FLOCK
"GA Client Project"
FLOCK is a staffing firm,with a mentorship program offered after placement, aimed for mid-senior level gender-diverse developers to work for inclusive companies. The problem is that 90% of users applying to jobs on the site are men and the women placed into jobs are not using the mentorship program.
How do we get more women to sign up with FLOCK and apply to the jobs page and encourage use of the mentorship program after job placement?
Project Overview
Project Timeline
3 weeks
​
Client
FLOCK
​
Team
Two UX Designers, each covered design and research aspects.
​
Tools
Sketch, Invision, pen, sharpie, and recorder
​
Deliverables
personas, wireframes, prototypes, sitemap, user flow, and storyboard
​
​
​
My Role
-
Business research
-
Competitive analysis
-
Sketching wireframes
-
Feature ideation
-
Interviews
-
Usability testing
-
Mockups
-
Iterations.
Developer Darcy
I created the persona, Developer Darcy, based on the audinece Flock wants to attract as well as the paint points and experiences found in user interviews.
Personal Background
-
Minority(female) in Tech/Dev
-
Mid- Senior
-
Educated beyond high school
​
Motivations
-
Growing their skill set
-
Learning
• Gaining confidence
• Feeling valued
​
Attitudes
-
Driven
-
Optimistic for the future of women in tech
-
Positive when faced with adversity
Interests
• Collaboration
• Development
• Skill Building
• Making connections
• Moral support
Pain points
​
-
Being able to develop skills and learn on the job
-
Learning ways to communicate in the workplace and with men in the workplace
-
Uncertainty or about starting a family and how it could affect work life. Feeling that taking time off to raise family could make you “rusty.”
Sketching & Ideation
We held a design studio with Flock's CEO and sketched out key features for the site based on research gained from user interviews and competitive business analysis.
After key features were chosen from the design studio with Flock, as a team we held our own design studio and further developed the features to begin wireframing.
Affinity Mapping
User Flow: Developer-Facing
This was the User Flow used to guide the usability test.
Wireframes
Usability Testing
What was tested?
Wireframes of website
​
Where and when the test was held?
The test was held on November 3, 2017 in the Industry building in RiNo.
​
Equipment used
Laptop, paper, and pen.
​
What did I do?
I guided users through the flow of the website by asking open-ended questions.
​
The testing team
The testing team was one moderator.
Participants
The average duration of usability test: 15-20 minutes
First round of testing:
-
3 participants
-
Female, 32 years old, a freelancer in wordpress design and consulting company
-
Female, 23 years old, UX design student
-
Female, 47 years old, Current UX design student, with a past career in Digital Advertising.
Second round of testing:
-
3 participants
-
Female, 56 years old, UX design student, has had previous education in coding, past career in pharmaceutical research.
-
Male, 32 years old, UX Design Student and is enrolled in the Web Developer course at General Assembly, past career in industrial design.
-
Female, 23 years old, current Web Dev student at General Assembly, past career in HR.
Problems encountered
Questions about language on the site came up often. Specifically, confusion about the term vetted being used to describe the quality of a job-seeker or a company. Also, the word “Fellow” as a way to describe people who are a part of Flock, felt gender-biased to one user. There was also confusion about the cost of joining Flock. Two users thought Flock was a paid membership because of the term “personalized” to describe the type of job placement used.
What worked well
The home page conveyed Flock's message of being a staffing firm that includes mentorship and described the mission of Flock well. Users appreciated the scannability of icons to describe benefits included in a job posting. Users navigated the site with ease and found it easy to identify which pages would allow them to complete each task.
Measures of Sucess
​
#1: More people (especially underrepresented developers) applying to our jobs.
#2: More people (especially underrepresented developers) joining our mailing list.
#3 Making it easier for companies to understand what we do, as they often get confused and think we're just a mentoring program.
Result
Our design and research work led to Flock being aquired by the Turing School of Software & Design.
PDF Linked to Photo Below
