Optimising Patreon's Search Experience 🎨
Patreon's existing search functionality inhibits users from easily seeking out new creators to support. This case study explores potential solutions by focusing on user needs and competitor analysis, with the overarching goal of implementing a more intuitive search experience without the use of algorithms. By enhancing search intuitiveness, personalization and information accessibility, I redesigned Patreon's search experience to promote user discovery of new creators and foster stronger creator-patron connections.
Optimising Patreon's Search Experience 🎨
Patreon's existing search functionality inhibits users from easily seeking out new creators to support. This case study explores potential solutions by focusing on user needs and competitor analysis, with the overarching goal of implementing a more intuitive search experience without the use of algorithms. By enhancing search intuitiveness, personalization and information accessibility, I redesigned Patreon's search experience to promote user discovery of new creators and foster stronger creator-patron connections.
Optimising Patreon's Search Experience 🎨
Patreon's existing search functionality inhibits users from easily seeking out new creators to support. This case study explores potential solutions by focusing on user needs and competitor analysis, with the overarching goal of implementing a more intuitive search experience without the use of algorithms. By enhancing search intuitiveness, personalization and information accessibility, I redesigned Patreon's search experience to promote user discovery of new creators and foster stronger creator-patron connections.
Understanding the Problem
Understanding the Problem
Generative User Interviews
To kickstart the project, it was important to understand the landscape of attitudes regarding online search experiences. While the project focused on improving Patreon’s search functionality, I began by researching user search behaviour for content creators across various platforms to gain a more in-depth understanding of why people utilise, and spend money on online talent marketplaces and their feelings about the overall experience of searching for creators to support.
This research took shape in the form of user interviews, where my questions shed light on:
Specific elements of searchability people enjoy
How people typically search for new creators
Integral search features
Whether or not algorithms are helpful - or crucial to the search process
Frustrations or highlights users have previously experienced during their search journeys across different platforms
Two of the biggest and most surprising frustrations were about how difficult it is to find niche content creators online, and how unintuitive people found Patreon as a whole.
Generative User Interviews
To kickstart the project, it was important to understand the landscape of attitudes regarding online search experiences. While the project focused on improving Patreon’s search functionality, I began by researching user search behaviour for content creators across various platforms to gain a more in-depth understanding of why people utilise, and spend money on online talent marketplaces and their feelings about the overall experience of searching for creators to support.
This research took shape in the form of user interviews, where my questions shed light on:
Specific elements of searchability people enjoy
How people typically search for new creators
Integral search features
Whether or not algorithms are helpful - or crucial to the search process
Frustrations or highlights users have previously experienced during their search journeys across different platforms
Two of the biggest and most surprising frustrations were about how difficult it is to find niche content creators online, and how unintuitive people found Patreon as a whole.
Usability Review
Alongside the user interviews, I audited the Patreon web app to understand, contextualise, and frame my research findings. This was done using the SWCDUO method and Nielsen's heuristics. Key findings included inconsistencies in search functionality, content layout hindering discoverability, and information overload on certain pages.
Usability Review
Alongside the user interviews, I audited the Patreon web app to understand, contextualise, and frame my research findings. This was done using the SWCDUO method and Nielsen's heuristics. Key findings included inconsistencies in search functionality, content layout hindering discoverability, and information overload on certain pages.
Affinity Mapping
The recordings were transcribed and dropped into Dovetail where we implemented a curated tagging taxonomy to track and group themes and insights.
Affinity Mapping
The recordings were transcribed and dropped into Dovetail where we implemented a curated tagging taxonomy to track and group themes and insights.
We synthesised our data using a combination of Dovetail and ChatGPT. Dovetail made it easy for us to categorise more specific themes - but most importantly, it helped us highlight how significant each problem was, based on the frequency that particular pain points were mentioned.
ChatGPT framed these problems as unique insights paired with relevant quotes from the interviews but did not consider frequency.
We synthesised our data using a combination of Dovetail and ChatGPT. Dovetail made it easy for us to categorise more specific themes - but most importantly, it helped us highlight how significant each problem was, based on the frequency that particular pain points were mentioned.
ChatGPT framed these problems as unique insights paired with relevant quotes from the interviews but did not consider frequency.
Problem Statement
Pairing the overall trends gleaned by ChatGPT, with the visual confirmation of how significant each problem was on Dovetail, we could prioritise which issues needed to be solved first, thereby leading us to our problem statement.
Patrons need a more user-friendly search interface that aligns with their personal preferences to foster community and strengthen supporter-creator relationships, enhancing the overall Patreon experience. However, Patreon’s unintuitive user interface, poor search experience, and troublesome navigation hinder user engagement as Patrons struggle to find desired content, opting for alternative social media channels to connect with creators instead.
Problem Statement
Pairing the overall trends gleaned by ChatGPT, with the visual confirmation of how significant each problem was on Dovetail, we could prioritise which issues needed to be solved first, thereby leading us to our problem statement.
Patrons need a more user-friendly search interface that aligns with their personal preferences to foster community and strengthen supporter-creator relationships, enhancing the overall Patreon experience. However, Patreon’s unintuitive user interface, poor search experience, and troublesome navigation hinder user engagement as Patrons struggle to find desired content, opting for alternative social media channels to connect with creators instead.
Competitor Benchmarking
Understanding user frustrations with Patreon's search functionality, I analysed both direct and indirect competitors to assess how they were tackling similar problems - and specifically, what Patreon might benefit from without using an algorithm-based approach to providing user-tailored search experiences.
Competitor Benchmarking
Understanding user frustrations with Patreon's search functionality, I analysed both direct and indirect competitors to assess how they were tackling similar problems - and specifically, what Patreon might benefit from without using an algorithm-based approach to providing user-tailored search experiences.
