Organizing connections with Rolodex
LinkedIn (concept project)
Research | Prototyping | Interaction design | UI design
Role: UX designer
Team: 1 designer
Duration: 1 month
Tools: Sketch, Omnigraffle
Project scope
Networking has become an essential aspect of job searching During my time as a UX Design student and subsequent job seeker, I used LinkedIn extensively to network. My classmates and I would attend tech meet ups and set up informational interviews to build our network and integrate into the Seattle Tech community.
We used LinkedIn to connect with people we met, but found it difficult to effectively store, sort, and organize connection's contact information and details.
Challenge
Job seekers want an easy way store and organize contact information and details of people they connect with through LinkedIn, but currently struggle with:
Accessing contact information quickly without searching for LinkedIn profile
Remembering where and when they met connections
Sorting and filtering connections based on criteria
Solution
LInkedIn Rolodex would help users easily organize their connections inside the LinkedIn app and website by allowing users to:
View contact information of synced LinkedIn connections in digital Rolodex
Add notes and tags to connections' profiles
Export filtered and sorted connections to a Microsoft Excel spreadsheet
My role & contributions
Over the course of my UX program, I worked on this concept project as the sole researcher and designer:
I conducted user interviews regarding networking and connections management and organization.
I used these findings to create a primary persona and user flows.
With these insights in mind, I sketched designs, translated them to digital wireframes, and created high fidelity mockups.
I validated my designs throughout the process through informal interviews with industry professionals.
Research
I conducted user interviews to identify pain points when using LinkedIn to network. I created a primary persona and user flows to inform my design decisions moving forward.
User interviews & persona
Over the course of my UX Design program, I would often talk with classmates about networking pain points, needs, and goals. These findings helped me define a primary user for this feature and develop a persona.
Primary pain points
Based on the interviews, users had some common pain points when it came to networking and using LinkedIn:
Cannot quickly find connections’ email addresses and phone numbers
Forgetting where and when connections were made
Lack of organization and sorting of connections
User flows
These flows focus on the decisions Lisa might need to make when accomplishing two tasks within LinkedIn Rolodex.
The first flow (blue) involves Lisa organizing and managing her connections.
The second flow (green) focuses on her adding and editing customized details about her connections.
Design
Once I knew what direction to head based on my research, I began sketching possible designs. I initially focused on mobile since most of the participants primarily used LinkedIn on their phones. I then created digital wireframes in Sketch and annotated them in order to communicate the interaction design component. I created high fidelity mockups on key screens, keeping in line with Google's Material Design guidelines. To explore responsive design of this feature, I created mock ups of a tablet and desktop browser.
Sketches
Wireframe flow
High fidelity designs
Multiple device responsiveness
Key takeaways
Next steps
If I were to continue with this concept project, I would:
Conduct usability testing
Explore paid plans/options
I would also like to explore this feature from a recruiter's perspective.
Reflection
This project allowed me to explore user interactions and create responsive designs for multiple devices. I also became very familiar to Material Design and its best practices and patterns.