TALNT SH
A new consulting experience
changing the industry
Initially I joined TALNT as a React Developer. My role was to work with the team in delivering new features to the product and updating any UI changes that were required to improve and maintain TALNT. The goal for the company was to become a market leader in executive search so the plan was to improve TALNT's software product to increase the efficiency and create a platform that can be added into users day to day workflows when individuals and organisations are searching for TALNT.
Analysing TALNT's biggest competitors revealed that the companies biggest competitors typically focused on a specific key need, whether it was people moves, business hierarchy or in-depth profiles. Interestingly, some of these differences were brought up by participants during my user interviews later on, showing a need for a more comprehensive digital solution.
“How do you use TALNT?” To understand this question, I conducted several interviews via phone and video call to learn about: Processes and resources that experienced users to help them in their daily workflow. Concerns or barriers that are preventing other users from becoming more involved.
"I want to be able to clearly see the moves that are relevant to me and the categories and regions that me and my team cover."
"I tend to check TALNT in the mornings for the email alerts, I would like to be able to quickly check the site on the go and an improved mobile site will help me do this."
"The landing page is a bit clustered and as a new user it can seem a bit intimidating so maybe some pointers to guide me on to how to use the platform."
The competitive analysis and user interviews gave me a better understanding of who the users were and how they might use aTALNT. I focused on expanding those findings into concrete visualisations that would help me empathise with users and define the product.
Based on patterns from my user insights I developed two personas - a consultant and researcher. Since the goal of the project was to make TALNT a primary resource and a day to day for these users, it was important for the features to be intuitive for beginners. As such, the consultants were the primary persona I focused on for the rest of the project’s development.
After creating my persona, I decided to place her in a specific situation when she can use the product. The primary use case was inspired by the research from the user interviews, competitive analysis showing the niche in the market, and a persona I could fully emphasise with.
The MVP allows users to see daily moves and analytics on the platform and also filter moves to their own preferences, with the ability to upgrade to a paid version of the site for additional features.
Based on the user flow, task flows and feature roadmap, I designed the simple site map that’s functional and easy to navigate.
The first version of lo-fi wireframes allowed me to run early usability tests and discover the priority revisions that need to be implemented ASAP. That decreased the number of iterations to the later versions with all effort being put into creating the hi-fi interface.The version below includes iterations made mainly to the information architecture and microcopy such as:
While designing the User interactions, I focused on creating a visually friendly and user interface to accommodate users with different levels of computer literacy . The UI/UX had variations based on the complexity of the application and different motivations of each user group, with final iterations of the MVP being selected after receiving feedback from a number of different user groups.
Project Takeaways
I knew going into this project that it would be a challenge. What features are most important? How could we provide a solution to satisfy a range of user needs? Given the diversity problems that the TALNT community faces, what are some ways the product can provide relief? I found myself truly enjoying the process of designing and strategising flows and user interactions. Some key takeaways are:
In-depth research.
With so many issues to consider, researching the user needs and deciding the key deliverables for what was needed for the MVP product was crucial for the completion of this product.
Understand tradeoffs in decision-making. Knowing when and why to use a particular tool or research strategy is part of the critical-thinking needed to successfully deliver.
Use existing patterns to decrease cognitive load. Spending time designing a unique interaction for a common function isn’t necessary if users already expect it to work a certain way. While the MVP cannot solve all the needs of the TALNT community, I believe that a good user experience can facilitate more valuable feedback and discussion with our users getting us closer to a solutions that improves their day to day workflows.