LocalHub
Finding Small and Local Businesses

Project Overview

Have you ever heard of a great hair salon but couldn't recall its name later? Or perhaps you've come across a charming boutique while passing by but forgot to mark it on Google Maps? Have you experienced the disappointment of visiting a restaurant with high ratings, only to find it underwhelming?

As a personal interest, I like to shop locally and enjoy getting services from small businesses, so as an educational project I decided to work on designing an application that helps users find small and local businesses, also small companies can enlist their business on this app and promote their product and service.

LocalHub is a platform that gathers all the information in one place and categorizes them based on type of the business making it more accessible and more reliable for all the users, both customers and business owners.

Problems

Is this a common experience?
Do people like and support local businesses?
Who is the target group?
How do they find what they need?

There are many search-based websites and applications that we can use to find a small business or a local service but I found the lack of a platform that is dedicated to small businesses and also it's simple and user-friendly.

Goals

Define the target audience
Understand user behavior
Categorize user needs
Design a platform based on our findings

My Role

Research and define the problem
Ideate
Sketch and wireframing
UI and Hi-Fidelity prototyping
Usability tests

Project Duration

6 weeks

November - December 2022

Design Process

In this project, I use the Design Thinking approach to create this application. Using this method can help us understand well about user needs. The following are the steps taken in the design thinking process:

Empathize

Define

Ideate

Prototype

Test

EMPATHIZE

I conducted a few initiative interviews and did user surveys with 15 participants, which I then turned into empathy maps to better understand the target user and their needs. I discovered that many target users would like to know about small businesses like cafes and art shops especially when they travel. However, it’s very hard and confusing to find these information online, which frustrates many target users. This caused a normally enjoyable experience to become challenging for them.

What factors influence your trust in the reviews or ratings of local businesses?

How often do you use a local service?

Do you tend to use local services more when traveling?

What methods do you currently use to find local businesses or services?

How important is it for you to support small and local businesses?

What factors influence your decision to choose a local business over a larger chain or online retailer?

Research Findings

65

Use and support

local businesses

33

Use Google search

to find locals

70

Prefer locals when traveling

67

Choose based on comments and reviews

Competitive Audit

Finding local shops
Product based
Doesn't include services
Search the city not the neighborhood

Online shop
Product based
Doesn't include services
Small business owners but sell internationally

Finding shops and services
Map based
Both local and retailers
Focus on shops not services

Empathy Map

SAYS

THINKS

Ask a friend

Search Google

Walk around the city

Explore social media

Customer reviews matter

Like to support small businesses

Like to see real photos

Quality of the product is very important

How can I trust this business?

Does the price worth it?

How can I find what I need in another city?

Not very satisfied

Frustrated with the search process

Not sure about reliability

Feeling good about supporting locals

DOES

FEELS

DEFINE

Persona

Problem statement: Anna is a full-time teacher with 2 kids who needs an organized system to find the services she needs.

User Journey Map

I created a user journey map of Anna’s experience using the site to help identify possible pain points and improvement opportunities.

User Pain Points

1

When traveling it’s even more confusing to find what you are looking for

2

Online information is not always updated

3

Finding trustworthy services is usually hard and risky

IDEATE

Challenge

Based on the user research I found out the most important factor for users is comments and reviews. They choose the service or product based on the reviews not grades, so the challenge is how to emphasize that in the application and how to encourage users to write about their experience more often.

Surprise

My Initial thought was that users would Google what they need or use social media to find local businesses, but the research showed me only 30% would use the internet to find these types of things, so this was a big surprise.

Solution

Design a pointing system for reviews, based on the number of reviews a user writes, they collect points and get a voucher.
Integrated a social hub in the application to emphasize the friend's group connections.

Information Architecture

Based on my research I found out users would like to have an organized category-based application so they can find the desired service easily.

User Flow

I found out that users act mostly based on friends' suggestions and would like to share their experiences with the group, so Localhub can be a social media where they can share these experiences.

PROTOTYPE

Paper wireframes

After analyzing research data and defining the problem, I started to ideate with the "crazy eight" technique, and I chose 2 of them, Voucher and Group.

The user has two main needs:

Evaluating the service by reading reviews
Communicate and share with friends

With a focus on these needs and user's pain points in mind, I sketched some paper wireframes.

UI Kit

Hi-fidelity Prototype

TEST

Usability test

I conducted a usability test with 3 participants. They had a task to log in and then find a cafe near them which they completed successfully but I learned about some aspects of the design that need to be improved.

After logging in they had to go back to the homepage to start the search. The profile page also needs a redesign.

Below you can see screen records of one of the usability tests.

Impacts and Reflections

Since this Project is a personal undertaking, its tangible impacts may not be measurable. However, feedback from usability test participants indicates a strong inclination to utilize the application, highlighting an evident market gap for such a product.

As a solo project, it was challenging to be my own lead and do both the design and time management. I learned to balance these two responsibilities in the design process. Also, I expand my skill and knowledge in the research phase of this project.

This application has 3 different target groups, users, stakeholders, and businesses. At this stage, the focus was on the user, the next step would be expanding the app based on business group needs. Furthermore, identify any additional areas of need and ideate on new features

LocalHub Finding Small and Local Businesses