Nodia Platform Design Concepts Challenge

Welcome to the Nodia platform Design Concepts Challenge. This challenge is focused on designing an online platform that facilitates a match between large corporations and entrepreneurs with specific skillsets, and the right cultural fit.

In the first instance we are looking to develop a desktop application, with the ability to scale it to mobile in the future.

At the end of this challenge, we are looking for the Topcoder Design Community to help us plan and design the user experience of our new web application.

Round 1

Submit your initial designs for Checkpoint Feedback
01 Homepage for Entrepreneurs
02 Homepage for Corporate companies
03 Search page for both Corporates and Entrepreneurs
04 Entrepreneur User Profile
05 Corporate User Profile

You must upload your submission to MarvelApp so we can provide direct feedback on your designs.
Feel free to add any other additional screens which are necessary to explain your concept.
Notes.jpg: Please note any comments about your design for the Client
Make sure all pages have correct flow! Use correct file numbering. (00, 01, 02, 03)

Round 2

Your Final designs for all the required designs with all Checkpoint Feedback implemented.
01 Homepage for Entrepreneurs
02 Homepage for Corporate companies
03 Search page for both Corporates and Entrepreneurs
04 Entrepreneur User Profile
05 Corporate User Profile
06 Opportunity Brief

You must upload your submission to MarvelApp, for the final submission - you can reuse the prototype that you shared for checkpoint
Feel free to add any other additional screens which are necessary to explain your concept.
Notes.jpg: Please note any comments about your design for the Client
Make sure all pages have correct flow! Use correct file numbering. (00, 01, 02, 03)

This online platform will connect large corporates to a global community of entrepreneurs, freelance experts and innovators through a matching process

Branding and Feel:
- The Nodia brand should inspire feelings of freedom and creativity for the entrepreneur whilst for the corporate a sense of community and innovation should be invoked.
- The personality of the brand is that of a creative members club – it fosters a community that is creative and energetic, and provides a variety of offerings that meet the tastes of both entrepreneurs and corporates. It is forward-thinking, finds the best way to meet today’s needs whilst also embracing new concepts and fresh ideas.
- Buzzwords include exclusive, quality, premium, understated, cool and innovative

The Problem:
Below are the problems faced by a corporation looking for entrepreneurial talent...
- Corporates want to work with freelance experts who have domain expertise in disruptive technologies that are affecting their industries i.e. Blockchain in Finance, AI in major service organisations etc
- The challenge is that corporates are often unable to find individuals with the right skillsets and experience to support innovation projects because they are not linked in to this network
- In addition corporates can’t be sure whether an individual is the right cultural fit for their company without going through a time consuming interview process. This situation does not work for the corporate nor the freelance experts / entrepreneurs they are trying to engage

Below are the list of problems faced by a freelancer looking for a corporate opportunity...
- Freelance experts want to work on exciting innovation projects that make an impact, but there isn’t a single and easy place to find this type of work with corporate clients / large organisations
- In addition there is no guarantee of being protected in a corporate environment i.e. being paid promptly, being provided with a single point of contact (handler) to resolve queries and handle on-boarding etc
- There is also a lack of cultural fit between corporates and entrepreneurs which often results in a misalignment of expectations and working styles

Solution:
Your design idea needs to be focused on an online platform and information centre for both Corporates and Entrepreneurs that:
- helps corporates explore trends and technologies that will affect their organisation and industry, identifies individuals who can help them with this
- helps corporates find the right entrepreneurial talent to support and deliver challenging innovation projects

Marvel App:
For this challenge - as part of your checkpoint submission, you must upload your submission to MarvelApp so we can provide direct feedback on your designs.
- Please request an MarvelApp link from the Copilot through the challenge forum.

Design Consideration:
- Looking to design for the desktop users, so have your designs of width 1366px and height as required
- We are looking for designs that will be scalable to a mobile web application in the future
- Make sure your designs are responsive.
- We want a design that is understated, cool and laid back, but still has a professional edge
- There any no specific branding guidelines or colours, feel free to get creative and please make sure to go through the “branding and feel” given above to know the expectations!

