecture to theater lighting design. These individuals were chosen because of the creative and project-based nature of their work roles. There was a general consensus that LinkedIn wasn't meeting the standards for their industries and they preferred other sites to upload and display their portfolio content.
I like using Wix to build
my portfolio website.
I prefer to avoid subscriptions.
I need a secure
platform to
protect my work.
I do my best to keep my
portfolio up to date.
I am intentional with how
I present my work.
I want my portfolio to be a
genuine reflection of myself.
I want a portfolio
that sets me apart.
I am just trying to figure things out.
I use my portfolio to
align with professional
standards of my industry.
I feel pressured to use LinkedIn
because it feels like a professional
staple.
Creative Industry Applicants
Personas
Bio
Annie is an architect that primarily uses LinkedIn, Wix, and Google Drive to store, share, and display her project-based work. She updates her portfolio regularly, but there is no template for displaying project-based work on any of these platforms. She uses multiple platforms because they align with the professional standards of her industry.
Goals
To have something unique enough to express herself, but also industry relevant and competitive.
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To grant access to potential employers.
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Guidance in creating necessary parts of industry standard portfolio.
Frustrations
Dislikes subscriptions.
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Doesn't have a lot of time to update her portfolio regularly
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Doesn't own her work and needs to distribute it discretely.
"A good portfolio sorts the posers from the professionals"
Architect Annie
Bio
Theo is a Lighting Designer that has a LinkedIn, but only as a formality for administrative people to view. He was always presented his profile the way that he was taught in school and doesn't think he needs to change it. He isn't technologically savvy and prefers things to be as straight forward as possible.
Goals
To easy find a way to add his project-based work to his LinkedIn.​
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To incorporate the platforms he already uses to display his work.​
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Guidance in creating necessary parts of industry standard portfolio.
Frustrations
Doesn't want to spend a lot of time updating because he finds most sites unintuitive.
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Doesn't like change.
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Doesn't like subscription-based tools because he doesn't make a lot of money.
"What does it feel like to use my website?"
Theater Theo
Wire Frames
Our initial sketches supported the idea of the "LinkedIn Library" where users could upload and display their current relevant portfolio pieces. Our main objectives were to make the process of adding the content more intuitive to find and the upload process to allow for customization of content.
Updated User Flow
User Testing
Usability Test #1
Firstly, we conducted a test to determine discoverability of "add projects" feature on current LinkedIn site.
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Insights:
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Users had significant trouble finding it and a significant amount of participants gave up after multiple attempts.
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This resulted in only an 11% success rate, and an overwhelming 92% misclick rate, along with a bounce rate of 89%.
92%
Misclick Rate
89%
Bounce Rate
Usability Test #2
Next, once the Low-Fidelity Wireframe was created, we ran another usability test to compare the rate of success for finding the similar feature we created as a solution.
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Insights:
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Task success rate rose significantly to 71% and the bounce rate was reduced to 15%.
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The average duration of the task drastically declined as well.
71%
Success Rate
15%
Bounce Rate
Usability Test #3
Lastly, between the low-fidelity wireframe and high-fidelity prototype, there were several elements that we further iterated on based on user feedback. We removed the "Mark as Highlighted" feature, as users were confused on what that was for, or it wasn't relevant to them and sometimes prevented them from successfully completing the task. We optimized upload and link embedding process for mobile version. We also planned to implement verbiage stating that first three project uploads will be free, but any additional portfolio items will be exclusive to Premium members.
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Insights:
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Task success rate closed the gap at 100%!
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The bounce rate also fell to 0%, with users taking an average of 30 seconds to complete the task; compared to 104 seconds that it took them on the first usability test.
100%
Success Rate
0%
Bounce Rate
100%
Future Roadmap
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Create an API between Wix and LinkedIn
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Streamline the process of users including their portfolio content by allowing them to embed it directly from Wix, instead of manually having to upload a link. Communication between the software systems would also include updating the portfolio page automatically on LinkedIn if new content was published on Wix.
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​2. Customization of each profile page section as a widget
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Users will be able to drag and drop content of their profile page in the order that they choose to highlight the features that are the most important to them and what they want to emphasize to recruiters.
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​3. Add a security feature that allows private projects to be included in a user's portfolio
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For certain projects and industries, privacy and company-owned content is important to be safeguarded where only applicable parties are able to access the content. Users will be able to password protect any necessary portfolio items and only recruiters with special privilege designated by users will be able to access.
Reflections
Design Decisions
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Prioritized making the flow as similar as possible to the current user experience for consistency.
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Felt as though they were missing out on a significant part of the labor force by not having the necessary platform/customization for creative fields that have project based roles and portfolios.
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Important to keep users on the LinkedIn site as much as possible instead of going to other platforms that were mentioned in User Interviews from a business perspective to make members more sticky.
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Future steps to implement would be setting up an API to connect with portfolio websites. Once future iterations were implemented, incorporate educational elements to teach users how to navigate new features.​
Results
The positive trend shown by user testing results supports our case that adding the “LinkedIn Library” feature will lead to increased site traffic and an expanded reach to the creative demographic. This feature will help support the business goals by bringing in additional revenue for any users that upload more than three portfolio items, and it is aligned with the mission of the organization that states they want to connect the world’s professionals to make them more productive and successful.
Iteration of Goal
The main challenge was identifying the problem and how we could uniquely solve it. Research participants were already comfortable with using a different platform that had significantly more creative capabilities than LinkedIn, so we belived the approach needed to stay consistent with the existing design system, while also incorporating some flexibility and customization to attract and retain a broader demographic of job seekers.
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​Initially, we were going to take the approach of creating multiple “profile add-on templates” that users could choose from. Examples would have included architect, graphic designer, artist, entrepreneur, etc. However, this was deemed inconsistent with users needs that arose during interviews and usability testing, which was that they wanted a platform that was highly customizable to them, but also straightforward to use and maintain.
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Challenges
I built upon my fundamental understanding of wireframing and prototyping in Figma. I emphasized how to add value to the business by reaching a unique demographic of job seekers. I ran a Design Studio where I used my skills of collaborating and iterating with a team.