Gata Hub
Mobile App Platform and Directory
for Small Businesses
Client
Gata Labs
Duration
9 Months
Industry
Ecommerce
Retail
B2B Services
My Role
Art Direction
Branding
UX Design
UI + Visual Design
Team
Creative: Jen Sepso
CEO: Edward Yao
PM: Neel Lukka
Lead Dev: Alex M.
New Business Idea = Newborn Baby / An Overview
The steady rise of mobile usage over the last five years is undeniable— nearly two-thirds of Americans are smartphone users and the majority of them access the Internet primarily with their devices. Furthermore, studies have revealed that over 85% of these users prefer mobile apps over mobile websites, particularly for ecommerce, trip navigation and communication purposes.
With more companies extending their presence on mobile via apps or webapps, they are simplifying processes and transactions for their customers. The more prevalent these apps are, the more of a necessity they become for all other companies to follow in suit.
Not all companies can afford or have the capacity or know-how to develop a mobile application that could enhance their reach, let alone a responsive webapp.
Tech start-up, Gata Labs, developed the concept for the mobile application “Gata Hub”* in recognition of the need for a mobile platform that could be adaptable for serviced-based businesses. Gata Labs wanted to create a B2B to B2C platform that could offer these establishments the tools to compete in the market. A merchant that may otherwise lack resources to develop his own application would be able to create a customized solution using Gata Hub for a fraction of the cost. As an added value to the company, Gata Hub would also provide services to manage the app and track analytics.
I was brought onto the Gata Hub project during its infantile stages as Art Director and Product Design Lead. Working closely with the client, I designed the first Gata Hub app and the dashboard web portal for merchants to manage their Gata-based app, in addition to determining the company branding and launch website.
*Please note that Gata Hub is now OneLocal. For the purposes of this case study, the original brand name will be retained.
If we build it, will they come? The Target Market
Gata Hub would give more than just a profile page to a business. It would provide the business with elements to make it a more robust resource.
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Privately owned, mom and pop shop establishments-- in the service industry.
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Contractors/Freelancers with start-ups that are service based.
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Companies that would greatly benefit from a mobile app/mobile dedicated presence but do not have the means to invest in a developer/agency.
A problem well stated is a start-up's dream to solve.
Proposed Solution + Next Steps
The solution would be to design and develop a platform with two specific interfaces which would be dedicated to both B2B and B2C requirements. The app would essentially be a search engine/ecommerce/marketing/customer loyalty hybrid. Later stages of the app would integrate customer generated content via reviews over social media channels.
The B2C phase (the mobile app) would be the design and development of the client facing mobile app. This would function to serve an individual user, offering the ability to discover, return and maintain loyalty to local service businesses within their vicinity.
The B2B phase (the dashboard/web portal) would include a “dashboard” CMS web portal that would be accessible to business owners where they could customize the content of their mobile apps and also track statistics and analytics of daily, weekly, monthly and yearly revenue and ROI. It would also help to deploy and maintain any loyalty programs or customer specials that the business may opt to activate.
The key objectives for the app and the dashboard were to ensure that both were scalable, customizable to suit the needs of any business, and that all interfaces were simple and intuitive. And of course, both the app and the dashboard had to work seamlessly in concert with each other.
Everyone, Together Now / The Process
The methods we employed were inspired by both a traditional design thinking process and a lean sprint, albeit modified. We wanted to test big ideas before a full build out of any major functionality. In order to do so, we created prototypes within the sprint with the objective to test but also present to early adopter investors. The testing would help validate our decision making and let us know if we were going in the right direction. This collecting of insights helped us effectively and efficiently solve any issues to expedite the execution.
Classic Design Thinking Process
Step 1: Understand (Collective Research)
The app and dashboard were conceived in tandem. The other members of the team assembled a marketing deck, referencing such existing apps as Yelp and loyaltyblocks (now known as flok). Potential functionalities and elements were proposed.
I got a lesson on Econ 101 (hey, I went to art school!) which gave me more insight into the business side of the product.
Research into app usage on average resulted in the following findings**:
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90% of mobile time is spent on apps.
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Mobile apps are expected to generate $189 billion in revenue by 2020.
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The Apple App Store has 2.2 million apps available for download.
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There are 2.8 million apps available for download on the Google Play Store.
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21% of Millennials open an app 50+ times per day.
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49% of people open an app 11+ times each day.
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57% of all digital media usage comes from mobile apps.
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The average smartphone owner uses 30 apps each month.
** Numbers updated as of 2019
Step 2: Ideate/Define
Is there a demand for mobile app platforms that cater to small businesses? Do small businesses want to expand their reach in this way? I created user personas for both client and customer.
This overlapped with research and brainstorming the types of industries/services that would majorly benefit from a platform like Gata Hub.
Step 3: Decide
I broke down the project into 2 phases: app and dashboard. Then sketched out wireframes for both, bearing in mind the two different trajectories the user journeys would take.
It was helpful to study patterns on apps such as Yelp and loyaltyblocks, as well as analytics website apps such as Chartbeat and Kissmetrics. Each were somewhat related to the objective of Gata Hub and reached those objectives well. I also looked at trends in ecommerce, in ordering apps, and user friendly interfaces like Wordpress, Gmail, Twitter and Facebook. I was able to identify patterns based on how the sites/apps organized information. From here, I was able to move forward with information architecture.
