Challenge Summary
Welcome to the "RUX - Dinnaco Expertise and Colleague Connection Tool Mobile Apps Design Challenge". We are looking for your help to design a Dinnaco Expertise and Colleague Connection Tool that will be created as a native iOS mobile app. The purpose of this challenge is to create designs for an application that will allow colleagues to find and connect with each other more easily. We need you to read, understand, and evaluate the requirements and goals of the challenge and then design some awesome concepts to WOW our colleagues.
The name of the app will be "Connect Us". Please use the name and / or a logo throughout the design.
We are interested in designing and use best practice for iOS mobile apps, so please design accordingly. We want to see a clean and modern experience which brings the best combination of UX and UI together. Concepts that are hard to navigate or overly clutter the screen are likely to score less than a clean, simple, and easy to use mobile apps design. As always, please ask any questions in the forum. Looking forward to seeing your design concepts!
What is a RUX Challenge?
The RUX (Rapid User Experience) challenge uses the same format as our famous LUX Challenge except it is not "Live" at an event, and is just a little bit longer (for this challenge, we have 61 Hours available for submission time). The RUX Challenge Series provides you with an opportunity to show digital leaders from some of the largest companies in the world just how good your concepting and user experience (UI/UX) design skills are.
RUX (Rapid User Experience) challenges are fast, fun, and have more chances for you to capture prize money!
Background Overview
The goal of this challenge is to design a native iOS mobile application that will be used as an Employee Expertise and Colleague Connection tool. This app will allow employees to do five key things:
- Find colleagues in various ways, for example name, skills, interests, industry, client, location
- Message colleagues directly and in groups
- Setup a profile with user information, skills and interests
- Use a map to locate nearby colleagues and filtering / highlight those
- Preferences to control notifications, geo-location settings, working hours, privacy settings
Our company has a large number of employees both within the country they work in and an even larger number internationally. Currently there are a number of different tools / systems which allow users to do parts of what the Connect Us app will do.
We want to create a very simple, easy to use app that employees love using.
RUX Challenge Timeline and Rolling Checkpoint
- Submission Start: 11/18/2016 at 02:00 PM EDT
- Rolling Checkpoint Start: 11/20/2016 at 03:00 AM EDT
- Submission End: 11/21/2016 at 03:00 AM EDT
We are offering 5 Prizes Placements!
1) 1st Placement: $2000
2) 2nd Placement: $1500
3) 3rd Placement: $1000
4) 4th Placement: $750
5) 5th Placement: $500
- Plus 8 placements for Rolling Checkpoint prizes @ $50 each!
Rolling Checkpoint Review ($50*)
Client Team & Topcoder (Adam M. and / or Trevor G.) will provide a quick design review if you submit your initial designs by (Sunday, 20 November 2016 03.00 AM EDT)
- Within the hour, we will start providing checkpoint design feedback/guidance
- You must watch the Forum for your feedback!
*All qualifying checkpoint submissions will win $50 (8 Placements)
Design Goals
The goal of this RUX challenge is to design an iOS Mobile application that will allow employees to find, connect and communicate with each other in a much more streamlined and engaging way. The app is aimed at both professional and social interactions.
Target Audience
- Internal employees - these are busy, skilled professionals who are often on the move and work at different locations and companies. Age ranges from 25 to 55. All have a mobile phone. Employees often work away from home during the week.
- The app is aimed at improving colleagues ability to find, connect and communicate with colleagues both professionally and socially.
Example Use Cases
Below are two example use cases - these aren't exhaustive but will give an idea of different ways the screens in the app can connect together
Use case 1:
- John lives and usually works in London but next week he is working on a project in Manchester for GNK Limited. John opens the "Connect Us" app to find which colleagues are currently working at GNK Limited. John does the following:
- John opens the Connect Us app (the user is automatically logged in and not required to enter a password or use a fingerprint to open the app)
- John goes to the search function and types in GNK Limited
- John is presented a list of colleagues who have GNK Limited in their profile sorted by distance from John's current location
- John filters the list to find colleagues who have been working in Manchester in the past week
- John finds a colleague, Jane who he knows and sends her a direct message to ask if she is going to be in Manchester next week and to get some information about the project
Use case 2:
- John is now working on the project for GNK Limited in Manchester for the next 6 months and stays there Monday to Friday each week. John is now the only person on his project so wants to find some colleagues to socialise with in the evening. John does the following:
- John opens the "Connect Us" app
- John goes to the map function which shows colleagues who are nearby
- John filters the pins to identify colleagues who don't have Manchester as their home location and who want to have dinner with colleagues in the evening
- There are 6 pins remaining so John opens up a group chat with the colleagues to arrange dinner the next evening
Required Screens/ Functionality:
- For this challenge, we would like you to design 6 of the mobile apps major screens (outlined below).
