Designing a Startup’s Minimum Viable Product

A project I worked on as a freelancer. I was entrusted to help outline and consequently design the minimum viable scope of Workstories – an enterprise solution allowing employees to communicate work updates through short-form videos in an easily digestible "reels" format.

Company

Freelance for Workstories

Years

2021-2022

Categories

UI and UX Design
Visual Identity Design
Product Strategy

My role

The end-to-end design process – including basic strategy (as it relates to the product), brand design, and the entire product design loop.

Designing a cost-effective scope

Background

In remote work, writing and reading lengthy text updates is a chore. The app aims to make it more pleasant by enabling users to share short-form video and audio. This format decreases the required time and effort, reviewing the newest company happenings can be done in the mornings while commuting, eating lunch, or simply doing something else. While the prospect is exciting, the concept comes with many potential UX and strategic challenges.

Establishing strategic direction and potential USPs was the project’s most crucial problem early on. Competitive analyses would be the basis for the value proposition and finer details within the app itself.

Focusing on highlighting the idea’s promise to investors through solid product designand interactions was another unique but critical aspect of the project to account for.

Establishing a productive relationship with my client, and by extension, key stakeholder, would be the make-or-break facet of the entire design process.

The Process

Understanding the project objectives and business context. Before work on the project could start, I established an understanding of the overarching idea and goals through interviews with my client and, by extension, key stakeholder.

Preliminary background research and competitive analysis. With a base understanding of the project's end goals, I could start working on research that'd be fundamental to the product design direction and strategy.

Drafting a rough product plan, figuring out how to frame potential USPs. Based on the preliminary research, I could start drafting basic user flows and, alongside my client, specify which potential USPs to focus on and how to frame them within the app's UX.

Alignment with the client and dev team on fundaments of the MVP. With a strategic outline ready, alignment talks with the developers have begun. As it was an MVP focused on getting seed investment funds, it was essential to work only on the parts of the scope key to the value proposition.

Additional research and lo-fi wireframing the app – necessary in figuring out the app's aspects that could make or break the product. Flows such as registration or video editing were the focal point of the low-fidelity wireframing process.

Client feedback and alignment, development discussions. I routinely ensured the design was evolving in a direction consistent with the expectations of my client and developers while also providing my own advice, ideas, and feedback.

High-fidelity product design and prototyping. Interactive prototypes were crucial for two reasons: helping developers understand abstract design decisions and pitching the idea's future potential to investors.

Design handover and completion of the design stage of the project. With the completion of the design, I supported the team through the development process by providing feedback and information related to the app's design.

The app was designed in stages of limited scope. The approach ensured swift development of product fundaments needed for seed investment.

Low-fidelity wireframes were crucial in aligning critical product decisions early in the process without consuming a lot of resources.

Wireframes helped align on key decisions early in the process.

Research of the broader market and potential competitors set the basis for product decisions.

High-level user flows ensured the user journey was coherent and logical across the product.

Besides pure UX-related activities, I've also explored various potential visual and brand identity directions early in the design process. Although it wouldn't cover everything, this exploration helped establish a name, the logo, and other fundamentals that gave the final design visual cohesion.

I’ve explored a potential visual identity. Though elementary, these fundaments gave the finished product visual cohesion.

The Outcomes

The project completed its primary objective – successfully convincing investors to finance the seed investment thanks to the visual presentation, an exciting interactive prototype, and a demo MVP version of the app, all connected by consistent foundational branding. Below are the highlights of the completed product design.

The design approach prioritized cost-effective development, particularly in early pre-investment and seed stages. Still, the design process and research also explored potential future experiments and improvements.

The MVP scope(s) was fully planned out, designed, and prototyped.Pitch decks went smoothly, partly thanks to a visible and promising plan for improvements past the initial demo scope.

Elementary branding tied the project together visually. This consistency made the startup more distinct and memorable to potential investors.

The app was designed around short-burst sessions with minimal engagement required. This approach translates to the product's user flow, UI design, and select key interactions.

How can the user be stopped to share reactions work in product direction, that prioritizes short burst sessions…? Simply hold and release the thumb as the video plays.

Video-editing features were greatly simplified to fit the smartphone form factor without sacrificing usability.

Video updates would be used to perform a constant pulse survey in the organization. Engagement data visualizations help gauge the overall mood of coworkers.

I’ve created an entire icon set as a part of the startup's visual identity.

Showcase 5

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As usual, there is still so much more to cover but only so little time. Feel free to check out my social media links or drop me a message to learn more about my work, skills or availability.