Cohort is a student-focused freelancing platform.
Mission Statement
Our mission is to provide students with real work experience under the professional guidance of an educator.
Students that use our platform expand their skills, grow their professional networks, and earn fair compensation.
Small businesses that participate access a wide pool of up-and-coming design talent at prices they can afford while expanding their business.
Everyone that uses Cohort participates in an exciting and creative collaboration.
Table of Content
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Market Research
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Problem Discovery
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User Interviews
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User Journey Maps
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Ideations: SKU Matrix
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Positioning Matrix
User Scenarios & Prototypes
Characters Introduction
Business Owner
Robert is the founder of Elite Safety Products, a company producing gloves for different uses.
Student
Tim is a college student majoring in Product Design in ArtCenter.
Mentor
Dana is a professional designer and professor, working at ArtCenter.
Stage 01: Look for A Freelance Practice
Scenario ① : Join a freelance project
Tim takes part in a required preparatory class teaching basics about freelance at the school.
On the class, he learns about Cohort, a student freelancing platform.
Once finishing the pre-requisite, Tim registers in a class for practicing freelance techniques.
After analyzing students' past performance and skill sets, the mentor, Dana sends a project invitation to Tim.
Stage 02: Start A Freelance Practice
Scenario ② : Kick off meeting with the client
In the beginning, Dana helps both students and the client to set up the first meeting.
Tim adds the meeting schedule in his project timeline and meeting calendar.
During the meeting, Robert introduces their company, the project brief and the relative market research.
Tim takes notes for this meeting in the meeting channel.
Stage 02: Start A Freelance Practice
Scenario ③ : Make a project plan
After that, Tim and his teammate, Elyse are assigned to draft a project plan first.
The “To Do List" leads to the section of “project forms”.
They decide to make Negotiation Strategy Canvas first which is a tool to identify the client’s essential needs and come up with convincible pricing strategies.
Then, they start to draft several project plans referring to their previous analysis for Robert to have alternative choices.
The optional guiding tags could be dragged into the project plan to help them complete the form.
Dana is informed and gives some comments in the group chat.
After several rounds of negotiation, Tim and Elyse reach an agreement with Robert.
Stage 03: Work on A Freelance Practice
Scenario ④ : Divide tasks and assignments
While having a discussion with Dana, Tim and Elyse make a series of task lists according to the current project milestone.
In the beginning, students come up with 3 design proposals separately for the new use of gloves.
Tim uploads his work under the task and notifies Elyse and Jeff automatically.
Stage 03: Work on A Freelance Practice
Scenario ⑤ : Make a presentation for the client
When the next meeting with Robert is upcoming, Tim and Elyse start to make a stage-based presentation.
Presentation guidelines remind students of important elements and tips for good storytelling on each page.
Following the guidance, Tim and Elyse finish the presentation. They use the text analysis tool to identify words, sentences, texts which may be hard to understand.
Finally, Tim can upload the final presentation as the work result on the submission channel.
Robert and his team always leave comments and reminders there.
After every important meeting, students organize all comments from the client.
Before going to the next milestone, they send the feedback list to the client for double check.
Research & Ideations
Creative Freelancing Market Research
Published by Statista Research Department
The U.S. market size of creative freelancing reaches $211.4 billion in revenue in 2021.
The 2022 statistic is projected that in 2027, 86.5 million people will be freelancing in the United States.
Problem Discovery
①
College students have limited access to freelance education and job resources
②
Small businesses struggle to reach specialized design talents with multi-cultural backgrounds
User Interviews
Student from design fields
User Journey Map
Student Persona
Business Owner
User Journey Map
Business Owner - Persona
Positioning Matrix
Student from design fields
Business owner
Positioning Statement
An educationally freelance platform featured with mentor support is reliably accessible to students and business owners for an effective and efficient collaboration
Design Criteria
Beginner-Friendly
- Accessible channels for students to get professional guidance and practical experience as a freelancer.
- Accessible channels for small business owners to look for a variety of specialized creative talents with global backgrounds.
Connectivity
- Provide opportunities to make trustworthy professional connections.
- Students can learn in the community and connect with each other.
Protectiveness
- Learn protective knowledge about job security and intellectual property for doing freelance in real business.
Reliability
- Trustable freelance resource and work outcomes.
- Transparent business procedures for both clients and students.
Site Map
Design Features
Beginner-Friendly
- Intuitive guidances & reminders for overall progress
- Intuitive guidances & instructions in detail
Connectivity
- Have conversations with the mentor and teammates conveniently
- Efficient channel to communicate with clients
Protectiveness
- Learn to protect ourselves and win benefits
Reliability
- Reliable clients lead to reliable coorporations
- Reliable works resulting from effective guidance
Visual Design
Logo & Logo Variations
Color Palette
#141E99
#FF7031
#FC7B43
#51CFCF
#F0EEDC
#787EC8
#DDDFF1
#E9E7E3
Color Variations
Typefaces
Icon System
