Instafix

Personal Project

Aug - Oct 2023

My Role

In my role as a designer for InstaFix, I focused on enhancing the user experience through UX design, visual design, user research, and wireframing.   

I meticulously crafted an intuitive and visually engaging platform, drawing from user insights to ensure that both service seekers and providers have a seamless and satisfying experience.

Understanding the problem

Workers from weak financial backgrounds, residing below the poverty line, who are forced to migrate to metropolitan cities in search of livelihood, face significant challenges in finding reliable and fair   'blue-collar' or daily-wage employment opportunities.   

The existing methods of job / work searching, primarily reliant on traditional approaches and informal networks, are unreliable, unstable, and often lead to exploitative situations, resulting in financial insecurity and vulnerable working conditions for these individuals

User Research

I conducted a series of interviews with workers who currently provide their services without the aid of a dedicated platform. These interviews aimed to understand the challenges and experiences of workers face on a day to day basis.

By listening to their experiences I tried create a platform that truly addresses their needs and enhances their work experiences. This section unveils the valuable perspectives and feedback shared by these service providers, which have been instrumental in shaping our upcoming app.

Workers actually dont have any concrete roadmap to find work after they arrive to a new city in search of it.
Mostly they have to rely on some relative or acquaintance   (if any) for work related assistance
99% communication regarding any job opportunities / leads happens via word of mouth.
The current best course of action for them is to do tie ups with various hardware shops around the city.
All these approaches cost almost 4-5 years for workers to build a good client base.

Workers actually dont have any concrete roadmap to find work after they arrive to a new city in search of it.
Mostly they have to rely on some relative or acquaintance   (if any) for work related assistance
99% communication regarding any job opportunities / leads happens via word of mouth.
The current best course of action for them is to do tie ups with various hardware shops around the city.
All these approaches cost almost 4-5 years for workers to build a good client base.

Workers actually dont have any concrete roadmap to find work after they arrive to a new city in search of it.
Mostly they have to rely on some relative or acquaintance   (if any) for work related assistance
99% communication regarding any job opportunities / leads happens via word of mouth.
The current best course of action for them is to do tie ups with various hardware shops around the city.
All these approaches cost almost 4-5 years for workers to build a good client base.

Unifying a fragmented vendor ecosystem

Behind the scenes, we still worked with specialized vendors for timing and photography, but the experience was redesigned so that walkers never had to think about that.
I led the integration of timing and media partners via APIs, mapping external data back into our internal user and event models.

After the event, walkers could log into their profile on #JustWalkIndia and see:

Their timing data, broken down by distance checkpoints
Event-specific photos, surfaced by face recognition based on a selfie they uploadedAll of this lived in a single, coherent interface rather than scattered across multiple vendor portals.
Custom Digital Certificates issues to them as a token of appreciation.

Quantitave Analysis

Quantitative Analysis provided crucial insights into user behavior and preferences, enabling data-driven decision-making to enhance the app's functionality and user experience.

User Journey Map of a Blue collar worker

Here I have provided the User Journey Map of one of the workers I interviewed, Shailesh Sharma. He is a skilled electrician and plumber from Uttar Pradesh who migrated to Mumbai in search of stable job opportunities.

As a user Shailesh wants to …

Find active Jobs / Clients
- Shailesh, as a worker, needs a reliable and efficient way to discover job opportunities and connect with potential clients.
Provide Services
- Providing high-quality services is essential to earn a livelihood and build a reputation as a skilled professional.
Establish a good Rapport and a client base
- Building strong relationships with clients is critical for Shailesh to secure repeat business and establish a loyal client base for stable income.

Ideation

The ideation phase marked a pivotal moment in the app's development journey. During this creative process, innovative ideas converged to form the foundation of the platform.

This section delves into the exciting journey of generating and refining these ideas, where we harnessed inspiration, research, and collaboration to design an app that would transform the home repair services industry.

Phase 1

I conducted a thorough 5 Why analysis on the various insights I gather in user research and interviews. The main takeway from this brainstorming activity was that I found out that there is a total ‘absence of centralized app / platform that caters to connecting skilled workers like him with clients, addressing their unique needs and challenges.’

So I narrowed down to designing an app that can act a Job portal that caters specifically to blue collar workers. Here, contractors who need workers on a contract basis can post vacancies which can then be accepted by workers. Kind of like a ‘Blue Collar LinkedIn.’

However this app had various flaws and painpoints like ...

User Base of the app was extremely limited with only recruiters and workers being primary users
Depending solely on contract work can prove challenging for many workers
Workers cant afford to rely solely on a jobs app

Phase 2

So after addressing all issues in ‘Phase 1’ , I had to rethink the process.  I realised that I have to come with the a certain solution that not only ...

Keeps my users end goals same
But also allows me to increase my user base as well

Now the only feasible way i thought to increase my apps user base was to also include the general public as my apps primary users.

Enter... InstaFix

After Phase 2, I finally decided to design an app that revolutionizes the way people seek and receive services, where the power to create service requests is placed directly in the hands of the general public.

This vision led to the creation of InstaFix, an innovative platform that empowers users to request a wide range of services with ease.

These service requests are then seamlessly broadcasted to a network of skilled workers, who have the flexibility to either accept or decline these requests, thereby transforming the way services are delivered and received.

InstaFix: Bridging Two Worlds – Workers and Public

Initially I started this project with my primary goal being - to provide blue-collar workers with a reliable platform for securing stable jobs / clients and incomes. But as I delved deeper into the ideation and design process, an unexpected this transformation occurred.

InstaFix evolved into a dual-purpose platform, not only fulfilling the needs of workers but also addressing a pressing issue faced by the general public. It became a solution that empowered users to effortlessly access a wide array of services, streamlining the process for those who had struggled to find reliable service providers.

This dual impact highlights the dynamic nature of InstaFix's development, where the original goal expanded to meet a broader spectrum of user needs.

User Persona

Lets see 2 of our key users, each with their own stories and needs. By getting to know these user personas, we will gain a deeper understanding of how InstaFix serves both service providers and seekers in various ways.

Wireframes

Based on the research conducted at the UX stage, I started developing wireframes. It was important to conveniently arrange the elements on the screens and provide an intuitive structure of the application.