At this phase, I determined the staging of elements and the type of usability necessary within both the app and dashboard. Then with pencil and paper, I roughly sketched out wireframes for the app. These were soon imported into Powerpoint so that the content was collectively accessible to other members of the team.
Step 4: Prototype
The focus on was on sketching and prototyping in this phase. The prototyping was kept relatively loose in order to reduce the cost of failure and try new pathways. The time that was spent prototyping increased the efficacy of final build out as well as popularity amongst users. Yes, we are talking MVP! (That's Minimum Viable Product, y'all.)
The App:
As the forward facing, marketing facet of the Gata Labs platform, the Gata Hub app facilitates the connection between merchant clients and their customer. All merchant app pages are accessible via Gata Hub and are indexed by category and searchable by geolocation of the user.
The app is structured as a loyalty program, supplying built-in features to support customer retention such as loyalty reward cards, promotions, customer support and in-app direct payment. Data has shown that loyalty programs are notorious marketing failures— they are pervasive and expensive for businesses to run. Customers often forget about redeeming rewards or find the process too burdensome to do so. In light of this, several conscious decisions were made to the user interface to ensure that the customer’s entire experience would entail nothing less than a seamless reward redemption process.
Firstly, one prominent tab was dedicated solely to the loyalty reward card, and therefore easily accessible for a customer to track her progress. As well, upon every transaction, a prompt is called up for the customer to present this card to the merchant for a new “stamp.” Rewards are completely transparent as well— customers know exactly what they will receive and how many transactions are required to reach their goal. Merchants have the ability to track the loyalty points belonging to all of their customers on their dashboard and can refer to these with ease.
Promotions and coupons are also located on a main tab, on another page. If a customer’s starred (or favorited) merchant has added a new sale or update, a notification in the main navigation bar will pop up on the app’s landing screen.
Dashboard:
The online dashboard is fundamental in setting up and maintaining the app. Merchants can determine which elements they would like to include on their company pages and upload content. The interface of the dashboard is laid out to coincide with the application’s tabular navigation such that the user can easily refer to either or with little confusion. The inclusion of the “App Preview” will update as users add/change elements, giving them an accurate, real-time view of all revisions. Basic analytics of customer conversion and engagement are also provided on the dashboard landing page as an added tool for business development.
All prototypes were low fidelity, though later versions integrated usage of sketch.
Building a Foundation / Constraints
RE: The App
From a usability standpoint, businesses who choose to use Gata Hub as their means of offering interactive smartphone access would also have to understand that their app would still live and be under the Gata Hub parent name. This means that their app would only be accessible via the Gata Hub app. They would not have the option to opt out of becoming a part of the Gata Hub directory, should they wish to. Though remaining within the directory makes sense in terms of exposing their services to new customers, it also restricts businesses from creating a completely 100% unique app and identity.
RE: The Portal
Also, the initial versions of the B2B web portal of the app were designed for desktop usage primarily. Adopting a B2B separate app for the purpose of maintaining theme/template on the main Gata Hub app was discussed. The tentative resolution was to turn the current website into something responsive in the interim. By using a web app, rapid build out was more feasible and the main app would not be overloaded.
RE: My Experience
When I was brought on board, the team had been outsourcing their first beta project, a car service app akin to uber, et al, to a freelance designer. This designer borrowed generously from the Uber aesthetic (ie. stark black, white and grey color palette, minimalism). I ran into some internal disagreements regarding the necessity of uniting all the applications under the Gata Labs company as somewhat uniform. So systematic changes had to be made to this application as well.
Because this was a period wherein the company sought out early investors, it was critical to have, at the very least, low fidelity prototypes to present. The timeline was extremely tight. Branding materials, a launch website, marketing collateral and branded merchandise often took precedence and detracted me from work on the app.
RE: Team
With the boundless enthusiasm of start ups at their very native stages, the founding members were full of ideas that consistently changed and shifted. Sometimes these new insights would integrate well with the fundamentals of the project scope whereas sometimes those ideas would diverge. Consistent communication via regularly scheduled meetings, skype, and the PM platform trello, helped to keep on track.
Spilling the Tea on Start-Ups / A Personal Takeaway
This was my second experience working directly with a start-up. At Gata, I had an even more intimate view of the inner workings of how a tech start-up evolves from a seedling of an idea to become a real shippable product with evidence to prove its necessity through numbers driven results. Anyone who has worked in a start-up will tell you how exciting the experience is— and also how hectic. These unique opportunities demand that every contributing member wear many hats, and are not only willing and able, but eager to take part at almost every stage. My role often exceeded far beyond art direction and product design.
I had the opportunity to also work on digital marketing and strategy, social media campaigns, offer my insight on the fundamentals of the product itself by working with the development team. I felt like I was a part of the greater vision of Gata Labs, not merely a creative. I walked away from this experience with the dawning understanding of why many entrepreneurs who found start ups continue to do so. The rewarding feeling of building something from nothing with a team whose members you know well enough to support and disagree openly with, is a uniquely gratifying experience.