PROBLEM STATEMENT
Any software platform seeks more user engagement and user retention. Especially for a platform like Devpost, which is a social platform for developers, it plays a very crucial role. My study and ideas would be based around the workflows that could be adopted to increase user engagement and to make users use and stay on the platform more. And the reason I've taken user engagement as my prompt is because not everyone who is using Devpost is tech savvy or coding oriented. It's open to low code hackathons as well, as we can see from the examples of hackathons by Snapchat and ELC. These hackathons involve creative people from non-code backgrounds as well, which makes Devpost an inclusive platform, where having a greater visibility and smooth general workflow is very important and necessary.
this is an example of how the logo could be turned into an animated one!
USER RESEARCH AND PERSONA
I've been a part of many hackathons in past, conducted on Devpost platform, over the period of around 2.5 years. I've seen a lot of hackathons and have participated with a lot of people. I've participated solo as well as in teams, and have even won a fair number of times.
POSSIBLE SOLUTIONS
I've listed four doable solutions that I feel would be a great step to increase the engagement of users on Devpost and to increase it's visibility further.
1. MASCOT AND MORE ANIMATIONS
NEED
Github has a mascot, Major League Hacking (MLH) gets a new mascot every year, and there are so many software companies with their mascots. It helps them with branding, and makes the brand easier to relate to. I feel that Devpost should also come up with their mascot, and give some cute and easy name to it. It would make the brand more relatable and help in marketing.
Moreover, there are not many transitional animations right now on the whole platform. I'm not saying that it should be filled with animations here and there, but a little brush up would work wonders, which is what the concept of micro-animations is all about.
USER FLOW
The users would see the mascot in few places across the platform, and in mails that are sent by devpost regarding submissions deadlines and new hackathons. The animations would be really simple like fading and diminishing a button on click, animated loading bar and to-do list ticking animation.
WIREFRAME/DESIGN
note: I've noticed that devpost has introduced a cute cat as their mascot. At the time of putting up this write-up, their was no public reveal about the mascot, so I'm letting the mascot idea stay in the write-up as it is.
2. DARK THEME IMPLEMENTATION
NEED
Well this doesn't need to be emphasized enough. Most developers love dark mode and it's at their comfort. Light mode often might strain the eyes a bit if you're switching from VS-code or Android Studio directly into Devpost. So, an option to change the theme should be present. The implementation of the feature shouldn't be very tough, would just need to invert few CSS properties based on user preference.
USER FLOW
In Account settings, there would be an option of theme preference, and the developer can just select if they want dark mode or light mode.
WIREFRAME/DESIGN
3. ORGANIZATION SUBSCRIPTIONS
NEED
Many developers are inclined towards specific organizations when it comes to participating in hackathon. It would be lovely if they can be informed whenever that organization is hosting a hackathon or if that organization has anything else to see. It could be like a small feed for that organization. It would be very much similar to the subscription model that YouTube follows.
USER FLOW
The developers can subscribe to organizations, and there would be an organization page, where the organization can put certain updates on whatever they're interested in. The developers can subscribe to them and get to know about these updates, also get notified whenever a new hackathon is posted by that organization.
WIREFRAME/DESIGN
4. DEVPOST-WRAP
NEED
This idea is more on the sentimental side of the things. But we feel like hackathons takes a lot of efforts and of course everyone gets attached to their projects, so it'll be really amazing if the developers could see some sort of yearly summary of their hackathon career on Devpost, by around the last month of the year. I have actually implemented this idea along with my teammates for a hackathon by Major League Hacking, it let's the users see their hackathon summary in a very interactive way. The project is at https://devpost.com/software/hacksmap-ba8hrd
USER FLOW
Would be simple from user point-of-view, they'll see a new tab in their profile during the last month or week of the year, where they can see their wrapped, as well as through the mails.
WIREFRAME/DESIGN
OVERALL IMPACT
I feel that these little changes in Devpost would make the users want to use it more, which would lead to better participation in hackathons and would be beneficial for both users and Devpost. I also feel that giving a sense of incentive and relatability helps one in brand building and gaining the trust of the users.
Built With
- canva
- devpost
- figma
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