Branding & Website design
'REACH' was my response to a brief that was given during a UI/UX module at university in collaboration with MOO.com
The Brief
"Design a platform that connects student designers with opportunities to enhance their portfolio."
We were instructed that this should not be a website like Behance that simply displays a student's online portfolio, but instead should focus on the connection opportunities for students that would bring them work that they could then add to their portfolio.
'REACH' is a platform exclusively for design students and recent graduates, as well as organisations and individuals that could provide them with full-time jobs, part-time jobs, freelance work or other work opportunities.
I began to tackle this brief through a process of conducting market research of platforms providing a similar service, gathering user research from potential users of 'REACH' to analyse their wants and needs from a platform like this, creating user personas and creating user journeys. By doing this, I was able to gain a better understanding on what the main functions of the website should be and the services that it provides, as well as the best way to layout the content in terms of importance to the user.
I was then able to begin sketching wireframes and the task flows that users on the website would conduct to further help in the layout of the website.
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There are two seperate log in/sign up sections for 'REACH'; a student side and an employer side.
Students/Graduates are able to create a profile for themselves where they display their design journey to date, detailing education, work and other experiences that could aid in them securing potential work. Potential employers can view a student/graduates profile and from there can decide whether they would like to connect with them.
Employers will also be able to create a profile similar to the student profile, that gives a brief history to the company as well as the type of clients that they work with and the work that they produce.
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I wanted the look and feel of the branding and the website to be fun, colourful and optimistic in order to get students/graduates excited at the prospect of employment, connecting with potential employees and putting their design skills to work.
The logo and name, 'REACH', was created to communicate how the main aim of the website is for both students/graduates and employers to reach out and connect with others, with the logo emulating this by literally showing two hands coming together.