Crossingz: Professional networking App design
During my 12-week summer internship, I contributed to the app's redesign by focusing on UI enhancements and streamlining the UX workflow, ultimately reducing development time by 50%.
The app has successfully launched in the App Store.
My role
UI/UX designer
UX researcher
Usability testing
Duration
Mar - July 2024
(4 monthes)
Team
2 UX designers,
1 Engineer, 1 PM
Tools
Figma
Background
What is CrossingZ？
Crossingz is a networking app designed to help Gen Z build professional connections, offering profiles, online/offline events, and a job board to boost their careers.
When I joined the startup, the original design was still undeveloped. The founder tasked UX designers with upgrading the UI to better align with Gen Z's preferences
Problem Statement
As I delved deeper into the app, I realized that the issues extended beyond an outdated UI design. Its complex functions, including eight main features and a referral program, resulting following problems:
increased the app’s complexity
disrupted Gen Z’s networking experience
complicated the development process, at least 4 months
Irrelevant information
Overwhelming features
Complex referral program
Design Question
How might we streamline and improve the user experience for professional connections tailored to Gen Z’s needs?
We conducted user research to prioritize the main functions into three, simplify the onboarding flow, improve the connection and chat features, add a job feature and enhance the visual UI and branding.
Solution
Final Prototype
Easy onboarding
Connect people together by events & group chat
AI chat suggestion to break the ice
Impact
Prioritize main function into 3
Reduce 50% development time
User growth have increase by 400+
Process
I first contacted the founders to prioritize the key functions of the redesigned app. Then, I conducted unmoderated online usability testing with five users to complete the following tasks:
Sign up for a new account
Build connections and start chatting with others
Evaluate the app's effectiveness in helping them find a job
Usability testing about old version
Synthesizing
To gain a deeper understanding of Gen Z users‘ behaviors in building connection, we synthesized information from the usability testing into a persona.
Current APP doesn't fully support the primary goal of networking.
The primary purpose of networking is to find job opportunities or career connections. However, the current functionality does not effectively support this goal.
Key Findings
1
Redesigning for Gen Z: Making Networking More Authentic and Engaging
The previous UI is too serious and professional. Gen Z prefers more informal and authentic connections. The current referral program prevent users from using this platform
2
It is challenging for Gen Z to break ice in current workflow
Users are more inclined to continue swiping rather than initiating a chat. This suggests that Gen Z expects a more natural and seamless communication experience.
3
Feature 1: UI & Branding upgrade
We first completed the founder's request to redesign the color palette and simplify the logo, making it more youthful and engaging.
Landing page
Before
Logo redesign
After
Landing page redesign
gif redesign
Feature 2: Easy onboarding
Asking too many personal information can be overwhelming. Instead I asked less information provide flexible options for users.
Before
Our target users typically have less than 5 years of experience. Asking them to fill in too much information can be overwhelming and stressful for them.
Less information required about work experience.
Users can upload a website, resume, LinkedIn ID, or GitHub link—any of these can be proof of their work.
After
Feature 3: improve networking by AI
Through heuristic evaluation, I discover there are some potential issues:
The button like “report”, “view full profile”, and “unmatch” are too close to each other, might causing issue of misclicking.
Users are less likely to recommend the user to friend or introduce a friend to this user. The recommend button is not effective to use
Before
Improvement
We provide the AI chat suggestion to help them find common topic and break the ice, to make the conversation more smooth.
After
Feature 4: Add group chat to help people discover more commen topic
Before
In the old work flow, users are less likely to networking because it is not very natural to start conversation.
After
The new user flow guides users to join the group chat after joining the event. This approach offers several benefits:
Users won't need to switch between multiple platforms, which can improve customer retention.
It allows for smoother and more reliable conversations and connections within the group chat.
Feature 5: Job board
We scrape job posting data for users with 0-5 years of experience. In the next step, we will offer AI-powered job matching and resume editing features.
Problem:
In fast-paced startup environments, poor communication with developers often results in final designs that differ slightly from the original. This happens because there is no regulated design system or standardized format.
Key Takeaways
Solution 1: design system
Solution 2: Formatting deliverables for engineer
Before
After