Designing a SaaS product from scratch
Background
Team: 2 developers, junior designer, and 2 Founders
How it started…
Conduit is an HR Tech startup focused on increasing worker turnover rates.
I joined Conduit to help the founders translate their customer discovery into a tangible user experience.
This project is currently in development and is beginning a pilot with customers.
The problem
Talent Retention is a significant problem in the food service space, costing businesses billions every month.
However, employees in highly engaging jobs tend to stay.
The approach
The goal is to develop a SaaS HR tech tool
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to boost engagement in service job workers by asking for preferences
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help the co-founders secure ongoing funding for the product’s development
Who were our user groups?
Conduit and I partnered with local coffee shops and small food chain businesses to conduct discovery research. I categorized our users into three distinct groups:
Owners
- Concerned about reducing worker turnover rates
Managers
- Focused on smooth operations and scheduling
Employees
- Desire for their scheduling preferences to be met
How I created from a cloud of ideas: The Ideation Process
In design workshops with stakeholders, I made rough wireframes and iterated through mid-fi prototypes.
Storytelling to Sell
Throughout the development of Conduit’s prototype, I needed to create a plausible story to support the founder’s demo.
Conduit builds feedback loops to improve worker retention rates through careful consideration of employee preferences.
How user testing shaped Conduit’s product
As of recently, I have been spearheading the user research for Conduit using my prototypes for three branches:
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usability of the current prototype
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brainstorm future features of the prototype
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create a business case through the pilot program
Pain Point: Shift Preference Clarity
Shift preference availability is a key point of Conduit’s software, but it wasn’t obvious to users how to mark preferences.
Solution: Provide Sequential Clarity
For clarity, shift preferences are entered one at a time.
Branding and Design System: Fun but Professional
As an early stage startup, Conduit needed to create a brand identity from scratch. This is where I came in and simultaneously began building a design system while designing the product.
This design system is inspired by educational gamified apps.
Outcome
The completion of the prototype allowed Conduit to launch their first pilot, creating the first batch of users for their platform.
Conduit also met their goal for VC funding in Q1 of 2024.
Reflection
Novelty requires user testing
Calendar preferences were a new feature that Conduit introduced. We found this feature helpful for users, but needed the most iteration to understand how to make it intuitive.
Design System 101
The design system proved invaluable for designer to developer handoff. I designed the system at the same time while building the product, which helps create components that will realistically be used.
Next Steps
Conduit is currently beginning pilot programs with company partners.