VENN
UI/UX - Product Design - Industrial Design
Venn
Venn is a space for creative people to connect, collaborate, and grow. Built for students, emerging professionals, and anyone exploring creative fields, it helps foster meaningful connections and community through shared work and interests.
Context
Case Study
Personal Project
Overview
Background
Many student and early-career creatives struggle to find meaningful projects, collaborators, or ways to apply their skills outside the classroom. Opportunities are often scattered, inaccessible, or limited to closed circles.
Venn addresses this gap by providing a centralized, intuitive platform where early-career creatives can discover projects, build teams, and grow their experience through collaboration, making creative connections more accessible, inclusive, and project-focused.
How might we empower emerging creatives to connect, contribute, and gain experience by collaborating through real-world, team-based experiences?
Research
Interviews
To gain insight into their experiences, I conducted 13 interviews with a mix of high school students and college students.
“It’s hard to find people my age who are serious about creating something together.”
“There aren’t a lot of opportunities for high school students to gain any kind of professional or even just creative experiences outside of school.”
“It's so hard to find internships and jobs... and I want to build a portfolio, not just submit school assignments, so I’m sometimes kind of stuck creatively.”
Getting feedback from students was crucial but finding high schoolers (especially those who were serious about art and design) was challenging. Fortunately, my job as an admissions tour guide helped me gather their input on the app.
Surveys
To reach a wider range of people, a survey was sent out and I received 36 responses back, gathering diverse insights across different ages, experience levels, and goals.
88% of users prioritized hands-on project collaboration over mentorship and networking.
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Only 30% of users felt an all-in-one collaboration/work tracker would be too much for the app.
69% of users would use the app for out-of-class projects to build their portfolio.
A surpirising feedback I got was that users didn't really want mentorshop or professional networking as much as collaborating with like-minded individuals which shifted the app's focus pretty early on.
User Personas
Maya Chen
Graphic design student at MICA
Goals
To bulk up her portfolio enough to get a good summer internship.
Needs
Opportunities to contribute to portfolio-worthy work.
Clarity on what makes a strong project case study.
Pain Points
Frustrated her portfolio work is all class work that is often times rushed and incomplete.
Josh Jacobs
High school student
Goals
Explore different creative fields before choosing a college path and connect with other young creatives and get inspired.
Needs
Exposure to various creative roles (like animation, product design, etc.)
Pain Points
Lacks guidance on how to start building a creative presence. Polished projects seen on sites like Behance can be intimidating.
Final Insights
Here are some final insights I concluded after conducting user surveys and interviews.
Insight
Creatives (especially beginners) want low-pressure entry points
Accessibility matters across skill levels and backgrounds
Portfolio-building is a key motivator
Implication
Focus on accessible, low-stakes project posting and joining
Design inclusive onboarding and beginner-friendly language
Emphasize project-based experience as a way to grow real-world portfolios
The Design Process
Information Architecture
To start out, I created the information architecture to layout the core functionalities of the app.
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Wireframes & Testing
Taking the lo-fidelity wireframes back to users, I got valuable feedback about the usability and functionality of the app.
User Testing Insights
Venn is a space for creative people to connect, collaborate, and grow. Built for students, emerging professionals, and anyone exploring creative fields, it helps foster meaningful connections and community through shared work and interests.
Posts vs. Projects
Users were confused about the difference between the normal posts and project posts. Ultimately feedback suggested that there should be a way to filter or differentiate which you want to see.
Easier Onboarding
Despite trying to make onboarding easier, users still found it to be too long and unnecessary to go through.
Explore vs. Home
With similar UI structures and components, people couldn't tell the difference or differentiate the need between an explore screen and the home screen.
Final Designs
Onboarding
Onboarding designed to cater to you!
- Quick, guided setup tailored to creatives.
- Choose your interests, roles, and goals.
- Instantly see relevant projects and posts on your feed.
Home & Create Posts
- Effortlessly post projects and collaborations in a few simple steps.
- Share your work and ideas with a broad creative community to gain visibility.
- Tailor your posts to highlight specific skills, roles, and project needs.
View Potential Projects
- Browse a wide range of creative projects tailored to your interests.
- Separated page dedicated to projects.
Projects & Application
- Easy to view open projects.
- Simple applications keep the process accessible for early-career creatives.
- Chat and begin working with fellow creatives.
Create Projects
- Easily create and share your own projects on Venn.
- Once posted, track incoming applications, view collaborator profiles, and build your dream creative team.
Reflection
Key Takeaways
I first envisioned a beginner-friendly Behance/LinkedIn type app, but most users wanted a low-barrier space to meet peers and join low-stakes projects for portfolio building.
Balancing a professional feel without overwhelming newer users was a key challenge in the design process.
Throughout the project, I learned the importance of adapting to feedback rather than holding onto my initial ideas too tightly.
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