Overview

According to The U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS), there were 2.57 million artists in the U.S. workforce in 2020 — representing 1.6% of all workers ages 16 and older. Although LinkedIn is the go-to resource for conventional job seekers, it lacks the ability for visual artists to upload rich media; instead, they turn to third-party portfolios like Wix.

In my and Arwin Kumar’s two-week concept project, we address this missed opportunity. Figma and Miro were our tools of choice. I was knighted lead UX researcher and Kumar, lead UX designer.

Potential Constraints

• Since this was a conceptual project, Kumar and I didn’t have the opportunity to receive feedback or bounce ideas off stakeholders. Also, we had to make assumptions about LinkedIn’s business goals.

• This was my first time collaborating with another user experience professional; I was used to completing research to testing on my own, not delegating tasks to others.

Research

Survey

Through surveying 5 users, I got a pretty good grasp on why they are not the biggest fans of LinkedIn’s current platform. It came down to two factors; LinkedIn is too formal for artists’ laid-back demeanor, so they feel alienated from networking on it, and there is virtually no place to showcase their bread and butter.

Affinity Mapping/Diagramming

This technique validated my team’s assumptions about visual artists preferring LinkedIn to showcase their work once the company integrates a creative-friendly interface. Also, affinity mapping/diagramming revealed that Instagram has a strong hold on artist collaboration, socialization and e-commerce. These findings helped us ideate how we can integrate Instagram’s pizazz.

Comparative Analysis

Our comparative analysis findings indicated that LinkedIn has the opportunity to become the only website that highlights artists’ portfolios and endorsements while listing job postings — ultimately helping them further their careers in the creative field.

The Problem

Creative professionals needed a way to display their artwork directly on LinkedIn so they could market themselves to potential employers without third-party websites. Despite 3 out of 5 survey participants saying they have used LinkedIn before to network or apply to a position, 4 out of 5 users planned on building their portfolio on Squarespace because of its customizability.

LinkedIn’s current “Projects” section seems like an afterthought and is a user experience nightmare; Users need to click “Add section,” scroll down to “Accomplishments, then select the light gray word “Projects” that are sized at 10.5 points. Once the project is entered, it falls between “Recommendations” and “Interests” at the end of your profile — a hail mary.

Goals

User:

• Tagging and/or categorizing artwork or collection(s) so potential employers have an easier time finding The Creative Professional’s work and profile

• A Portfolio platform that allows them to freely express their artistic vision and personal brand

• A digital portfolio that they can share with potential employers

Business:

• Highlight artists’ work without detracting from other sections of their profile

• Categorize pieces of art or collections so potential employers can easily find a candidate that meets their business needs

• Encourage artists to build collaborative relationships via LinkedIn

Solutions

Test Plan

• Task #1: Add a project, and view your new project.

  • Metric: Complete Task #1 in less than 1.5 minutes with two or fewer errors.

• Task #2: Edit your LinkedIn profile information, and add a story to it.

  • Metric: Complete Task #2 in less than 1 minute with one or fewer errors.

Eliminated Predetermined Hierarchy

My team switched LinkedIn’s desktop profile from a vertical to horizontal layout giving equal importance to the “Projects,” “Experience,” “Education” and “Endorsements” tabs.

Breathed Life Into Stories

I combined the social and professional aspects of the art world by adding flair to the stories feature with geotagging, tagging other users, stickers, gifs, music and text. 

Customized and Streamlined Projects

We edited, added and rearranged projects in the “Portfolio” tab. When uploading new work, the “Add New Project” form included options to upload artwork and process documentation, tag team members as well as include hashtags and geotags — formulating a brief case study.

Results

• Our high-fidelity prototype lessened the time it took users to add and view their project by an average of 60.16% (55.72 seconds) compared to our low-fidelity prototype.

• A fully-customizable, rich media portfolio — built into the world’s largest professional network — with tagging capabilities. Our designs enable hiring managers to quickly find qualified creative candidates for niche roles and communicate artists’ achievements via multiple methods (i.e., visual, written).

Takeaways

• There is a perfect balance between makers’ creative freedom and uniformity on LinkedIn. Without consistency on this platform, hiring managers would have trouble pinpointing the most important qualifications needed for a role.

• I would like to create a mobile version of what I deemed as “LinkedInteractive” so recruiters and candidates can have a pleasant UX experience on both devices.

• Sometimes, there is contradicting information during usability testing that is hard to account for; it definitely helps to have three users, instead of two, test each prototype for more clarification.

• Partnering with Kumar awarded me the opportunity to practice giving and receiving constructive design feedback.

Team Testimonial

“Given the time constraints, Sydney worked very efficiently,” said Kumar. “She was very receptive to my input and gave clear explanations of her design decisions. Her attention to detail and Copywriting background helped us throughout the project. She also pitched in when I struggled with parts of our project without any hesitation. Working with Sydney was really fun, and I can’t wait to collaborate with her again.”

© 2021 Sydney Goldberg. All Rights Reserved.