Fundi 254
The easiest way to find and connect with artisans
At a Glance
The Fundi 254 team approached me to do a redesign of their app after the first version failed to gain traction due to poor user experience.
The original app was designed for both artisans and customers, but it was difficult to use for both groups. The artisan side of the app was cluttered and difficult to navigate, and the customer side of the app was not very user-friendly.
I worked on the redesign for three months, and I was finally able to deliver the designs for both the artisans app and the customers app. The new app was a huge improvement over the original app. It was easy to use for both artisans and customers, and it had all of the features that users had requested.
The new app was a success. It quickly gained traction and became the go-to app for connecting artisans with customers. The Fundi 254 team was very happy with the results!
Timeline
3 Months
Roles
UX Designer
Collaboration
1 Founder
1 team of SWEs
Platform
Figma
📄
Client's Need
Fundi 254 is looking to revolutionize how people in Kenya gain access to skill labour. They are also looking to change the decades long narrative that there are no jobs in Kenya.
The team, through their team of Software Engineers, developed the first version of the app, with most of the focus being on functionality, and very little focus on experience. The goal then, was to test out whether a product like that was actually feasible to build.
After their first launch, the reception was not very good, and most users complained about the substandard experience, dated UI and long processes to get simple actions done.
It was at this time that the team realized the missing ingredient: A UX Designer.
🤕
Problem
According to the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights, Kenyans below the age of 35 make up 75% of the Kenyan Population.
Among these, a majority end up broke and unemployed, as they cannot find meaningful employment, even with the right skills.
However, this does not mean that the demand for these skills does not exist. Among the Kenyan population, trust is very important, as high levels of insecurity, and weak law enforcement infrastructure (eg. poor response times from police) leads many Kenyans to be weary and cautious of who they let into their houses.
The lack of a standard system of skills assessment and certification also means that it is quite difficult to differentiate a skilled artisan from an unqualified one.
This has brought the need to have an intermediary that can assure customers of the security of their houses, as well as an assurance of quality work, from qualified artisans.
At the same time, the artisans also require one platform where people with needs for their services can be found, with thee assurance that they will also be paid for their hard labour.
💡
Solution
I designed a website and car buying/selling platform for Carnversations, that has a simple yet incredible user experience, and allows people to buy cars from the comfort of their homes without the need to make a call or write a message. This enabled the team to serve more clients, and generated more money for the team, allowing it to expand rapidly over the last four months.
🔒
Design Constraints
In this project, I had the following constraints:
- Time: The team was rushing to compete with other upcoming players in the market.
- Budget: The team runs a low budget operation, and so there was limited budget for activities like research.
- Branding: The branding resources were not extensive, and I had to design a lot of the assets by myself.
🚀
Process
📊
Competitive Analysis
The biggest strength of this platform is the strong and influential brand behind it. This creates a ready market, who are eager to test and buy from the platform. There is, however, the threat of many more upcoming similar platforms, even through from less reputable brands, and will poorer user experience.
🔍
Interviews & Surveys
With the knowledge of Design Thinking, and extensive experience in conducting user research, I conducted interviews and sent out questionnaires to our car dealers and customers respectively.
Objectives (Dealers)
- To understand the challenges that dealers face when selling cars online.
- To determine how dealers currently use technology and tools to manage their businesses, and explore how the car buying platform can integrate with existing workflows and systems.
to assess the potential impact of the car buying platform on dealer performance, eg. increased sales.
- To identify the features and functionality that are most important to dealers when using the car buying platform, eg. the ability to manage their inventory.
- to understand how dealers perceive the value proposition of the car buying platform to their business.
Objectives (Buyers)
- To understand the challenges that buyers face when buying cars online.
- To inquire buyers’ experiences buying cars online (Social media)
To understand buyers’ frustrations when they face con artists out to take their money.
- To understand the most important things for a user when selecting a platform from which to buy a car.
