Redefining Remote Workspaces

A user-centric platform tailored to simplify the discovery and enable remote professionals to effortlessly locate ideal public spaces.

  • Freelancers and remote professionals need a simple solution to find local coffee shops to work from that enable them to maximize their productivity.

  • To gain insight into remote individuals looking for an ideal work space, I interviewed 5 participants all between the ages of 21-26. Participant 1 (F) works remotely as a technician sales representative. Participants 2 (F) and 3 (M) both attend college full-time. Participant 4 (F) works hybrid as an educational director at a non-profit. Lastly, participant 5 (M) works remotely as a systems engineer

  • Create a platform that provides detailed information on essential factors such as Wi-Fi availability, quietness, crowd levels, bathroom facilities, and remote-work-friendly environments, along with optional perks like good coffee/food to enhance the remote work experience. Additionally, ensuring to include an accurate visual representation of the space so users can make well informed/efficient decisions.

  • ~ 1.5 week

Spoiler Alert

Interact with the Post Up platform and find the ideal workspace for you!

Imagine This

You’re a remote professional who just moved to a new city. Today's agenda is bustling, and you urgently need to find a cozy coffee shop to dive into your workload—a place that not only brews a mean cup of coffee but also welcomes remote workers!

However, time isn't on your side. Your workday kicks off in 20 minutes, and here you are, frantically scrolling through a maze of reviews and maps, desperately seeking the perfect spot.

A thought strikes: 'There has to be a better way.' How can finding curated workspaces be quick, seamless, and stress-free?

Enter the solution—an innovative platform that facilitates your search for the ideal workspace.

Project Overview

This case study involved implementing the Google Ventures Design Sprint— with modifications of course. The scenario involved coming on board to run a design sprint to test out a possible solution for Post Up; a new startup that wants to make it easier for freelancers and remote workers to find great coffee shops and public spaces to do work from.

Over the course of a week, I brainstormed, mapped, sketched, adjusted, prototyped, and tested my ideas to solve the problem statement.

The Challenge

Recently, PostUp has seen lots of feedback and discussions about how to find good public places to work from. Users need spaces that allow tasks such as quiet work, phone calls, and quick meetings.

Given the challenge, I wondered whether the PostUp experience could be improved by creating a mobile app that:

  • Revolutionizes the way remote professionals discover existing workspaces

  • and offering premium value and utility through curated information on workspace features, amenities, and ambiance, in exchange for a monthly fee

Thus I asked:

How might we assist remote professionals and freelancers in quickly discovering and accessing curated public workspaces?

Day 1: Understand and Map

I began the project with the objective of understanding user’s current experiences with finding a public place to do remote work. Given the modifications of my design sprint, user insights and persona were provided.

Target Audience:

  • Freelancers or remote professionals that typically work in public spaces.

  • Users between the ages of 22-45.

Understand

User Persona

Map

Possible end-to-end experience a user might have with PostUp

How Might We…

Day 2: Sketching Possible Solutions

Like the Google Ventures experts suggest, my next task involved researching existing apps to determine great interactions that would inspire Postup’s experience. I performed a competitive analysis on 4 platforms: Yelp, Google Maps, Closest Cup, and Maika.

Competitive Analysis

Crazy 8 Method

After researching current competitors my next task involved sketching possible solutions to my most critical screens. I had a vision for my inspiration for the Postup platform, I spent 10 minutes hashing out variations then picking my solution sketches.

Day 3: Create a Storyboard

This day required refining and constructing my wireframes based on my solution sketches. This stepped proved crucial when it came down to the prototyping stage.

Day 4: Prototyping for the Ideal Postup User

Having finalized the wireframes to my satisfaction, I transitioned into the crucial phase of prototyping. This stage centered on refining the key screens intended for user interaction within the Postup platform. My primary emphasis was on meticulously crafting Postup's vibrant color palette, a pivotal element in conveying the brand's essence. Additionally, I dedicated considerable effort to constructing interactive components, striving for a high level of realism in the prototype. These steps were pivotal in ensuring a user-centric experience and bringing the envisioned design to life.

Try it Out!

Interact with the Post Up platform and find the ideal workspace for you!

Day 5: Testing it to REAL people

User Description

I interviewed 5 participants all between the ages of 21-26.

  • Participant 1 (F) works remotely as a technician sales representative.

  • Participants 2 (F) and 3 (M) both attend college full-time.

  • Participant 4 (F) works hybrid as an educational director at a non-profit.

  • Lastly, participant 5 (M) works remotely as a systems engineer.

Tasks

In Act 4 of the Five-Act Interview process, I curated a set of tasks designed to evaluate user interaction and navigation:

  1. Discover: What would you do if you wanted to find coffee shops near you?

  2. Search: What would you do if you wanted to look for specific amenities or features?

  3. Explore: What would you do if you wanted to look at more indoor pictures of the coffee shop?

  4. Preferences: How can you find your favorite coffee shops?

Pain Points

Initial Launch

Concern

The first pain point involved concerns around lack of motivation and informative text on launch page. Users felt disinterested to sign up.

Revised Launch

Implementation

To fix this issue I added informative text and an incentive to motivate users to register.

Initial Workspace Screen

Concern

The second pain point was the was the like icon on the product image page. Users were confused on the purpose/reasoning of this action.

Revised Workspace Screen

Implementation

To fix this, I added an “i” icon so that users can receive more information about what liking the images does.

04 Reflections, Reflections.

This one person Design Sprint definitely pushed me out of my comfort zone. I typically have tackled 1-3 month case studies. Condensing my work into 1 week almost deemed impossible. However, despite racing under the clock I managed to gain valuable skills.

First, I learned that working under pressure and having tight deadline promotes my creativity even more than ever. The two proved to have a positive correlation. Second, prioritization, prioritization & prioritization. I had many moments where I would shift my focus entirely. I would tell myself, “Maybe I should create local variables and styles”, “This definitely needs a logo!” or “I need to make more screens”. I had to constantly bring myself back to reality and recall the problem statement. Reflecting back, goal setting before I kickstarted my Design Sprint would have promoted optimization and structure. All in all, this was an exciting project!