DesignHub

A cross-platform solution for students and professionals who need to share their work and collect feedback from supervisors and clients.

Timeframe

8 weeks

Role

UX/UI Design

Introduction

Why did we create DesignHub?

DesignHub was born out of a real issue I was experiencing with other designers. Sharing designs typically has meant sending screenshots or entire Sketch files in order to show progress and get feedback. Even with the introduction of web based design software such as Figma, most companies are reliant on Sketch.

We distilled this problem into three points

1. Designs are stored locally
2. Files get lost across platforms
3. Feedback is forgotten in messages

Research

Do designers actually want this?

Next we validated our perceived problems by polling 22 designers across our team’s personal network. There was little consensus on best practices for obtaining design feedback.

Back up your files people!

Google Drive is great for sharing a file, not for collecting feedback

Problem #1: Designs are stored locally

Solution: Create projects and receive feedback on DesignHub

After polling designers and having multiple informational interviews, we realized DesignHub had to be cloud based. There are great platforms for presenting finished designs, such as Dribbble and Behance, but where do people share unfinished work? Dropbox and Google Drive are excellent for sharing files but not great for design based feedback. DesignHub can fill that gap.

Add images, a Figma file, a prototype link, and choose who can view your project.

Problem #2: Files get lost across platforms

Solution: Collaborate with a team through private projects and comments

Designers are typically hesitant to share unfinished work. In order to iterate or work in an agile environment a design needs regular feedback from users and stakeholders. When building DesignHub we added the option to create private projects and invite collaborators to leave comments.

Although outside of our 8 week MVP, I designed a “sticky comments” feature that our excellent developers we able to implement.

Leave a comment, view the InVision prototype, download the file, etc.

Leave feedback right next the visuals you are commenting on.

Problem #3: Feedback is forgotten in messages

Solution: Discover new designers, get notified, and share work with the community

Feedback is valuable in the design process. Speaking to other Product, UI and UX Designers our team found that these comments were often lost in an email, Slack or a Zoom session. Our solution was the ability to make projects public. This gives users the option to simply send a link to others who want to leave feedback. We also created an explore page that automatically adds projects for others to find, save and offer insights.

Find inspiration, promote your projects, or simply ask for feedback.

Feedback and iterative design

Improving our solution by asking designers if they would use it

Products are built to solve problems that have been validated. As I designed these screens I was holding weekly Zoom meetings with professionals who would suggest tweaks and changes.

Essentially I was asking for design feedback on a product that would make it easier to gather design feedback. Yes, I see the irony.

Cramming people into a Figma file quickly reveals areas for improvement

One of the many 1-1 user tests we conducted over Zoom

Although simply MVP-level, our team added a "light mode" in our final product cycle to compliment our default dark mode.

Conclusion

Building a platform takes a team of dedicated designers and developers

Our team had two months to design and build DesignHub from scratch. In two month long product cycles we turned an idea into a reality. There are more features we want to add but overall the results we impressive. I could not be more impressed with the people I worked with. Please feel free to check our product at DesignHubX.com. Also, huge shoutout to Craftwork for the illustrations.