Hub
Communication Hub to help partners communicate using what3words.
The Company 🏢
what3words is a technology startup operating in the geolocation industry.
It has developed a unique addressing system that assigns a distinctive combination of three words to every 3x3 meter square on the planet. This innovative system simplifies complex addresses, providing a user-friendly way for people to communicate precise locations.
Imagine you're on a beach trying to meet friends, navigating through a forest, or requesting a delivery to a specific spot without a traditional address – what3words makes these scenarios simpler. Instead of dealing with lengthy and convoluted addresses, users can share just three words that pinpoint their exact location.
It has found widespread adoption across industries, including logistics and delivery services, emergency response, travel and tourism, events and festivals, utilities and infrastructure, automotive and navigation systems, humanitarian aid, outdoor and recreation activities, e-commerce, app development, and public services, providing a user-friendly solution for precise location communication through its unique three-word addressing system.
The problem
Business Development and Marketing teams face the challenge of providing bespoke materials to small businesses for effective communication using what3words.
This spans across B2B, B2B2B, and B2B2C frameworks.
The goal
By streamlining the sharing process, the goal is not only to strengthen existing connections but also to attract and engage new users, ultimately expanding the reach and impact of what3words within the target audience.
The solution
Create a centralised hub designed for seamless material sharing, amplifying brand awareness among clients.
This hub is located in the website, where people can download assets based on their vertical.
Features 💡
Method ⚙️
User research 🔍
Persona 👥
In the user research phase, we created a persona to deeply understand the needs and pain points of our users.
User journey 🗺️
The user journey map has been essential to discover the point of view of the user, digging more into his pain points and finding new features that will be required by product.
Sketches ✏️
I always take notes and I fill pages and pages with sketches and wireframes, this helps me get the ideas out and quickly find out whether they work or not.
Information architecture ℹ️
Another important tool is the information architecture - which was initially on paper. It ensures users can quickly locate the information they need.
Prototyping 🤖
The information architecture made it easy to lay down all the pages in Figma, also creating all the connections between the pages.
To distinguish between sections and assets, we used illustrations and colours to help the navigation. In a first page the user selects the industry, then they can decide between three types of communication, each with different assets and suggestions.
Testing 🧪
As a team, we organized a user testing session with ten participants. We then analysed the responses through a card sorting exercise to identify common themes among the participants. In the end, three key feedback points emerged: the need for improved navigation, a streamlined quick download section, and a desire for real-life examples illustrating how clients can effectively utilise the assets.
This testing was very useful and brought us new ideas. Presenting the assets in real-life situations helped clients see their practicality and inspired them to come up with their own ideas.
Iterations 🏗️
Based on the feedback that we received from the usability testing sessions, we iterated the pages and designed new bespoke components that went straight to our design system library.
Accessibility 👁️
Language and labels
Using plain language and avoiding technical terms makes information easily understandable for everyone.
High contrast test
All the colours and copy was tested for WCAG* Levels with a satisfactory AAA and AA levels of legibility.
Product Successes 👏
+43 users
clients using the hub within the first month
+67 downloads
in the first month
Challenges 🏋️♂️
1. Clear ideas: we dealt with a large number of people and ideas, resulting in numerous changes along the way.
Learnings 🌱
I really took some good learnings from this product:
User flow and information architecture are essential when trying to order the pages.
Design one page at the time or automate everything in order to have everything updated
Make it simple is not only an advantage for the user!
Replicate the success 🏆
+ 4 additional verticals
+4 countries with localised content in 3 languages
The success model was duplicated in the Design hub, where all the brand information sit.
Visit the final website: