Case study · 2012–2017
Earlier work: building design from zero
Outcome headline
Founding-designer marketplace at Roomer; Jobcase navigation and StreetSmarts, an SMB employer tool with roles and permissions. Draft note: to condense
Summary box
- My role
- Roomer Travel: UX/UI Designer → Head of Design. Jobcase: Head of Design
- Team
- Draft note: to write
- Timeframe
- 2012–2017
- Partners
- Draft note: to write
- Scope
- Roomer Travel (Head of Design) · Jobcase (Head of Design)
The problem
Roomer (2012–2015) is a C2C secondary marketplace for cancelled hotel rooms. As the first to join the founders, I built Roomer's marketplace from the ground up.
Jobcase (2015–2017) is the LinkedIn for blue-collar workers. It served 60 million members with 2 million DAUs Draft note: confirm: figures from the old site; add the year they refer to. The CEO, Fred Goff, told me: "We are not a job board, we are a social network." I replied that social networks have a form derived from their function, and Jobcase didn't function or look like one.
My leadership
At Roomer I drove an iterative design process through qualitative and quantitative analysis. From early on, I pushed the team to put the human in the center, shifting the focus from numbers and funnels to the real stories behind the service.
At Jobcase I led the journey to emphasize the product's social angle, to the point where usability studies showed it was perceived as a social network more than a job-search site. I ran a 3-day design sprint to re-imagine an ideal, constraint-free Jobcase and surface its value propositions.
Key decisions
- Design research as a compass (Roomer). Right after the MVP, with conversion still low, research into the travel experience, audience segmentation and journey maps set direction.
- Surfacing the value proposition (Roomer). Research split travelers into "Specific Browsers" (who know where and when) and "Bargain Hunters". The homepage put search side by side with the discount badge, which usability tests showed also explained the marketplace concept.
- Design guidelines (Roomer). After the redesign I led the work to refine the visual language into guidelines for developers and agencies around the world.
- Build, measure, learn (Roomer). Every feature shipped with analytics: funnels in Mixpanel, heatmaps in CrazyEgg, usability tests on UserTesting, and A/B tests in Google Analytics.
- Roomer Stories. A side project where sellers shared the story behind their unused reservation. Engagement spiked within days of launch.
- Back-office tools (Roomer). I led the system design for CRM, inventory, content management and campaign landing pages.
- Redefining navigation (Jobcase). Based on 25 in-depth interviews, usability tests and usage data, a new structure: Community, Praises & Reviews, and Jobs & Companies.
- Notifications and social job search (Jobcase). Moved the inert "My Activity" section to live notifications, and seeded interaction opportunities in the job search flow.
- StreetSmarts (Jobcase). A platform for business owners to manage their Company Pages and employer brand locally, with team roles and permissions (Learn, Talk and Apply managers, Location Admin), analytics, and a lightweight candidates view for SMBs that don't need an ATS.
Impact
- Roomer Stories: dozens of sellers posted their stories every week and shared them on social media, leading to more new visitors and sales.
- StreetSmarts became a fast-growing revenue stream for Jobcase.
- From the old site: "Through profound product changes relying on Human Centric Design Principles, I was able to boost Jobcase's revenue and engagement." Draft note: confirm: add a figure you can stand behind, or keep it qualitative
- Draft note: to write: anything else you can state and stand behind today