ALIGN: A WEBSITE FOR CREATIVES
A website designed to streamline the job search experience for designers and artists through visually-driven tools and curated opportunities.
Overview
Nancy X.
Tracy Y.
Team
Winter 2024
2 weeks
Duration
UI/UX Designer
Illustrator
My Role
Rethinking how creatives find work
To help designers and artists showcase their work and find roles that fit their style and strengths.
OVERVIEW
JUMP TO FINAL
Website design preview
Design identity preview
CONTEXT
Finding creative work should feel creative.
Over 500,000 people in the US are employed in design-related fields, with thousands of new graduates entering the workforce each year. About 87, 900 openings are projected each year on average.
The U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics
Competitive analysis
To better understand the challenges faced by creative professionals, I began by researching existing jobs platforms like Indeed, Behance, and LinkedIn.
High volume of job postings across industries with a simple, accessible interface
Not designed for creative fields; lacks visual portfolio support
Indeed
Strong platform for showcasing visual work with a built-in creative community
Limited job search and application features; not built for job-matching efficiency
Behance
Widely used professional network with strong recruiter presence
Extremely wordy and hard to navigate at times
PROBLEM
People don’t build careers on generic listings, so job boards shouldn’t feel like one.
Which role fits my style and skills the best?
What do other people say about working with this company?
How can I showcase my portfolio?
Where do I even start looking?
What kind of work is there?
HMW STATEMENT
How might we allow creatives to showcase their portfolio effectively, so that they can better connect with opportunities aligned with their expertise?
Creatives spend significant time navigating platforms that don't understand their needs.
Designers and artists need tools that highlight their work and match them with roles where they can thrive.
Synthesizing early research
Drawing from portfolio reviews and competitor analysis, we began identifying patterns in how designers navigate current platforms, and where they fall short.
What functions will the app have?
To visualize the key interactions within the platform, we mapped a user flow diagram outlining how creatives move from discovering roles to submitting their portfolios.
User flow diagram
Moodboard
Low-fi wireframes
Buttons and components
What would the experience look like?
We wanted to use bright, energetic colors and clean, readable fonts to reflect an approachable tone.
IDEATION
How can we make the job search more intuitive and empowering for creatives?
Designing the wireframes
Once we solidified the main user flows and concepts, we started to prototype the wireframes and look of the entire website.
PROTOTYPE
Bringing the website to life
FINAL DESIGN
A seamless job search experience for all creatives.
Brainstorming
Main website flows
No more digging through generic listings to find the right creative role
Showcase your portfolio, match with jobs that fit your style, and apply, all in one visually-driven platform built for designers and artists.
FLOW 1
The onboarding process
Users start by selecting their field and uploading a portfolio, personalizing job matches from the beginning and streamlining onboarding.
FLOW 2
Job searching
Each listing shows visual examples of desired work, helping users assess fit and apply directly with their portfolio and cover letter.
FLOW 3
Companies & resources
To support discovery and growth, a dedicated tab offers company profiles and curated creative resources like portfolio tips and interview prep.
FLOW 4
Profile features
The profile is clean and focused, letting users add a photo, bio, portfolio links, skills, tools, and creative focus to tailor job matches.
Key takeaways
Balancing simplicity and depth
One challenge was designing a profile that felt clean but still offered enough depth for creative professionals. We iterated on how much info to include, finding a balance between minimal clutter and enough detail to support meaningful job matching.
Designing for creatives
A key focus was making the platform feel tailored from the first interaction. Prompting users to choose their creative field early on helped guide job matches and set the tone for a personalized experience. This small choice had a big impact on usability and relevance throughout the platform. Creating for designers meant that the visual language had to meet a higher bar. I paid special attention to colour, typography, and layout to ensure the interface felt both inspiring and functional.
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