- We want to see your creativity and ideas so please bring your best suggestions beyond the flow described below.
00) IMPORTANT!! Presentation Screen - 1920x1080 (16:9 Ratio)
- In a RUX challenge, this screen is very important so make it look good!
- If you were walking into a meeting and needed to sell your idea - use this screen to showcase your concept.
- DO NOT put extra text on this screen - use it to showcase your application!
- You must include the JPG/PNG in your SUBMISSION folder!
- Also include your presentation source file in Source folder.
01) Loading screen
- When you open the app there is a simple app loading screen with the "Connect Us" logo displayed (create one for us)
- There is no login required for the app (user profile is loaded behind the scenes)
02) Search screen
- This is the typical default screen which the app has loaded
- User can enter search terms in a free text field, sample search terms could be name, company name, skills, location
- Search may or may not be predictive - show us your ideas for great search experience!
- Once the user makes the search they are presented a list of both:
-- profiles which are sorted by relevance (a combination of search term match, distance, previous locations etc)
-- public conversation groups which contain the relevant search term in their description (use mix of group member profile photos as "photo" for the group)
- List view displays profile name, photo, job title, current project and distance
- User can toggle search results between a list and map view (map view is described in more detail in screen 03)
- User can filter and sort results to get to the right people quickly, there are pretty fine filters available, for example, social - drink, social - dinner, social - run, social - music
- User can perform a range of actions from the search results screen, for example:
-- View profile
-- Message person - could be chat or call
-- Start a group chat with a number of people in the list
03) Map screen
- User loads the map screen and is presented with their current location and pins around them indicating colleagues who are nearby
- Pins may have a small information box, colour coding or other ways to provide some information to the user before they click on the pin
- User can filter the map to find more relevant matches
- User can move the map or search for a new location and the map updates to show matches in that area
- User can touch a pin to open a basic profile and perform quick actions
04) Chat screen
- User can send and receive messages to and from individuals or groups of colleagues. Messages are automatically saved and full message history is accessible
- User can view and enter their previous conversations (both individual and group)
- User can search for previous conversations and messages
- User can change the privacy settings of conversations groups they have created between public and private
05) User profile Screen
- User has a profile page which displays information about them
- Information displayed includes name, job title, photo, current project name, home office location, current project location, key skills
- User information should be broken into three key sections:
-- Contact information: name, photo, phone number, email address
-- Professional information: current project name and current project location, key skills, key industries, link to LinkedIn or similar to view full profile
-- Interests: hobbies, for example, Dinner in the evening, sports, music, culture etc.
- User has the ability to edit their profile in the app (the app would have two way integration with company systems to keep information up to date)
06) Preferences / settings Screen
- User can control a range of settings within the app such as:
-- Working hours and days so they can be displayed as "out of working hours" on search and map results, and toggle notification settings
-- Toggle notifications on and off for different types of action
-- Turn on "out of office" mode
-- Black-list particular locations - i.e. within a certain distance of your home
-- Edit geo-location settings
Things to consider for intended user
- Why is he/she opening this apps in the first place / what is he / she looking to do?
- What is the "first experience" when opening the mobile apps? What is the primary goal of the apps and experience?
- What are the priority actions or items a user needs to interact with?
- Where and how will the app be used the most?
Design Inspiration
- The app is basically a combination of LinkedIn, Happn and WhatsApp / Slack, start from there for your references.
Look & Feel
- We want a clean, simple to use UI / UX experience. Many company tools are overly complicated and difficult to use so simplicity is the key. Consider what the key functionality is and make this intuitive and easy to use.
Branding Requirements
- Follow branding attached in the Challenge Attachment.
- Remember that we want a clean, easy to navigate and appealing mobile apps
- We have provided colours, colour mix and fonts which we would like you to try and follow
- We have also provided some examples of button and form field design but you can be more creative with these
Screen Requirements
- Mobile (portrait orientation) - 750px wide by 1334px tall, height can expand if needed.
- When designing, please to take into account about the sizes, the possible layouts and interactions. This app will be native iOS.
Judging Criteria
Your submission will be judged on the following criteria:
- Concepts! How do you tackle creating this experience?
- How well does your design align with the objectives of the challenge
- Cleanliness of screen design and user flow
- Overall design and user experience
- Execution and thoughtfulness put into the solving the problem
- Overall idea and execution of concepts
Submission & Source Files
Preview Image
- Please create your preview image as one (1) 1024x1024px JPG or PNG file in RGB color mode at 72dpi and place a screenshot of your submission within it.
Submission File
- Number your files (01, 02, 03, etc) this will help review them in order.
- Submit JPG/PNG for your submission files.
Source Files
- All original source files of the submitted design. Files should be submitted in Sketch (preferred), but Photoshop or Illustrator also fine (PSD/AI).
