Flow. a social network to connect freelancers.
Overview
From five different countries around the world (USA, Brazil, El Salvador, Mexico, and China), our team of Design Managers as well as Industrial and Service Designers worked for a total of ten weeks to deliver a social network that would serve an existing need for the design community. The challenge of this project was to find a current need and to create a social network that would be meaningful 25 years from now. We decided to focus our efforts on studying the increasing freelance culture and identifying where opportunity spaces were located for this particular topic.
PROCESS
Secondary research was conducted starting with defining what a social network is. Then we proceeded to competitor analysis to understand other social networks that freelancers are currently using. Once there was a clear view of our opportunity space, we studied trends and possible scenarios for freelancing 25 years from now. For primary research, four main steps were selected— starting with which questions we wanted to address. After deciding what was the most important to study through the research, surveys were selected. Interviews and observation were used as tools to better understand the freelance culture. After researching, we realized there was an opportunity to close the gap between physical and digital interaction that exists within the currently existing global social networks.
OUTCOME
A digital platform for freelancers was developed—FLOW, because we wanted to encourage a physical community that fosters professional relationships and mutually beneficial interactions. There is an opportunity to redefine the nature of professional and personal relationships for the emerging freelance culture.
