tofu
timeline
Currently, Since April 2024
tools
- Figma
- Next.js
- After Effects
- Illustrator
- Tailwind CSS
- React.js
tl;dr what did I do?
everything. design (and more).
Sole Designer, I designed 0-1 our newest product launch reach from customer calls, prototypes, interaction designs, final mockups, engineering calls (with our 3 talented engineers)
impact
- → 15 Paying customers for our initial launch of AI Applicant ranking
- → Complete visual rebrand of tofu (marketing materials, website..)
- → Currently shipping anti-fraud software
Background
A top-of-funnel recruiting platform used by 300+ companies to connect pre-vetted talent, significantly reducing hiring time. In summer 2024, I joined to design 0-1 an AI applicant ranking system now used by 20+ companies and led a brand identity redesign.
Swipe to see final designs! Just a sneek peek into the work done overall.
Some of the motion work I did for marketing on company site and other marketing funnels
Problem
Companies struggle to efficiently identify top talent due to overwhelming application volumes and resume variations. Navigating the hiring process is inefficient, as recruiters rely on disparate tools and lack streamlined workflows.
How can we design a platform that gives recruiters the most relevant data and visability on their best candidates?Jumping Right into it
Due to the fast pace nature of startups, its a race against the clock, other companies and many other factors. However, I had no experience within HR tech and the recruiting space so I was starting from 0. I started with a complete design review and understanding of popular ATS from our current customers like Ashby, Greenhouse and Lever.
Main Goal: Research conventions, and design something with intuition in order to show customers and get feedback.
Some intial designs, based on my findings from my design audits of popular ATSs like Ashby, Greenhouse and Lever.
Key Design Decisions: Combined View, getting, with filter sections on top to save horizontal space. High visability on all applicants and the highlighted applicant at hand.
Feedback
After a few iterations and reviews internally, I got on call with a couple VP of people and Head of Recruitments at various sized companies ranging from teams of 20 to enterprise sized at 1500-2000 employees.
Recruiters were enthusiastic but struggled with rapid candidate review. I discovered they work in bursts and often handle unfamiliar technical roles. The goal became streamlining resume reviews while providing key decision-making data.
Tri-View, Focused Applicant Review: The tri-view layout streamlines candidate evaluation by combining:
- An applicant overview list for quick scanning
- A detailed resume view
- A match analysis panel showing fit with requirements
The tri-view interface enhances recruiter efficiency by providing both high-level applicant pool quality assessment and detailed candidate-to-candidate comparisons. This aligns with recruiters' burst-style workflow, enabling focused review sessions with quick access to key data.
Takeaway
Design flexibly: Weeks and weeks of research is not always possible, sometimes you just need to design with intuition, based on your understanding and iterate, iterate and iterate. I did not get to talk to customers so I had to trust my memos given by my team and I had to read between the lines and understand the issues fundamentally.
I got a piece of advice from Jason Li (Director of Product Design @ Ramp) that to really strive as a designer in a startup, you need to do what it takes to make the business stay afloat, from marketing pages to hopping on calls, do anything and everything.
Think Big Picture with an eye for details: Design what is needed, do not stress over the size of buttons if there are more pressing issues. Really focusing on going 0-1 rather than 99-100 making small changes was a huge change in my design development.
Simplfy: Strong design makes everything simple. Always ask yourself can this be reduced without affecting the usage?