+emp
Mobile app that connects workers with part-time job opportunities in their local area.
Many Mongolian workers struggle to find part-time job opportunities in their local area, and employers struggle to find qualified candidates to fill these positions. This leads to a mismatch in the job market and a loss of potential income for both workers and businesses.
We need to develop a mobile app that helps Mongolian workers find part-time job opportunities in their local area, while also making it easier for employers to connect with qualified candidates.
Duration
6 months
Participation
Design Sprint Facilitator
UI/UX Designer
Client
GS25
Shunkhlai Holding
From "Huh?" to "Wait, this could actually work."
One day, our client GS25 came to us with a concept they believed in but didn't know how to build. They asked if we could help. We sat down, listened, and pretty quickly realized: this is basically a job search platform built for part-timers, with instant pay. We hadn't seen that before. That got us excited. So we kicked off a design sprint to figure out what it could become.
Everyone on the team pitched in their vision for the product’s long-term success. After a round of voting—and the final say from our decider—we locked in our ultimate goal: To become the biggest part-time job platform in Mongolia.
Day 1
Long Term Goal (LTG)
Everyone on the team shared their vision for where this product could go. After voting and getting sign-off from our decider, we locked in one clear goal: to become the biggest part-time job platform in Mongolia.
Sprint Questions
• What questions do we want to answer in this sprint?
• To meet our long-term goal, what has to be true?
• Imagine we travel into the future and our project failed. What might have caused that?
How Might We (HMW)
With fresh optimism, the team brainstormed ways to tackle the key problems. We generated a long list, grouped the similar ones, voted on the most impactful, and these rose to the top:
Map & Target
We mapped out a user journey showing who our key users were, how they found the product, and how they reached their goal. We looked at where the most HMW cards clustered, and that became our sprint focus.
Day 2
Four-Step Sketch
After the lightning demo session, each team member went through the four-step sketch process: taking notes, doodling ideas, doing Crazy 8s, and then committing to a detailed solution sketch.
Storyboarding
We turned the best ideas into a storyboard, walking through the full user experience step by step before we touched a single screen.
Day 3
Prototype
With the storyboard done, we jumped straight into wireframing and prototyping. The goal was simple: make it clickable, make it feel real, and get it in front of actual users as fast as possible. No more guessing. Just real feedback.
Day 4
Testing & Gather Feedback
We ran hands-on tests with 7 Mongolian part-time job seekers, walking them through real scenarios: finding gigs, clocking in and out, getting paid. This end-to-end testing helped us validate the core flow and catch pain points that would never show up on paper.
Design Sprint Conclusion
The tests confirmed something important: people genuinely need this app, and they would actually use it. Real users surprised us with incredibly sharp, practical feedback. Things we honestly should have thought of ourselves. Their insights felt like puzzle pieces snapping into place. We rolled up our sleeves and officially kicked off the project.
A Backend Toxic Love Story 💻❤️😭
We teamed up with two great backend developers who were also patient enough to explain things we had no clue about. ERD diagrams? What's an ERD? The complexity hit us fast. Connecting gig workers with large employers like GS25, CU, and KFC wasn't just a UI challenge. We spent nights working through the information architecture: how do you actually link workers, shifts, and businesses in a way that makes sense?
After long wireframe discussions and more coffee than we'd like to admit, we finally got aligned with the developers. Then the client looked at it and said, "Wait, this isn't what we agreed on." Back to the drawing board. We iterated, tweaked, and sweated the details. But after a few rounds of chaos, we landed on a wireframe that made sense to everyone. Building the bridge between design and development is messy. But when it clicks, it really clicks.
From ‘Why So Many Boxes?!’ to ‘Ohhhh, That’s Why We Need Boxes!
Honestly, I used to dread wireframing. Why spend hours on boxes and arrows when the colors and animations are right there waiting? But this project changed that. Wireframing forced us to solve the real problems first. Like: how do you design a job-matching flow that works for both a KFC manager and a student juggling classes? Skipping the "boring" stuff just leads to bigger problems later. Lesson learned: wireframes are the unsung heroes of UX.
Taming the Job View Jungle: Calendar, Map, List… Oh My!