Final Fixes
- Note: This RUX challenge could have final fixes based on the missing requirements asked in challenge details.
The name of the app will be "Connect Us". Please use the name and / or a logo throughout the design.
We are interested in designing and use best practice for iOS mobile apps, so please design accordingly. We want to see a clean and modern experience which brings the best combination of UX and UI together. Concepts that are hard to navigate or overly clutter the screen are likely to score less than a clean, simple, and easy to use mobile apps design. As always, please ask any questions in the forum. Looking forward to seeing your design concepts!
What is a RUX Challenge?
The RUX (Rapid User Experience) challenge uses the same format as our famous LUX Challenge except it is not "Live" at an event, and is just a little bit longer (for this challenge, we have 61 Hours available for submission time). The RUX Challenge Series provides you with an opportunity to show digital leaders from some of the largest companies in the world just how good your concepting and user experience (UI/UX) design skills are.
RUX (Rapid User Experience) challenges are fast, fun, and have more chances for you to capture prize money!
Background Overview
The goal of this challenge is to design a native iOS mobile application that will be used as an Employee Expertise and Colleague Connection tool. This app will allow employees to do five key things:
- Find colleagues in various ways, for example name, skills, interests, industry, client, location
- Message colleagues directly and in groups
- Setup a profile with user information, skills and interests
- Use a map to locate nearby colleagues and filtering / highlight those
- Preferences to control notifications, geo-location settings, working hours, privacy settings
Our company has a large number of employees both within the country they work in and an even larger number internationally. Currently there are a number of different tools / systems which allow users to do parts of what the Connect Us app will do.
We want to create a very simple, easy to use app that employees love using.
RUX Challenge Timeline and Rolling Checkpoint
- Submission Start: 11/18/2016 at 02:00 PM EDT
- Rolling Checkpoint Start: 11/20/2016 at 03:00 AM EDT
- Submission End: 11/21/2016 at 03:00 AM EDT
We are offering 5 Prizes Placements!
1) 1st Placement: $2000
2) 2nd Placement: $1500
3) 3rd Placement: $1000
4) 4th Placement: $750
5) 5th Placement: $500
- Plus 8 placements for Rolling Checkpoint prizes @ $50 each!
Rolling Checkpoint Review ($50*)
Client Team & Topcoder (Adam M. and / or Trevor G.) will provide a quick design review if you submit your initial designs by (Sunday, 20 November 2016 03.00 AM EDT)
- Within the hour, we will start providing checkpoint design feedback/guidance
- You must watch the Forum for your feedback!
*All qualifying checkpoint submissions will win $50 (8 Placements)
Design Goals
The goal of this RUX challenge is to design an iOS Mobile application that will allow employees to find, connect and communicate with each other in a much more streamlined and engaging way. The app is aimed at both professional and social interactions.
Target Audience
- Internal employees - these are busy, skilled professionals who are often on the move and work at different locations and companies. Age ranges from 25 to 55. All have a mobile phone. Employees often work away from home during the week.
- The app is aimed at improving colleagues ability to find, connect and communicate with colleagues both professionally and socially.
Example Use Cases
Below are two example use cases - these aren't exhaustive but will give an idea of different ways the screens in the app can connect together
Use case 1:
- John lives and usually works in London but next week he is working on a project in Manchester for GNK Limited. John opens the "Connect Us" app to find which colleagues are currently working at GNK Limited. John does the following:
- John opens the Connect Us app (the user is automatically logged in and not required to enter a password or use a fingerprint to open the app)
- John goes to the search function and types in GNK Limited
- John is presented a list of colleagues who have GNK Limited in their profile sorted by distance from John's current location
- John filters the list to find colleagues who have been working in Manchester in the past week
- John finds a colleague, Jane who he knows and sends her a direct message to ask if she is going to be in Manchester next week and to get some information about the project
Use case 2:
- John is now working on the project for GNK Limited in Manchester for the next 6 months and stays there Monday to Friday each week. John is now the only person on his project so wants to find some colleagues to socialise with in the evening. John does the following:
- John opens the "Connect Us" app
- John goes to the map function which shows colleagues who are nearby
- John filters the pins to identify colleagues who don't have Manchester as their home location and who want to have dinner with colleagues in the evening
- There are 6 pins remaining so John opens up a group chat with the colleagues to arrange dinner the next evening
Required Screens/ Functionality:
- For this challenge, we would like you to design 6 of the mobile apps major screens (outlined below).
- We want to see your creativity and ideas so please bring your best suggestions beyond the flow described below.
00) IMPORTANT!! Presentation Screen - 1920x1080 (16:9 Ratio)
- In a RUX challenge, this screen is very important so make it look good!
- If you were walking into a meeting and needed to sell your idea - use this screen to showcase your concept.
