What is the founder profile page

The Founder Profile Page is an essential feature designed to connect co-founders with innovative idea founders. This page serves as a crucial resource for founders seeking to collaborate on new business ideas, offering a detailed overview of potential co-founders and their groundbreaking ideas. By emphasising the importance of matching complementary skills and visions, the Founder Profile Page facilitates successful partnerships that drive entrepreneurial success. Through this feature, co-founders can efficiently find the perfect match to bring their shared business aspirations to life.

What is the problem?

The Founder Profile page is the most visited page by users. More than 8,000+ founders across 6 continents use this platform to find their ideal co-founders. Therefore, a simple and efficient Founder Profile page is crucial. It serves as an essential bridge connecting founders, co-founders, and the Antler program.

“The information density is too high, and the tags lack emphasis and differentiation.”😰

Previous design: Founders can freely choose their skill tags and interest industries, but this often results in too much information being displayed on a founder's card.

"The Founder Details page lacks visual guidance, and the information architecture is inefficient, leading to a less effective page."😒

Previous design: Admins and founders share the same page layout, resulting in a confusing display of information.

🤔Understanding user preferences is key to better design.

Considering that the users of Antler Hub come from all around the world, their diverse market environments, educational backgrounds, and business sectors influence their preferences for co-founders. Therefore, identifying the co-founder traits that founders are most interested in becomes a critical aspect of the design.

🤗What do we do to reduce the uncertainty?

1. Qualitative Research

Through interviews with 8 founders, we have gained insights into their preferences for co-founders and the personal traits they wish to showcase.
(Credit on Aron, PM@Antler)

2. Quantitative research

Based on the information gathered from user interviews, we designed a survey using the MaxDiff method. The survey lists co-founder traits that users are interested in and allows them to freely choose. This approach allows us to rank these traits objectively without individual biases influencing the results.

👌Key takeaways

🙌By inputting the data into GPT-40, we immediately concluded that complementary skills overwhelmingly ranked first place. Users from various countries and regions unanimously consider this as a crucial co-founder trait.

(Big shot to ChatGPT!)

🫨Exploration

Inspiration
‍After acquiring the desired user data, I began exploring feasible UI design solutions. By comparing existing competitive products on the market, I've developed some initial ideas taking shape in my mind.

By analyzing competitors, we can incorporate excellent designs into our product while also learning from poorly designed aspects that could negatively impact our product, thereby avoiding similar issues. Meanwhile, keep the product design up to date with the latest design trends.

Rapidly prototype conceptual product ideas by AI
‍At the same time, I'm also experimenting with AI to enhance my workflow, such as using AI-generated UI software to gain new inspiration.

🤨Currently, AI-generated UI doesn't yield very ideal results, unlike in user research where it can be extremely helpful. However, it remains an interesting exploration method in design.

Quick prototyping
‍Combining the results from earlier user research and competitor analysis, I've begun designing initial founder cards. I've removed less critical fields to reduce information overload and reallocated visual focus to guide users through browsing information more effectively.

Feedback from stackholders
stakeholdersAs a designer, it's easy to fall into a narrow mindset. Therefore, absorbing others' suggestions and criticisms is crucial. Additionally, leveraging the diverse strengths and perspectives of team members helps designers address business challenges from more appropriate angles and tech feasibilities. That's why I frequently update the design progress and invite team members to provide their feedback.

Key takeaways from stakeholders
Through ongoing communication with the developer team, we have confirmed the technical feasibility of implementing this design, such as displaying the flyout drawer differently on mobile and desktop platforms.
From PM, our changes are substantial and will be rolled out in multiple phases. We need to leave some design flexibility to accommodate the addition of new features.

Iterations
After considering stakeholder feedback and multiple iterations, I further refined and completed the design to align with the updated business requirements.

The thinking behind the draft

🧐Validating

Data-driven design decisions
‍In the design validation phase, in addition to traditional user testing methods, I also experimented with using third-party platforms AI algorithms as an auxiliary design validation tool. The goal was to ensure that high-priority feature entry points and key information were within the user's visual focus while maintaining a balanced visual effect

Without compromising business requirements, I used AI to score the clarity and focus levels of the design drafts. This transformed abstract design perceptions into concrete data, providing valuable insights for my final design decisions.

🤔The key takeaways from the project

Embracing AI in Product Design
‍AI has inevitably impacted various aspects of our lives. It is crucial for product designers to embrace these changes actively. In this project, I explored using AI for user data analysis, rapid design iterations, and design quality validation. While there is still significant room for improvement in AI, it is evident that AI will greatly enhance designers' productivity. This allows designers to focus more on understanding and thinking about the business.

Adapting to Changes in Design Requirements
‍During the design process, changes in business requirements are inevitable. These changes can stem from shifts in feature prioritization or technical constraints. To avoid and address these issues, it is essential to communicate with development and product teams about the detailed requirements and technical feasibility before starting the design. If problems cannot be avoided, it is important to consider the design's scalability and leave room for future feature iterations.

Importance of Data-Driven Thinking for Product Designers
‍Product designers must possess a data-driven mindset. By monitoring feedback through preliminary research data, mid-term testing data, and final result data, designers can substantiate their design decisions. This approach ensures that design deliverables are well-founded and can effectively address user needs and business goals.