Techa
A platform for New Media Creators to showcase their work, gain individual exposure, and connect.
Role: Co-Founder + Product Designer
In collaboration with Yuli Cai
Year: 2018
What is New Media?
New media is all the creative work that uses technology in an interactive way. New media is a rising field. There are more schools adding new media to their curriculum, more art shows, and working opportunities in the field.
New Media is a Rising Fiel
Here you can see the growth in the number of projects in the U.S. biggest New Media festival - SXSW over the years. This is just ONE festival, but day by day, there are more and more schools adding New Media to their curriculum, more art shows in the related field, and more working opportunities.
The Problem
In hopes to showcase the work in the best way possible and get exposure, new media creators have to display it here and there. The consequence is a disorganized and scattered community.
The Solution
To build a centralized platform for New Media creators and their audience, where projects are organized and categorized and good work is defined by the entire community through creative meritocracy.
Design Process
Personas
3 main users come to Techa with different intentions:
Competitive Landscape
As a new media creator, there are many online platforms to show your work:
But that doesn't mean that any of these are doing a good job.
Current Platforms
Here is how the process of sharing new media creative work online is today:
When creators try to get exposure for a project:
Techa's Main Features
Sitemap
Wireframe
Iterative Design
Creating the right “upload form” was very important because, in our user interviews, creators said one of the reasons they don't share projects is because uploading it is too complicated. After defining what was important to have in the form, we divided it into the mandatory fields and the optional ones. We went from complex forms to oversimplified ones. In the end, we landed on a solution that has a lot of optional fields, but that still keeps a simple interface, using autocomplete and pre-filled options to optimize the process.
Upload Process
Creators Page
Search Method
Opportunities
In the research process, we found out that creators want a central place to find opportunities that are "filtered" according to the kind of work they do. Similar to the process for sharing their work, today they need to go to several different websites to find what they are looking for.
User Avatar
When users sign up for Techa they can but don't need to upload a profile image. If no image is uploaded, the system automatically picks one of the 6 avatars provided by Techa. These are all Greek statues and the inspiration comes from Greco-roman status images that are commonly seen in the Vaporwave aesthetics.
Logo
Design System
Takeaways
Even though the new media creators are the primary users of Techa, doing research with the “Employer” and “Explorer” personas was essential to build a holistic solution.
The process to upload a project was one of the most challenging parts of the project in terms of UX because it required a fine balance between depth and simplicity.
