Background

Cirkel is a Berlin-based startup centered on psychological safety and dedicated to creating a platform for employees to create their own supportive peer groups within their organization or workplace.

Problem

Many employees are criticized, punished, and ostracized at work, which leads to psychological burdens and high turnover due to fear.

Solution

To address this issue, we developed two MVP routes. We aimed to create a safer environment where employees could openly express and share their thoughts and concerns. We sought to cultivate supportive peer groups that foster trust and open communication.

Final Result

Home page design

Clearly shows the user what cirkel is, how it works, how it helps people, successful case studies, real customer feedback. From a business point of view it is more attractive for users to join cirkel.

Questionnaire Matching

Cirkel utilizes AI-based matching technology that pairs employees according to their questionnaire responses, taking into account common objectives, chosen projects, and complementary personalities.

Dashboard-Meeting Screens

Employees access the dashboard and share their psychological thoughts with like-minded group members by joining the weekly goal-oriented program meetings, which helps them address their psychological burdens and promotes trust. Feedback data will be collected at the end.

Time Schedule

Given the tight timeline of just four weeks to complete the project, we devised a schedule outlining the deliverables for each week. This allowed us to track progress and maintain a clear understanding of our weekly milestones.

Competitor Analysis

Our team conducts competitive analysis from a variety of perspectives. For my part in the competitive analysis, I focused on the user experience strategies used by competitors in the employee engagement industry. I researched their features and brands and how they stand out in the marketplace.

From my research, I identified several opportunities for Cirkel to differentiate itself from its competitors:

Cirkel's homepage content should be clear. The distribution of information on the homepage needs to be reduced and modified to convince users that Cirkel can provide quality service.
Through a customized matching process of user backgrounds, Cirkel can offer a more personalized user journey currently lacking in the industry.
The visual model is something that Cirkel lacks by enhancing the overall page visuals to enhance the appeal and effectively express the Cirkel brand identity.

Interviews

Our interview users were 6 in total. (There were two groups, participants and coaches.)
We wanted to analyze the answers from different user perspectives and refine some key statements.

Participants

“We need an environment where we can freely express our opinions and suggestions without fear of punishment or shame”

Coaches

“In order to provide better service, it is critical that participants share the same encounters and problems so that we can have a deeper empathy for each other's experiences”

Affinity Map

We summarized and categorized the interview notes to distill key insights.

Persona

In creating the personas, I relied on our insights from the affinity map, interview notes, and a comprehensive understanding of the peer group and training program participants. From our collaboration with Cirkel stakeholders, we knew early on that they envisioned a digital product to cater to two primary users: the Participants and the Coaches.

The participant persona, "Alisha," encapsulates the key pain points, needs, and objectives of this user group. The persona facilitated our design process to focus on the needs of these individuals, as they are the end-users of the Cirkel platform.

Derived from our exploration into the professional lives of coaches with various expertise, the coach persona, "Jason," helped us understand not just the coaches but also how to foster a successful peer-group program. Through this persona, we incorporated strategies into our initial design to ensure the platform is user-friendly and effective for coaches.

User Flow

I designed two main user flows to guide users through their journey within the platform. These flows depict the experience of new users joining Cirkel and veteran users interacting with their Cirkel group.

Flow 1: As a new user, I’d like to sign up for Cirkel and complete an assessment to match into a Cirkel group.

For new users and their onboarding experience. It outlines the steps from registration to completing an assessment and finally being matched with the right Cirkel panel. This process prioritizes a smooth and intuitive onboarding experience to ensure users feel guided and understood.

Flow 2 : As a returning user, I’d like to view my dashboard and join an upcoming session.

To meet the needs of Returning users. This process depicts a returning user's journey to view their dashboard and join an upcoming meeting. The focus here was on ease of navigation, timely access to information, and facilitating a seamless engagement with the Cirkel team.

Sketches & Wireframes

"Turning sketches into wireframes, I designed the Cirkel homepage to:

Introduce Cirkel's mission and value.
Simplify the workflow explanation for easy understanding.
Showcase successful case studies to demonstrate its impact.
Incorporate genuine customer feedback for credibility and trust-building."

"Then, I created an intuitive user registration process with the following key components:

Multiple sign-up methods cater to different user preferences.
An introductory questionnaire to match like-minded individuals. This addresses our persona's pain point of inability to connect deeply with people sharing similar backgrounds or values.
Providing a ‘save&finish later' option for users who might not want to complete the questionnaire immediately gives them flexibility.
Twelve essential questions, including personal ones like their position, industry, goals, expectations, and challenges. These offer vital data for better matching.

Our team did another flow when the user completed the questionnaire and entered the dashboard; through teamwork and discussion, we distilled the best elements of the sketch, and organized and combined them into a wireframe diagram.

Design System

Our team began work on the development of a design system. This comprehensive visual language for our product includes elements such as logos, typography, color palettes, grids, and icons. The goal was to ensure consistency, improve the user experience, and streamline our design process.

Usability Testing

In the subsequent phase, we conducted usability tests with 6 participants to validate our designs, uncover any issues, and gain insights into user expectations and behaviors to refine our product further.