- DO NOT put extra text on this screen - use it to showcase your application!
- You must include the JPG/PNG in your SUBMISSION folder!
- Also include your presentation source file in Source folder.
01) Loading screen
- When you open the app there is a simple app loading screen with the "Connect Us" logo displayed (create one for us)
- There is no login required for the app (user profile is loaded behind the scenes)
02) Search screen
- This is the typical default screen which the app has loaded
- User can enter search terms in a free text field, sample search terms could be name, company name, skills, location
- Search may or may not be predictive - show us your ideas for great search experience!
- Once the user makes the search they are presented a list of both:
-- profiles which are sorted by relevance (a combination of search term match, distance, previous locations etc)
-- public conversation groups which contain the relevant search term in their description (use mix of group member profile photos as "photo" for the group)
- List view displays profile name, photo, job title, current project and distance
- User can toggle search results between a list and map view (map view is described in more detail in screen 03)
- User can filter and sort results to get to the right people quickly, there are pretty fine filters available, for example, social - drink, social - dinner, social - run, social - music
- User can perform a range of actions from the search results screen, for example:
-- View profile
-- Message person - could be chat or call
-- Start a group chat with a number of people in the list
03) Map screen
- User loads the map screen and is presented with their current location and pins around them indicating colleagues who are nearby
- Pins may have a small information box, colour coding or other ways to provide some information to the user before they click on the pin
- User can filter the map to find more relevant matches
- User can move the map or search for a new location and the map updates to show matches in that area
- User can touch a pin to open a basic profile and perform quick actions
04) Chat screen
- User can send and receive messages to and from individuals or groups of colleagues. Messages are automatically saved and full message history is accessible
- User can view and enter their previous conversations (both individual and group)
- User can search for previous conversations and messages
- User can change the privacy settings of conversations groups they have created between public and private
05) User profile Screen
- User has a profile page which displays information about them
- Information displayed includes name, job title, photo, current project name, home office location, current project location, key skills
- User information should be broken into three key sections:
-- Contact information: name, photo, phone number, email address
-- Professional information: current project name and current project location, key skills, key industries, link to LinkedIn or similar to view full profile
-- Interests: hobbies, for example, Dinner in the evening, sports, music, culture etc.
- User has the ability to edit their profile in the app (the app would have two way integration with company systems to keep information up to date)
06) Preferences / settings Screen
- User can control a range of settings within the app such as:
-- Working hours and days so they can be displayed as "out of working hours" on search and map results, and toggle notification settings
-- Toggle notifications on and off for different types of action
-- Turn on "out of office" mode
-- Black-list particular locations - i.e. within a certain distance of your home
-- Edit geo-location settings
Things to consider for intended user
- Why is he/she opening this apps in the first place / what is he / she looking to do?
- What is the "first experience" when opening the mobile apps? What is the primary goal of the apps and experience?
- What are the priority actions or items a user needs to interact with?
- Where and how will the app be used the most?
Design Inspiration
- The app is basically a combination of LinkedIn, Happn and WhatsApp / Slack, start from there for your references.
Look & Feel
- We want a clean, simple to use UI / UX experience. Many company tools are overly complicated and difficult to use so simplicity is the key. Consider what the key functionality is and make this intuitive and easy to use.
Branding Requirements
- Follow branding attached in the Challenge Attachment.
- Remember that we want a clean, easy to navigate and appealing mobile apps
- We have provided colours, colour mix and fonts which we would like you to try and follow
- We have also provided some examples of button and form field design but you can be more creative with these
Screen Requirements
- Mobile (portrait orientation) - 750px wide by 1334px tall, height can expand if needed.
- When designing, please to take into account about the sizes, the possible layouts and interactions. This app will be native iOS.
Judging Criteria
Your submission will be judged on the following criteria:
- Concepts! How do you tackle creating this experience?
- How well does your design align with the objectives of the challenge
- Cleanliness of screen design and user flow
- Overall design and user experience
- Execution and thoughtfulness put into the solving the problem
- Overall idea and execution of concepts
Submission & Source Files
Preview Image
- Please create your preview image as one (1) 1024x1024px JPG or PNG file in RGB color mode at 72dpi and place a screenshot of your submission within it.
Submission File
- Number your files (01, 02, 03, etc) this will help review them in order.
- Submit JPG/PNG for your submission files.
Source Files
- All original source files of the submitted design. Files should be submitted in Sketch (preferred), but Photoshop or Illustrator also fine (PSD/AI).
Final Fixes
- Note: This RUX challenge could have final fixes based on the missing requirements asked in challenge details.
Please read the challenge specification carefully and watch the forums for any questions or feedback concerning this challenge. It is important that you monitor any updates provided by the client or Studio Admins in the forums. Please post any questions you might have for the client in the forums.