User Journey:
Brief guidance for the user journey through the above screens is found below, please take this as inspiration to make any changes to the journey that you see fit:

For the corporate
- Starts at the corporate home page
- Search for an entrepreneur using key words
- Views Search results
- Accesses Entrepreneur profile
- Match them and invite them to view open opportunities

For the Entrepreneur:
- Starts at the Entrepreneur home page
- Search for a corporate/opportunity using key words
- Views Search results
- Accesses corporate profile
- View opportunity briefs
- Apply for opportunity

Suggested Screens:
Below are some of the suggested screens based on the concept, please feel free to add any other screens that you think would be useful.

01 Homepage for Entrepreneurs:
Needs a Dashboard like feel:
- Entrepreneurs need to be able to track the status of any existing corporate opportunities they’ve applied for
- Also needs an area to view any new opportunities that have arisen that match their previous searches
- Needs a personalised search functionality
- Needs a clear way of navigating to their user profile

02 Homepage for Corporate companies:
Needs a Dashboard like feel:
- Corporates need to be able to track the status of any open opportunities they have, how many people have applied and links to applicants etc.
- Needs an area to view any new Entrepreneurs that recently joined the platform and that match their previous searches/are near their location etc.
- Also needs an area to view any new tech trends and latest tech news
- Needs a personalised search functionality
- Needs a clear way of navigating to their user profile

03 Search page for both Corporates and Entrepreneurs:
Needs to be a simple and intuitive design:
- How can the search function be more personalised, show search history, choose industries, locations etc.?
- Needs to have functionality where both corporates and entrepreneurs can search based on a set of slider bars, and assess cultural fit based on a few key parameters. See example.pdf for functionality only, we want a different look and feel to this:

04 Entrepreneur User Profile:
This is a one stop shop for everything that corporates will want to see when selecting Entrepreneurs:
- Key skill sets, experience and their working culture based on the above slider image
- Previous opportunities that they’ve worked on – Reviews and feedback posted by historic corporates that they’ve worked with
- Functionality for Entrepreneurs to upload video content – Vlogs, video introductions etc.
- Functionality for Corporates to ‘Match’ Entrepreneurs, and invite them to view their open opportunities

05 Corporate User Profile:
This is a one stop shop for everything that Entrepreneurs will want to see when selecting Corporates – users need to be able to tell that this is a corporate profile, similar themes and structure to the Entrepreneur profiles but needs to feel slightly different:
- Overall Company background and facts, company culture based on slider image above
- Any previous opportunities that they’ve marketed on the platform  – reviews and feedback posted by previous Entrepreneurs that they’ve worked with
- Any opportunities that are currently open and being marketed – need an easy way to apply for the opportunities from this page

06 Opportunity Brief:
This is the detailed brief of an open opportunity being marketed on the platform:
- We have provided an opportunity example pdf to help you get an idea (Note: Make sure you do not copy/ follow the layout as given in that)
- Description of the project the freelance expert will see and can apply for, and which the corporate user needs to produce
- Summary of Key Experience and Skillset requirements, duration of project, location etc.
- Functionality to directly apply for the opportunity from the brief page

Important:
- Keep things consistent on both sides of the user experience. This means all graphic styles should work together.
- All of the graphics should have a similar feel and general aesthetic appearance
- Focus on the user experience! Focus on the navigation experience. Keeping consistent visual elements.

Stock Artwork:
We are allowing stock photos and stock icons for this challenge
- Stock Artwork policies: https://help.topcoder.com/hc/en-us/articles/217481408-Policy-for-Stock-Artwork-in-Design-Submissions   
- Latest Design Policies: http://help.topcoder.com/hc/en-us/categories/202610437-DESIGN 

Target Audience
- Large organisations / corporates and freelance experts / entrepreneurs

Judging Criteria
Your submission will be judged on the following criteria:
- Overall design and user experience, including the end to end flow
- Simplicity of design/strong, clear design concept
- How well your design aligns with the objectives of the challenge and the brand we are trying to create

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
Submit JPG/PNG for your submission files.

Source Files
All original source files of the submitted design. Files should be created in Sketch, Adobe Illustrator or similar application.

Final Fixes
As part of the final fixes phase you may be asked to modify your graphics (sizes or colors) or modify overall colors. We may ask you to update your design or graphics based on checkpoint feedback.