Problem

When it comes to most cities, both big and small, communication and sharing are vital. They allow us to come together and exceed our limitations, building a stronger community where everyone can take part. However, from resource inequality to transparency, there are a lot of obstacles that create silos in communities, inevitably destroying their efficiency.

Without a way to breakdown these silos in our own, local communities, the people who need help aren’t able to reach the people who can help.

Solution

The Village Creed breaks down these obstacles by connecting those in need with those who can give through its shared marketplace.

The platform allows community organizations and businesses to market their service, event, and volunteer offerings as listings. This allows individuals to find those same offerings, increasing their access to local resources.

Challenge & Opportunity

Creating an online marketplace that empowers your community leaders comes with a unique set of challenges. One of those being creating an intuitive enough UX for an older demographic, which primarily makes up the target audience.

However, this created the opportunity for us to focus on learning our users’ processes, allowing us to build a better product. One reminiscent of how they work so they can do their best work, maximizing adoption and building a lovable product.

Showcase

User Onboarding
We have to start off with a great experience, and what better way than onboarding?

Creating Listings
With every community having their own unique set of offerings, what does that look like at scale?

Organization Checklist
What can we do to maximize organization engagement and effectiveness?

Community Ratings and Reviews
What does it looks like when a local organization puts transparency first?

Permissions
How will organizations manage those they serve and their members?

Impact

After onboarding several organizations, we were able to see that an online marketplace can fit so many different use cases for local communities, including aiding with local disaster relief.

We released the app under an open beta in August 2018 and are excited to be pulling in data and using it to make more informed design decisions.

Lessons Learned

Combining User Feedback with Product Roadmap
With an open beta, it is critical that we aren’t only building based on what we mapped out through our product strategy. We have to be able to quickly respond to user feedback. This was so vital that is led to being the main difference between having an unhappy user and a signing on a new organization for a 12month subscription.

However, for us to continue to maximize this relationship-building opportunity, we made it a priority to incorporate user feedback into our strategy whenever and wherever possible.

Shipping Fast and Safe
In the community directory space, there are a lot of competitor platforms. So to carve out space, we took advantage of our smaller team size and quickly worked to iterate a product that was tailor-fit for our users.

Team Building
I originally joined the team with only the Founder and his alpha-version of the product. Over the years, I had the opportunity to help build up a team of dedicated and passionate individuals that spans across the several states and countries.

Also, with 3 Product Designers, 5 Developers, and our internal sales and admin team members, we are primarily composed of women and people of color. Being able to go from being a designer to having a leading role allowed me to get a better understanding of what it takes to build a great team.