The previous job search design felt cluttered. Too many tabs, not enough clarity. Users were getting lost. So we asked: how do we simplify a feature that needs to show jobs as a calendar, a map, grouped cards, AND a list?
The great view-switching debate
We went back and forth on how to let users toggle between views without overwhelming them:
Buttons and icons: classic, but risked crowding the UI
Gestures: intuitive, but only if users discovered them on their own
Navigation drawer: clean, but buried the options too deep
Settings: a hard no. Nobody should have to configure their way to basic functionality
A Navbar Identity Crisis
Old Footer
All buttons screamed “FIND JOBS!”
Users were like: “Wait, how do I apply? Where’s my shift schedule?!”
Imagine if Netflix only had a “Search” button. Chaos. 😱
Our Fix: The ‘Find, Work, Reflect’ Rule
Home (Your Job Hunt HQ) Toggle between Map , Calendar, or List views. No more button overload! Swipe left/right like you’re flipping TikTok videos.
My Jobs (Your Gig Command Center) See pending applications, upcoming shifts, and boss messages. Added a “Panic Button” (jk, it’s just a big orange “Start Shift” timer).
History (Your Hustle Diary) Track earnings, past gigs, and flex your “I Worked Here” badges (GS25, KFC, you name it).
When blue met green, and +emp was born.
Just when we thought we had the UI nailed, it was time to rethink the brand. Our original look felt generic. Too corporate, too cold. Time for a real identity.
Why Green? Why +emp?
Users told us the old blue felt formal and distant. Green made more sense. It reads as growth, balance, and honestly, it's just easier on the eyes during a late-night job search. It also carries a quiet connection to Mongolia's landscape.
As for the name: "GS WORK" sounded like a government form. "+emp" feels alive. It's short for empower, employ, add opportunities. The plus sign became its own symbol. A button, a spark, a "yes, more of this" feeling.
Color palette: a bold, earthy primary green, gold accents for calls to action, and soft neutrals to keep things calm when the rest of life is chaotic.
Color Palette
Primary Green: A bold, earthy tone (like fresh 💵 and grass).
Accent Gold: For CTAs (because “Apply Now” should feel like tapping a prize 🏆).
Soft Neutrals: To keep interfaces calm amid job-hunting chaos.
Thank you for scrolling, skimming, or speed-reading this far!
Thank you for sticking around! I wanted to show you the real messy, chaotic, human side of product design, not the shiny Dribbble shots. Spoiler: It’s not all rainbows and Figma plugins. Sometimes it’s caffeine-fueled 3 AM debates about ERD diagrams, or clients saying “Make it pop… but also minimalist.”
This journey wasn’t pretty (see: “#BADA55 green” and “GS WORK” cringe), but sharing the messy bits matters. If even one thing here made you nod, chuckle, or whisper “Same, tho”, my mission’s accomplished.
Here's what this project genuinely taught me:
1. Users Are the Unsung Heroes (And I’m Not as Smart as I Thought)
Turns out, my “brilliant” ideas were… mid. Users were the ones dropping truth bombs like:
“Why is the ‘Apply’ button hiding?!”
“This green feels like moldy sushi.” 🍣💀
Lesson: Shut up. Listen. Test early. Your ego can’t UX.
2. “Done” is a Myth. Embrace the Glow-Up.
We shipped the app… then rebranded it… then tweaked it again. Perfection is a lie, but progress? That’s real.
Lesson: Treat design like sourdough, keep feeding it, and it’ll rise. 🍞
3. Design is Hard. But Damn, It’s Fun.
Yes, I cried over wireframes. Yes, I Googled “ERD for dummies.” But seeing someone actually use your app without rage-quitting? Pure serotonin.
Lesson: If it doesn’t hurt a little, you’re not digging deep enough.
Final Thoughts (From One Struggling Human to Another):
This process was equal parts humbling and addictive. To every designer out there:
Your first draft will suck. That’s okay.
Users will humble you. That’s good.
The magic happens in the messy middle.
Now go make something that matters even if it takes 47 iterations. 🚀
P.S. If you’ve survived a rebranding war or ERD-induced existential crisis, let’s trauma-bond over coffee. ☕
Tulgaa Enkhbold, Professional Overthinker & Recovering Perfectionist
