A matchmaking app for brands and creators

Uptrendly Media, an influencer marketing agency, shifted its focus from big brands and mega influencers to small businesses and niche creators. To support this shift, they developed a mobile app for seamless collaboration between businesses and creators.

Year

2023

Timeline

14 months

Role

UI Design, UX Design

As the sole UI/UX Designer, I was responsible for everything from gathering requirements to designing the user interface and shaping the overall user experience of the mobile app.

Challenge

Uptrendly’s offline workflow involved time-consuming back-and-forth communication, draining time and resources. To scale and serve small businesses and niche creators, they needed a digital solution with the following goals:

Enable direct collaboration between brands and creators, reducing the need for intermediary involvement and additional resources.
Allow brands to access creator insights to easily identify the best fit for their promotional needs.
Help creators streamline collaborations and ensure timely payments, eliminating common concerns.

Solution

We designed and launched a mobile app to streamline collaboration between brands and creators.

Some of the key features included:

Results

The mobile app successfully attracted promotional campaigns from small brands, integrating creator marketing into their strategies. It also brought together creators from various niches who had previously managed collaborations through direct messages on Instagram and TikTok.

The process

1. Mapping the existing workflow of Uptrendly

Uptrendly offline operation involves businesses approaching Uptrendly or Uptrendly approaching businesses for promotion opportunities.

2. Finding problems with current ways of working

Image showing the problems with the current ways of working in Uptrendly and creator marketing in Nepal as a whole.

For Business:
1) "We don't know which influencers are good for our promotion."
2) "Influencers have random pricing."

Influencers:

1) "I have a lot of friction with the brands during collaboration."
2) "Lack of collaboration standards."

3. Defining the target user and the goals

Target Users:

1. Brands and Business

Small business owners new to creator marketing.
Small brands using Facebook and Instagram ads for promotion.

2. Creators:

Professional creators across various domains in Nepal.
Aspiring creators looking to learn about creator marketing and monetize their creativity.

Goals for Brands

Enable direct connections with creators for better communication and collaboration on campaigns.
Provide data and insights to help brands select the best creators for their needs.

Goals for Creators

Streamline collaboration processes and ensure timely payments.
Improve communication throughout campaigns to reduce friction.

4. Analyzing similar platforms

We studied two major influencer marketing platforms to understand the features and services they offered, guiding our design decisions.

Lessons Learnt

Gained confidence as the sole designer, overcoming anxiety from starting a project from scratch and with limited UI design experience.
Enjoyed the unique experience of working closely with both the business and development teams, bridging the gap between these two areas.
Grew as a designer, learning to adapt and contribute meaningfully to the product development process.