📉
Findings from Intervews & Questionnaires (Dealers)
INTERVIEW INSIGHT #1
Dealers struggle with managing inventory.
Because dealers post their cars on different online and social media platforms, they often have a hard time managing their inventory, such as adding new cars and removing sold cars.
INTERVIEW INSIGHT #2
Dealers struggle with difficult onboarding processes
Due to the fast paced nature of car dealerships, car dealers prefer a simple, easy to follow onboarding process, so as to leave time to attend to floor duties and sales.
INTERVIEW INSIGHT #3
Dealers have a hard time proving their legitimacy on Social Media.
Due to the increasing number of con people stealing from unsuspecting customers, people have grown weary of dealers looking to sell cars on Social Media sites. This is because it has become hard to differentiate legitimate dealers from fake ones, and the real dealers end up suffering from this.
INTERVIEW INSIGHT #4
Dealers are limited on the number of serious customers they can reach on social media.
According to dealers, a lot of enquiries on social media usually end up as dead ends, with an average success rate of 5 – 8%. With this, a lot of dealers prefer to only respond to online queries in their free time, or have someone dedicated to that.
INTERVIEW INSIGHT #5
Dealers would want an all in one platform to sell their vehicles on.
80% of dealers said they would switch prefer an online platform, if that platform made it easier to sell their cars, was easy to use and was reputable and trustworthy.
📉
Findings from Intervews & Questionnaires (Buyers)
INTERVIEW INSIGHT #1
Buyers want a trustworthy platform.
Most buyers are looking to spend their life savings on a car, and this means that they are very weary of the platforms from which they buy a car. 96% of respondents said trust is an important factor when choosing a platform from which to buy a car.
INTERVIEW INSIGHT #2
Variety is an important factor when choosing a platform.
Just like in retail, buyers want a platform where they can find a variety of cars to choose from. Buyers want to compare things like price, colours, trim levels and vehicle features, before they settle on the car to buy.
INTERVIEW INSIGHT #3
Buyers want to physically see the car first, before they can pay.
Due to the increasing cases of people being conned of their hard earned cash, 78% of respondents said they had to see a vehicle first before making payment. The rest said they would trust an appointed and trusted agent for the purchase.
INTERVIEW INSIGHT #4
Buyers value consistent communication
82% of buyers said they had bad experiences with social media, where buyers did not respond to them in time or in a courteous language. This discouraged them from making purchases from dealers they had met online.
🥺
Building Empathy
Using the quantitative and qualitative data from interviews and survey results, I defined the two target group profiles Anne (Buyer, 36) and Peter (Car Dealer, 45) to better empathize with my main user groups and prioritize goals according to their needs.
Empathy Mapping
🎨
Visual Design
After a long, iterative process, I was able to come up with the following screens for the landing page, car buying platform and dealer dashboard.
Landing Page
Vehicle Search
Vehicle Details
Vehicle Onboarding
Dealer Dashboard
Vehicle Listings
🌱
What I Learned
This was definitely one of the most fulfilling products I have designed. it was a product of passion, both for cars and love for the channel. I enjoyed the process, highs and lows and the final highlight: The launch!
Below are some things that I learned during this project:
#1. Big challenges require small steps
Take small steps, because big changes can not be brought overnight, especially not just by an application alone. Accordingly, develop more strategically meaningful and realistically applicable tools that steer in the intended direction.
#2. Be open to research and let ideas go
I thought too digitally and approached the product with too concrete ideas about the result, thus failing to correctly take into account some needs and challenges of the target group and thus unfavourably defined the minimum viable product.
#3. Boots on the ground will often work magic
Before this project, i often depended on sending out questionnaires online, and I did not realize how much it inhibited the amount of information I would collect. Being on the ground and talking to users directly opened up the conversations, and I ended up collecting more information as a result. Also I improved my skills in conversational interviewing, where I made all my interviews more of conversations, and less of interrogations.