+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 ‘Holy Sh*t, This could work!
One day, our client "GS25" came to us with a brilliant idea. They said, "We have this concept, but we don’t know how to bring it to life. Can you help?"
Of course, we were curious. So we sat down with them, listened, and quickly realized—wait a minute... It’s like a job search platform, but for part-timers? And you get paid instantly? That’s something we hadn’t seen before!
Naturally, we had to dive deeper. So we kicked off a design sprint to explore what this 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 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.
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 a fresh dose of optimism, our team tackled the challenge head-on. Each of us brainstormed questions on how we might solve the key problems outlined in our sprint. Once we had a long list, we grouped similar ones together and voted on the most impactful. Here are the top ‘How Might We’ (HMW) questions that made the cut.
Map & Target
We created a journey map outlining our key users, how they discover our product, and their path to achieving their goal. By analyzing this map, we identified the area with the most "How Might We" (HMW) cards and set it as our sprint focus.
Day 2
Four-Step Sketch
After completing the lightning demo exercise, each team member went through the four-step sketching process. This included note-taking, doodling, the Crazy 8s exercise, and finally, creating detailed solution sketches.
Storyboarding
After completing the lightning demo exercise, each team member went through the four-step sketching process. This included note-taking, doodling, the Crazy 8s exercise, and finally, creating detailed solution sketches.
Day 3
Prototype
After mapping out the user journey in our storyboard, we dove into wireframing and prototyping. Day 3 was all about bringing the idea to life! We translated those rough sketches into clickable prototypes, making sure the flow felt intuitive. This way, we could test it with real users ASAP and see if our app actually solved their problem. No more guessing games—just real feedback to help us iterate and polish!
Day 4
Testing & Gather Feedback
We ran hands-on user tests with 7 Mongolian part-time job seekers, guiding them through real-world scenarios like finding gigs, clocking in/out, and processing payments. This end-to-end testing helped us validate the app’s core workflow—and spot pain points we’d never catch on paper!
Design Sprint Conclusion
After the design sprint, we confirmed something huge: people actually need this app to earn extra income—and they’d genuinely use it! (Turns out, I also learned I’m way less clever than I thought 😅). Real users blew us away with their sharp, actionable insights—like, why didn’t we think of that?! Their feedback was full of lightbulb moments, almost like puzzle pieces snapping into place.
So, we rolled up our sleeves and officially kicked off the project, armed with their genius.
A Backend Toxic Love Story 💻❤️😭
We teamed up with two rockstar backend developers (who also moonlighted as patient teachers, thank god 😅). Suddenly, the app’s complexity hit us like a brick wall—ERD diagrams? Wait, what’s an ERD?! Turns out, structuring how gig-seekers connect with big employers (think GS25, CU, KFC) wasn’t just a UI puzzle. We spent nights wrestling with information architecture: How do you seamlessly link workers, shifts, and businesses?
After endless wireframe debates (and way too much coffee), we finally aligned with the devs… only to have the client say, “Wait, this isn’t what we agreed on!” Cue the facepalms. 🫠 Back to the drawing board we went—iterating, tweaking, and sweating the tiny details. But hey, after a few loops of chaos, we nailed a wireframe that actually made sense to everyone. Lesson learned: building bridges between design and code is messy… but magic when it clicks.
From ‘Why So Many Boxes?!’ to ‘Ohhhh, That’s Why We Need Boxes!
Confession: I used to dread wireframing. Why spend hours on boxes and arrows when the fun part (colors! animations!) is right there? But here’s the plot twist: 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 hustling between classes? Turns out, skipping the ‘boring’ stuff just leads to chaos 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 like a cluttered desk—too many tabs, too little clarity. Users struggled to navigate, so we asked: How do we simplify a feature that needs to show jobs as a calendar, map, grouped cards, AND a list?
The Great View-Switching Debate
We geeked out (and argued!) over how to toggle between these views without overwhelming users:
Buttons/Icons: Classic, but risked crowding the UI. “What if we float them? Or hide them in the footer?”
Gestures: Swipe-left-for-calendar? Felt intuitive… but only if users discovered it.
Navigation Drawer: Clean, but buried options. “Do we really want users digging through menus?”
Settings: A nuclear option. “No one should 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).
Rebranding Chaos: When Blue Met Green (And +emp Was Born) 🌱✨
Just when we thought we’d finally nailed the UI, the universe said: “LOL, redesign this!” Turns out, our branding felt as generic as a stock photo of handshakes. Time for a glow-up!
Why Green? Why +emp?
Bye-bye corporate blue 👋: Users said our old color felt “cold” and “too formal.” Green? It’s the hue of growth (cha-ching 💸), balance (work-life, anyone?), and Mongolia’s rolling steppes 🌾. Plus, it’s easier on the eyes during midnight job hunts.
From GS WORK to +emp:
“GS WORK” sounded like a government form. “+emp” is a verb: “empower,” “employ,” “add opportunities”—all in one snappy symbol.
The + became our mascot: a button, a spark, a “yes, more please!” vibe.
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 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
