Redesigning member profiles to serve three audiences: creating a 'storefront' for innovators, a decision-making tool for project managers, and a data foundation for algorithmic matching.
Xinova's innovation platform matched expert innovators with companies seeking solutions to complex problems. Our business model depended on this matching capability—but our member profiles weren't capturing the data we needed to make it work.
The challenge was threefold: members needed profiles that functioned as compelling "storefronts" for their expertise, project managers needed efficient tools to evaluate and compare candidates, and the business needed data as a foundation for algorithmic matching. The existing profile page was not serving these needs well.
I redesigned the profile system with permission-based views and new data architectures to serve the various audiences. Some of the design challenges I faced included:
The profile evolved from a simple, one-page, one-column layout to a more complex, data-dense experience. This required a new way to organize the content to make it easier to navigate and understand. I designed a 2-column layout, utilizing a card pattern to section data types and provide visual structure, and expanded the page with sub-navigation to section the different data needs.
A key piece of this project was to identify the data that we needed to collect and display in the profile. I worked with the PM and another designer to take collected feedback and research to prioritize must-have and nice-to-have data fields for this project.
I designed an improved, reusable component for adding and editing data inline and in-context in the profile. This provided a more streamlined experience for users and made it easier to edit list items.
I utilized persuasive design principles to design empty states for the profile. This provided a more thoughtful user experience and encouraged users to complete the page with their information.
I partnered with the product manager to create a project charter that aligned the cross-functional team around the core challenge: balancing three distinct user needs while building a scalable data foundation. The charter defined our problem space, success metrics, user segments, and scope constraints.
I conducted competitive research to understand how similar platforms balanced profile completion incentives with data utility. Examining competitors in the innovation/marketplace space plus platforms like LinkedIn and Upwork, I identified patterns in how they organized expertise data, used progressive disclosure, and created "completeness" motivators. These insights directly shaped my approach to the design experience, permission-based views and data prioritization.
Through iterative sketching and wireframing, I tackled the core architectural challenge: organizing 15+ data types for three distinct user perspectives.
Throughout this phase, I ran collaborative design reviews with the product and engineering teams and stakeholders, testing assumptions about information priority and user workflows.
I collaborated closely with a fellow designer who took the lead of doing research on this project. The research was set up as informal interviews, with tasks for the users to perform. I put together a clickable prototype using wireframe mockups and InVision. We used 4 internal users, representing 2 different user types, and 2 external Xinova users. Our research helped us understand the data that was more important to the various users.
The redesigned profile system dramatically increased structured data capture across the network, creating the foundation Xinova needed for algorithmic matching. We also created a more compelling "storefront" for members to showcase their expertise and show off a little.