Communication Platform
The Challenge
This project was created for Algean & Partners, a boutique high-end strategic consultancy agency, while I was working for Algean Group.
The challenge was to create an online platform through which Algean & Partners could send custom websites with their proposals to their clients. Up to now, Algean & Partners sent their proposals as pdf files, created by the design team. The platform needed to reflect the look and feel of the designer-made presentations and be flexible to match each client’s brand. At the same time it had to be user-friendly, to secure minimum effort and input of the marketing team, in order to save time.
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The Process
After studying various presentations we had created in the past, I broke them down to a number of slide types that would be used as templates to create the platform. I also had discussions with the A&P team, to learn about how they initially approach clients, how they maintain their relationship with them, and how they collaborate when it comes to creating presentations.
Through this discussion, we defined the purpose and functions of the platform. The platform would allow the team to add clients, create presentations for them through a variety of predefined slides, and send the presentation to the client in the form of a custom website. Each client would acquire a homepage which would enable them to view all presentations sent to them over time, and to download each presentation as pdf files, in order to be shared with others or accessed offline.
I wanted the platform to be multi-functional to further assist the A&P team to collaborate and ensure that the overall design and content quality would be impeccable. In order to achieve this, team members would be able to leave comments on each slide they design, so the rest of the team could view them and reply, if necessary. Furthermore, before each presentation is sent to the client, its content and look must be approved by the team manager and the design team respectively. The whole team would be able to work on the same presentation at the same time, and receive real-time notifications each time a team member adds/removes/edits a slide.
The platform would enable the team to promptly view each and every presentation created for a client, understand each project’s progress, create case studies, and effortlessly acquire the information they need. This would also assist new members joining the team in familiarising themselves with how the company works and what has been proposed in the past. The next step was to organise the platform’s structure and create wireframes for its back and front-end. Once those were approved by Algean & Partners, I proceeded with the visual design of the platform.
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The Solution
After the UI was completed and approved by the Algean & Partners team, I worked closely with the developer to create the platform. Up to this day, we have run multiple tests and dealt with fixing various bugs. We have also tested the platform’s usability and ease by giving the Algean & Partners team test presentations to create, and by giving them various scenarios and tasks to complete. After each test, we adapted the platform where necessary.
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