The Business + Tech innovation jam is a competition with a prize of 5,000$. In order to win, teams come up with a business idea which is then turned into a prototype with a presentation for a panel of judges. In order to come up with a product, we looked for a problem to solve. An issue every person in our group or someone close to them had was the issue of managing contractors for home renovations.
- The uncertainty of building and remodeling residential real estate projects
- No standardized software for synchronizing project timelines with homeowners
- The existing communication methods are ineffective in handling B2B communication and project management tasks.
-Give homeowners control and monitoring ability in their renovating efforts
- A platform which provides updated schedules and operations timelines for employees and clients
- An app that allows subcontractors to easily exchange project information for seamless transitions.
While Amanda and Omkar looked at the financial prospects of competitor companies like Monday.com, Beekeeper, Asana, and Raken, Kylie and I examined the UI of each platform and analyzed their features. Here is what we found.
Once we had determined what our app would do, and what features would be available to the user, the next step was to create a user persona and a user flow. Our user persona was inspired by Amanda's aunt who redesigns closets. Let's call her Jane and say she runs a closet construction company. Here's her user flow.
Using my logo design experience to give my team an advantage, I set about creating a logo for timely. In order to capture the critical aspects of Timely; Time management and task completion I created a clock with a checklist for hands.
Contracting is traditionally a very pen-and-paper profession. Decisions are worked out over cigarettes, questions asked over imessage and measurements written on plywood. In order to help transition the contracting profession to a modern app, Kylie and I created an app with a focus on simplicity and clarity so that less tech-savvy users could easily use the app.
WIth a wireframes completed and our research complete, it was finally time to present to the judges. A month and a half of extra-curricular work boiled down into a dozen slides with 5,000$ at stake. Our group used tome for our slides.
Participating in the Tech Jam competition wasn't about winning monetary rewards for me; it was an endeavor to garner invaluable experience and connect with like-minded individuals. Despite the unforeseen challenges that stemmed from the additional workload and the dwindling numbers within our original group, we persevered and emerged tied for fourth place. This journey, though demanding, difficult, and stressful, played a pivotal role in my growth in design, teamwork, and motivation. As I reflect on the entirety of this experience, I not only appreciate the lessons learned but also recognize the strength forged in adversity—a testament to the spirit of competition.
