• BRENDAN MCKAY — [03.24.24]
    BRAND DESIGNER AND PRODUCT STRATEGIST
    • IN SEARCH OF

    A curated and educational library of excellent resources for design professionals who seek to enhance their knowledge of the visual design industry.

    DECEMBER 2022 — ONGOING

    FREELANCE CONTRACTING
    LOGO AND PRODUCT DESIGN

    HOW IT BEGAN

    In January 2022 I met JP Ramirez, a professor teaching a design course in typography and space at the University of Illinois School of Art + Design. Meanwhile, I was organizing weekly meetings as president of the Design Club at Simon Fraser University.
    We both commonly referred our students to a loose list of great design resources that we had scattered across our notes and bookmarks. Our goal was to formalize this list in an easy to access directory for budding design professionals.

    PROBLEM

    Budding design professionals struggle to find reputable, professional grade design inspiration with enough context and supporting artifacts.

    FRAMING

    How might we map the landscape of design companies for inspiration seekers who need to build upon their knowledge and connections to the design industry.

    PRODUCT DESIGN APPROACH

    I began by facilitating exercises with our team to create brand pillars and determine our value proposition.
    We are creating a digital tool for design professionals who seek to enhance their connection with, and knowledge of, the visual design industry. We support them by providing a curated, educational, inspiring, and exploratory library of excellent resources. We are unlike competitors who focus on ephemeral updates to niche fields of the visual design industry.

    BRAND PILLARS

    MAP

    It’s important for designers to have all their resources in one place. We seek to curate a broad map of resources, across many disciplines, to provide a sense of the breadth and depth of the visual design industry, and connect people with valuable resources.

    INSPIRE

    Excellent designers habitually seek inspiration constantly. We curate beautiful design and resources from the first impression to the last. We aim to provide that inspiring moment when you find something thoughtfully—and unexpectedly—curated that you never would have found on your own.

    BUILD TASTE

    Excellent designers cherish insightful discourse. We provide deep connection with the design industry by contributing insightful commentary and education in every resource. We’re the helpful librarian you’ve been waiting for to give you the meaning behind the recommendation, and guide you to build your taste.

    DETERMINING VALUE FOR SEEKERS

    People I interviewed said that they connected strongly and best with resources that were highly regarded or recommended by mentors and peers.
    To promote strong connections between our readers and our resources, each entry in the design directory is accompanied by copy that tells the importance of each resource and why it is regarded so highly.

    VALUE

    FOR SEEKERS

    Seekers have a curated list of professional resources to learn the landscape of design and reference professional grade case studies.

    FOR ISO

    The directory gains a user base of seekers who support the development of our list via ad revenue, shares, and donations.

    FOR COMPANIES

    The directory connects future talent with companies across the world, and lesser known boutique companies gain new fans.

    MAPPING THE LANDSCAPE OF DESIGN

    On cards, I used the scrollable chip pattern to retain contextual design discovery and inform search decisions. To map the landscape of design - chip categories include media type, type of design discipline, and type of organization.

    Case Study

    USER RESEARCH AND PERSONAS

    I hosted sprint activities with JP and our developer, Bryant, where we asked questions and attempted to paint a picture of our persona. Next, I created an online questionnaire seeking to confirm and test our assumptions with potential users to develop a persona with real user data.
    After synthesizing the results of the questionnaire and polls, I reproached the persona of assumptions and replaced all of the assumptions with real insights from our research results.

    We learned that designers often find a single good artifact, but are unable to find the supporting artifacts and context necessary to use it as a precedent.

    We learned that people struggle less with seeking inspiration, and more with knowing what to seek.

    JOURNEY FRAMEWORKS

    Next, I presented the persona to some of the people we interviewed to see if they agreed that we were painting an accurate picture, and that the frictions and needs of the persona reflected their actual needs.
    I then created a set of journey frameworks by grouping similar habits and demographics, and populated each journey with quotes pulled from our research insights. We compared a daily feature flow, a learning curriculum based flow, and a quiz based discovery flow.

    USER TESTING AND QUALITATIVE INSIGHTS

    I drafted a wireframe prototype for each of the two most compelling journey frameworks, and scheduled user testing. Each participant was given a set of tasks to complete. I asked participants to think aloud and narrate their flow through the prototype, while I timed the exercise and took notes.
    Upon completion of the tasks, I asked follow up questions to see which prototype felt more valuable. I then repopulated the journey framework with updated insights, and iterated the most well received prototype to eliminate errors and misconceptions.

    We learned that users needed more than one image to tell if it is worth it to visit the companies site.

    We learned that users were less interested in gamifying their design learning experience.

    CREATING THE LOGO

    I used a pen and sketchbook to create 8 logo iterations in 8 minutes as a warmup exercise each day. The initial form for this iteration of the logo began with a location pin, inspired by our brand pillar to ‘map the landscape of design’.
    By scaling and reflecting the pin, I created a head and body that represents our individual seeker. Together, they create a flower-like form where the seeds are waypoints, representing the connections our seeker gains as they explore In Search Of.

    ADDENDUM

    Thanks for stopping by — I have so much more to share about my process and approach to this project. Send me a message and let's make impactful design together.