"I was confused by the 'Try Cirkel' on the homepage, it would be clearer if it said 'Register' or 'Sign in'."

"The survey questions should be more specific and clear, with predefined options. It was hard for me to answer open-ended questions as it could lead to scattered responses and incorrect matching."

"The 'Skip' button might be better labeled as 'Save & Finish Later', as it currently seems like an invitation to abandon the process, which could undermine the quality of service."

"Improvements could be made to sidebar categories such as 'Saved' and 'Library'. Visual cues like the central meeting timer were not clear to me."

High-Fidelity Prototype

Following the usability testing, our team focused on creating the High-Fidelity Prototype. We carefully addressed all identified issues and used user feedback as our guide. This phase was crucial as it allowed us to refine our design and improve the user experience.

Browse Cirkel's homepage to learn about its value, register, and complete a customized questionnaire matched to the group.

Access their dashboard, join sessions, and provide post-session feedback that illustrates Cirkel's focus on easy user engagement and continuous improvement.

Reflection

The importance of user-centered design:

This project emphasized maintaining a user-centered perspective throughout the design process. From competitive analysis to usability testing, keeping the user at the center of our decisions was critical.

The value of teamwork:

Working as a team was challenging and rewarding. Each team member brought a unique perspective and skill set, and our collaboration resulted in a stronger, more comprehensive final product.

Iterative Process:

This project reaffirmed the need for iterative design. Feedback-based revisions and modifications were critical to refining and improving our product's usability.

Time Management:

Given our tight 4-week deadline, effective time management was critical. This project has improved my skills in working under pressure and meeting strict deadlines.

Future improvements:

Given more time, I would like to conduct more in-depth user testing with a broader user base to gain more insight. In addition, I would like to explore more on how to personalize the user experience further.

Overall, this internship was a rich experience that provided valuable insight into the UX design process, the importance of teamwork, and the practical application of design principles. I'm excited to apply these learnings in my future projects.

Background

Cirkel is a Berlin-based startup centered on psychological safety and dedicated to creating a platform for employees to create their own supportive peer groups within their organization or workplace.

Problem

Many employees are criticized, punished, and ostracized at work, which leads to psychological burdens and high turnover due to fear.

Solution

To address this issue, we developed two MVP routes. We aimed to create a safer environment where employees could openly express and share their thoughts and concerns. We sought to cultivate supportive peer groups that foster trust and open communication.

Final Result

Home page design

Clearly shows the user what cirkel is, how it works, how it helps people, successful case studies, real customer feedback. From a business point of view it is more attractive for users to join cirkel.

Questionnaire Matching

Cirkel utilizes AI-based matching technology that pairs employees according to their questionnaire responses, taking into account common objectives, chosen projects, and complementary personalities.

Dashboard-Meeting Screens

Employees access the dashboard and share their psychological thoughts with like-minded group members by joining the weekly goal-oriented program meetings, which helps them address their psychological burdens and promotes trust. Feedback data will be collected at the end.

Time Schedule

Given the tight timeline of just four weeks to complete the project, we devised a schedule outlining the deliverables for each week. This allowed us to track progress and maintain a clear understanding of our weekly milestones.

Competitor Analysis

Cirkel's homepage content should be clear. The distribution of information on the homepage needs to be reduced and modified to convince users that Cirkel can provide quality service.

Through a customized matching process of user backgrounds, Cirkel can offer a more personalized user journey currently lacking in the industry.

The visual model is something that Cirkel lacks by enhancing the overall page visuals to enhance the appeal and effectively express the Cirkel brand identity.

Interviews

Our interview users were 6 in total. (There were two groups, participants and coaches.) We wanted to analyze the answers from different user perspectives and refine some key statements.

Participants

“We need an environment where we can freely express our opinions and suggestions without fear of punishment or shame”

Coaches

“In order to provide better service, it is critical that participants share the same encounters and problems so that we can have a deeper empathy for each other's experiences”

Affinity Map

We summarized and categorized the interview notes to distill key insights.

Persona

The participant persona, "Alisha," encapsulates the key pain points, needs, and objectives of this user group. The persona facilitated our design process to focus on the needs of these individuals, as they are the end-users of the Cirkel platform.

User Flow

I designed two main user flows to guide users through their journey within the platform. These flows depict the experience of new users joining Cirkel and veteran users interacting with their Cirkel group.

Flow 1: As a new user, I’d like to sign up for Cirkel and complete an assessment to match into a Cirkel group.

For new users and their onboarding experience. It outlines the steps from registration to completing an assessment and finally being matched with the right Cirkel panel. This process prioritizes a smooth and intuitive onboarding experience to ensure users feel guided and understood.

Flow 2 : As a returning user, I’d like to view my dashboard and join an upcoming session.

To meet the needs of Returning users. This process depicts a returning user's journey to view their dashboard and join an upcoming meeting. The focus here was on ease of navigation, timely access to information, and facilitating a seamless engagement with the Cirkel team.

Sketches & Wireframes

"Turning sketches into wireframes, I designed the Cirkel homepage to:

Introduce Cirkel's mission and value.

Simplify the workflow explanation for easy understanding.

Showcase successful case studies to demonstrate its impact.

Incorporate genuine customer feedback for credibility and trust-building."