Design for every facet of your startup.
Product design and rapid prototyping for Post-Office Cowork.
The team at Post-Office have launched their fair share of big projects over the years and are no strangers to process. With their roving pop-up coworking space concept, they wanted to build it as intelligently as possible. So, they did what they tell their own clients to do all the time: They called in the experts.
My team and I started with an intense process that delivered research, architecture, and rapid prototyping within the first week. Our solution delivered in unexpected ways—including a unique vibe meter for feeling out the atmosphere of a venue and a mobile-first booking platform that matched user needs.
With the initial scope complete—and many lessons learned—we entered the second phase of our project and spent the next couple weeks iterating on the original prototype with an eye toward creating a complete design solution that would work on a variety of devices and for an even wider variety of users.
The original scope focused on a handful of priority flows for mobile users and many of those priorities received additional development. The innovative vibe meter, for instance, went through several more rounds of design and technical validation. Additionally, many processes which had been designed for the mobile user underwent design for the tablet or desktop user. And, as with many other projects, the mobile-first process delivered on a simpler and more elegant desktop solution that we might've developed the other way around.
You think you’re working on an app prototype, but you’re working on so much more. We worked on every facet of our business … Logistics, Operations, Business model, and it all happened organically … I’ll never take on another piece of business without going through this process. We’re going into a whole new level of business with a level of confidence I’ve never had before.
– Co-Founder, Post-Office CoWork
Phase one: Down to work.
"As a business owner, you don’t often get the opportunity to sit next to the designer."
– Co-Founder, Post-Office CoWork
User research was planned, conducted, and synthesized in under two days.
Raw user research was synthesized using affinity mapping to find themes among qualitative data.
Pseudo-persona were derived from the mapped user data, painting a clear and surprising picture of our user.
Sketched flows and wireframes quickly put the experience in scope and highlighted opportunities
From zero to usability testing in five days.
"This is not the first app we’ve built. But it’s the first app we built intelligently."
– Co-Founder, Post-Office CoWork
The vibe meter—shown here as a newly checked-in user would interact with it—elicited a lot of excitement from usability testers. Initial testing focused on users understanding the checkin process. Testing included their understanding of location details and the vibe concept. We also assessed the flows for booking and e-commerce. Testing also confirmed the business model and sharing mechanics.
Phase two: Down to Mingle.
The vibe meter—the data visualization used to communicate the atmosphere of the location—went through several redesigns and rounds of testing before landing on this solution.
In getting the rapid prototype leveled-up for development, many mobile-first layouts and interactions benefited from significant adaptation for larger screens.
The mobile-first approach radically improved what might’ve otherwise been form-heavy or text-heavy desktop interactions.
Get ready to amaze and impress.
"As an entrepreneur we are taking enormous amounts of risk to be able to start a project. I’ll never take on another piece of business without going through this process. We’ve pretty much nailed an opening business model. We’re going into a whole new level of business with a level of confidence I’ve never had before. We’ve vetted a lot of things that I thought were going to be gotchas. Where else are you gonna get that?"
– Co-Founder, Post-Office CoWork
The mobile-web and app solutions make finding and getting into a Post-Office incredibly easy and fast.