How I led the creation of Heycollab, uniting intuitive design with robust features in SaaS project management.
Summary
In a saturated market of project management tools, I helped create Heycollab to stand out from the crowd. The aim was simple yet ambitious: to deliver a SaaS platform that expertly balances simplicity with capability. My journey began with rigorous market assessment, followed by in-depth research that informed each design decision.
Every aspect of Heycollab was thoughtfully executed. From the user interface to the feature set, every element has been fine-tuned to offer an intuitive and powerful experience. The end result isn’t just another project management tool; it’s a game-changer that proves you can have the best of both worlds.
Roles
SVP of Product
UX Designer
UI Designer
Researcher
Tools
Figma
Adobe CC
Miro
Responsibilities
Strategy
Competitive Research
Quantitative Research
Qualitative Research
User Personas
UX & Visual Design
Prototyping
Usability Testing
Campaign Development
Challenge
In today’s fast-paced digital landscape, teams are trapped in a perpetual relay race—passing the baton from Slack to Trello, Zoom to Harvest, and beyond. This chaotic tool-hopping not only drains efficiency but also inflates per-user costs and turns onboarding into an obstacle course.
Solution
In a digital world full of half-measures and multi-app mayhem, the proposed solution was both audacious and crystal-clear: create a proprietary platform designed to be the ‘one ring’ that rules them all—uniting the fragmented lands of project coordination into one seamless, integrated experience.
Process
Market Research: Quantitative
To gain insights into the operations of distributed teams, we carried out quantitative research focusing on four key areas: communication, project management, collaboration, and online storage & document creation within digital agencies.
As of 2017, according to earthweb research, over 70% of SMBs within the digital marketing sector pay for multiple tools in order to manage their work and their team. This number is up from 40% in 2011.
Most agencies use a project management tool at least once a day. This most recent data from Pew which took a look at usage from 2017, shows the breakdown of US project management use by platform.
The tools have become the standard project management and communication tools to coordinate work, people, communication and collaboration within distributed teams. In all cases more than one tool was used daily.
Challenge
The tools highlighted in the adjacent diagram excel in their specific functions, yet each lacks crucial features necessary for comprehensive project coordination.
Consequently, a company must rely on multiple tools to effectively manage team interactions, tasks, communication, and collaboration.
Market Research: Qualitative
I’ve conducted qualitative research to delve into human behaviors and attitudes. This has involved surveying prospects, holding user interviews, and synthesizing the gathered information. I’ve used these insights to craft empathy maps and user personas, thereby gaining a nuanced understanding of user needs and motivations.
Surveys
In my research, I polled 80 international digital agencies to gauge the number of tools they employ for managing projects. The data was clear: every agency indicated they use at least five different tools to coordinate their activities.
Interviews
In the qualitative study, out of the 80 agencies surveyed, we conducted interviews with 30 individuals across 30 distinct agencies, speaking with roles ranging from project managers to designers and developers. Our aim was to comprehend the types of tools they employ and identify their specific challenges.
Synthesis
Data showed these key challenges:
Juggling multiple tools hampers productivity, with the act of switching between tabs in crowded browsers being a particular pain point.
Onboarding new team members to various platforms is a time-consuming process.
Any change in the user interface disrupts workflow, as users must adapt to new functionalities.
Scaling the team inflates subscription costs significantly.
Empathy Map
Through categorizing interview-derived user pain points by thoughts and feelings, visual cues, spoken words, and actions, I was able to systematically organize each issue based on its distinct features.
User Personas
From interviews and user research, I developed user personas that outlined details like age range, occupation, and interests.
These profiles also highlighted commonly used project management tools, objectives, and pain points.
User Experience Design
User Experience Design is the scientific art of crafting the blueprint behind a product’s functionality.
It lays the groundwork for how a user interacts with a product by methodically planning its information architecture, sitemaps, user flows, and both low and high-fidelity wireframes.
This stage is crucial for vetting different hypotheses through usability testing, ensuring the product not only meets but exceeds user expectations.
Information architecture
Information architecture played a pivotal role when we aimed to consolidate various functionalities, usually scattered across multiple products, into a single tool. We recognized early on that without meticulous planning, the tool would become too complex for easy adoption and usage.
Signup flow
Onboarding
User journey
Armed with a well-defined sitemap that provided a macro-level view, we then honed in on mapping out the specific routes and user flows within the platform. This more granular focus allowed us to ensure a seamless navigation experience across the entire ecosystem.
Sketching
Low-fidelity wireframes serve as rapid iterations to vet the product’s functional methodology.
At this stage, the priority is to nail down the mechanics, sidestepping aesthetic considerations like color, imagery, or illustrations.
Sketching
Following the low-fidelity sketches, we transition to annotated, high-fidelity wireframes.
These digital black-and-white renderings offer a more detailed layout, serving as a refined blueprint for the product’s design.
Usability Testing
After wireframing the web experience’s core functionality, we crafted an interactive prototype and subjected it to user-based usability testing.
This exercise unearthed several UX challenges that required attention.
User Interface Design: Desktop & Mobile
User Interface (UI) Design is the aesthetic discipline that dictates how a product visually communicates with its users.
The process kicks off with the creation of mood boards, serving as visual compasses that help define the product’s overall look and feel.
This initial step is instrumental in shaping a cohesive visual language, setting the stage for the subsequent design elements.
Mood-boards
User Interface Design Desktop: Mac app, Windows app, and the Web
User Interface Design Mobile: iOS and Android
Promo videos
As a key component of our launch campaign, I orchestrated a series of storyboards to produce motion graphics videos.
These visual narratives were designed to amplify awareness and generate excitement about the innovative platform we’ve just unveiled.
User Interface Design: Marketing Website
As the creative lead, I orchestrated the design of Heycollab.com’s marketing website. In collaboration with our marketing team, I meticulously crafted the website’s narrative and copy, establishing the cornerstone for Heycollab’s online brand identity.
Together, we transformed vision into a vibrant, user-centric experience that encapsulates the essence of our unified work platform.
