Creating a digital space where brands meet creators

As an influencer marketing agency pivoted to support small businesses and niche creators, its existing offline workflow made scaling difficult.

We helped design a mobile platform that streamlined the brand–creator collaboration process. Since launch, the platform has brought together 6,600+ brands and 2,300+ verified creators, facilitating 800+ successful collaborations.

Year

2023

Timeline

14 months

Role

Product Design

As the sole Designer, I was responsible for gathering business and user requirements, 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.

The process

1. Mapping the existing workflow of Uptrendly

Uptrendly offline operation involves businesses approaching them 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

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

Solution

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

Some of the key features for brands included:

Browse Creators

Brands can browse creators by swiping and scrolling to analyze their social media metrics, past collaborations, collaboration rates before making a decision.

Collaborate with creators

Brands can send open collaboration requests or reach out directly to specific creators with their campaign brief.

Manage campaign-specific creators in one place

Image showing feature for brands where they can see all creators, their content, and campaign insights in one streamlined dashboard, making it easy to manage and track performance.

Brands can view all creators, their contents, and campaign insights in one streamlined dashboard, making it easy to manage and track campaign performance.

Some of the key features for creators included:

Set up profile

Creators can set up their profiles by connecting social media handles, selecting their niche, and adding their base location, making it easy for brands to discover and collaborate with them.

Collaborate with brands

Creators can send collaboration request to brands or let brands approach them.

Campaign-focused chats

Creators can chat with brands and send content drafts, finalized work, and request payments.

Results

Since launch, the platform has facilitated 800+ collaborations between 6,600+ brands and 2,300+ verified creators. It brought together brands and creators who had previously managed collaborations through direct messages on Instagram and TikTok.

Lessons Learnt

Gained confidence as the solo designer, overcoming anxiety from starting a project from scratch and with limited visual 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.