Google Venture Sprint: Techboba
Designing a new personal website and logo for Techboba using the GV sprint method.
This was a 5 day individual freelance project inspired by the GV Design Sprint to help rebrand and create a website prototype for my client, Techboba.
Project Role:
UX/UI Designer
Duration:
5 days
Tools Used:
Figma, Mural, Zoom, Asana
Methods:
User interviews, user flows, competitive/comparative analysis, logo design, usability test, wireframe, prototyping, style guide
overview
Techboba is a personal blog created by Bonnie Chan aimed to inspire and empower others curious about careers in STEM, and is currently present on Instagram with goals to expand her platform with a personal website. Originally, Bonnie reached out to me about creating a new logo, but after speaking with her, we both discovered another growth opportunity. My new challenge was to help rebrand Techboba by designing a logo and style guide, in addition to a new website.
Learning more about Techboba and their audience
To truly understand Techboba’s brand and mission, I interviewed Bonnie and a couple of her followers to gain more insight about how might we improve the experience for users when they visit their page. From here, I mapped out the current journey for the user and identified the main pain points when accessing more information about what Techboba is.
the challenge
Uncovering the Techboba’s current issue through the user’s perspective
If Techboba attracted new followers, users wanted to learn more about the brand’s message and have a central hub to read blog posts, tips, and resources provided in past and future posts.
I learned that through the link in the Techboba’s Instagram bio, users have the option to view different resources Bonnie has provided, but shows no clear branding and can be confusing at first glance.
day 2
Brain dump and sketching a multitude of solutions
On day two, I conducted a quick comparative analysis of blogs that were mentioned by some of Techboba’s followers. By seeing what her audience sees and reads, presented a flow of ideas of what one might expect when visiting a blog. Based on my learnings, I sketched several website designs and considered the following solutions:
Providing a blog separate from Instagram for Bonnie to share longer posts
Offer more by having a list of book recs section
Creating a place for users to contact or connect with Bonnie
This day was also dedicated to sketching possible logo designs and color palettes for Techboba’s rebranding, and presenting them to my client.
day 3
Drafting a plan of action
Because Techboba’s main goal is to inspire and offer professional advice to aspiring STEM individuals, it was necessary to create a site that addressed the following:
Blog
Techboba’s story
List of book recommendations
Place to connect
The content listed and sitemap I created was a result of my initial interviews with Bonnie and her followers and quickly were put into consideration for choosing the best solutions for my prototype.
day 4
Bringing wireframes to life through prototyping
Homepage and navigation:
Created a homepage that gives users a taste of the content that could be found on the site (blog posts, book recs, and resources)
I also included a dropdown menu for users to easily navigate throughout the site
About Page
Allows for Bonnie to give a more in depth story about Techboba
Provides more information about the blog for new and current followers
Book Recs:
Designed a book recommendation section and categorized her choices for easy browsability
Each section has a carousel preview and a button to click to view more
Contact page:
A key section for the site was a contact page for people to connect with Bonnie, in which a form was created to do so.
Collaborating to create a style guide
To ensure clear branding and cohesiveness across social media and the personal site, I created a style guide that reflects Techboba’s new logo, color palette, and typography.
Bonnie was involved with the design decisions and I made sure to add some personal touches throughout. For instance, the color palette was inspired by her favorite boba flavor, passionfruit.
This was also taken into consideration with the new logo. The minimalist design pays small, subtle tribute to STEM seen in the black outline, which resembles a glass beaker and stirrer; and the geometric circles used in the typeface and boba reminded Bonnie of molecules! I also included different color variations to be used as substitutes for social icons or marketing purposes.
day 5
Iterating and testing the prototype
The final day of the design sprint was dedicated to implementing design iterations resulting from the initial usability tests.
Homepage and navigation (revised):
“Latest Post” was changed to “Blog” for consistency and clarity
“Resources” was confusing for users and was eliminated in the final prototype
Adding an Instagram feed:
Because Techboba originated on Instagram, it was necessary to highlight a live feed on the homepage, in addition to the social links located in the menu and footer
Contact page (revised):
A confirmation screen was added to confirm that their message was sent
reflection
Designing to understand why and implementing GV Sprint to future projects
This project helped me with project management and designing to understand both the client and user. By helping Techboba achieve a successful rebranding gave me more confidence in my visual design choices and working with a client to effectively communicate ideas.
Since the GV Sprint method is meant for a group setting, I would love to practice this approach in future projects.