Defining It
Defining It
'How Might We'
Through user research and competitor analysis, we identified the following key challenges hindering discoverability on Patreon: an unintuitive search interface, a lack of personalisation, and insufficient search result information connecting users to creators they seek to support.
To address these issues, I formulated a couple of “How Might We” questions that could guide us towards solutions:
'How Might We'
Through user research and competitor analysis, we identified the following key challenges hindering discoverability on Patreon: an unintuitive search interface, a lack of personalisation, and insufficient search result information connecting users to creators they seek to support.
To address these issues, I formulated a couple of “How Might We” questions that could guide us towards solutions:
How might we personalise the overall Patreon experience based on user search behaviour and preferences?
How might we create a more intuitive and user-friendly search interface on Patreon?
How might we enrich search results with creator details, timestamps, and relevant tags to improve information discovery?
How might we personalise the overall Patreon experience based on user search behaviour and preferences?
How might we create a more intuitive and user-friendly search interface on Patreon?
How might we enrich search results with creator details, timestamps, and relevant tags to improve information discovery?
Ideation
Given our tight timeline, we prioritised impactful and efficient solutions for Patreon's search experience. Our ideation process incorporated mind mapping, prioritisation, and "crazy 8s" techniques. We explored various creative solutions but ultimately decided against an algorithm-based approach. This decision aligned with the founder's vision of fostering a creator-centric platform focused on artistic freedom and also addressed the time constraints of defining and implementing a sophisticated algorithm.
Ideation
Given our tight timeline, we prioritised impactful and efficient solutions for Patreon's search experience. Our ideation process incorporated mind mapping, prioritisation, and "crazy 8s" techniques. We explored various creative solutions but ultimately decided against an algorithm-based approach. This decision aligned with the founder's vision of fostering a creator-centric platform focused on artistic freedom and also addressed the time constraints of defining and implementing a sophisticated algorithm.
Mindmapping
We began with a mindmap, separating ideas into “add” or “improve” sections. Each idea was also colour-coded to signify which core user frustration they targeted, i.e. search experience, community, or personalisation. This boosted efficiency when we had to track ideas, follow lines of thinking, and later, favourite and prioritise them.
Mindmapping
We began with a mindmap, separating ideas into “add” or “improve” sections. Each idea was also colour-coded to signify which core user frustration they targeted, i.e. search experience, community, or personalisation. This boosted efficiency when we had to track ideas, follow lines of thinking, and later, favourite and prioritise them.
Prioritisation
Ideas were prioritised using an impact/effort chart. This chart plotted each idea's potential user benefit (impact) compared to the resources required for implementation (effort). Since time was a major constraint, being highly selective was crucial. For example, creating thematic content collections (high effort, low impact) was less appealing than implementing a clear search filter system through content tags (moderate effort, high impact).
Prioritisation
Ideas were prioritised using an impact/effort chart. This chart plotted each idea's potential user benefit (impact) compared to the resources required for implementation (effort). Since time was a major constraint, being highly selective was crucial. For example, creating thematic content collections (high effort, low impact) was less appealing than implementing a clear search filter system through content tags (moderate effort, high impact).
User Flows
We loosely mapped out the user flow on sticky notes to understand the implementation efficiency of different solutions. This visual exercise helped to identify potential roadblocks and ensure a smooth user experience. By dragging and dropping some of our favourite ideas onto the user flow map, we could easily categorise which screens needed to be altered before diving into wireframing.
User Flows
We loosely mapped out the user flow on sticky notes to understand the implementation efficiency of different solutions. This visual exercise helped to identify potential roadblocks and ensure a smooth user experience. By dragging and dropping some of our favourite ideas onto the user flow map, we could easily categorise which screens needed to be altered before diving into wireframing.
Mid-fidelity Wireframes
I began building wireframes based on the loosely mapped user flow, allowing me to test different layouts and features. To address user feedback about Patreon's navigation, I focused on creating a seamless and intuitive flow in the wireframes.
Despite time constraints, I also took this opportunity to experiment with styles and motifs that played off Patreon's existing branding while introducing a touch of playfulness. Specifically, I built on the idea of creating 3D ‘blobs’ that would keep the user’s onboarding journey homogenous whilst staying true to Patreon’s gradient palette that we wanted to make a more integral part of the flow to champion design consistency.
Regardless of my spontaneous journey into 3D, our wireframing process remained efficient. Defining screen functionalities upfront prevented layout rework during iterations. Each screen iteration was documented with explanations for clarity before we eventually had a set we were happy to proceed with.
Mid-fidelity Wireframes
I began building wireframes based on the loosely mapped user flow, allowing me to test different layouts and features. To address user feedback about Patreon's navigation, I focused on creating a seamless and intuitive flow in the wireframes.
Despite time constraints, I also took this opportunity to experiment with styles and motifs that played off Patreon's existing branding while introducing a touch of playfulness. Specifically, I built on the idea of creating 3D ‘blobs’ that would keep the user’s onboarding journey homogenous whilst staying true to Patreon’s gradient palette that we wanted to make a more integral part of the flow to champion design consistency.
Regardless of my spontaneous journey into 3D, our wireframing process remained efficient. Defining screen functionalities upfront prevented layout rework during iterations. Each screen iteration was documented with explanations for clarity before we eventually had a set we were happy to proceed with.
Prototyping
Prototyping
Styles and Components
With a loose visual of what the various screens in our flow might look like, we were able to solidify our colour and text styles before jumping straight into designing some core components.
Patreon recently underwent a identity rebrand, aimed at highlighting the fluidity of the creators who call the platform home. This is best represented by their new colour philosophy, prioritising gradients in place of defined primary and secondary colours. Taking inspiration from this, we set up our main colour styles using gradients, too.
Styles and Components
With a loose visual of what the various screens in our flow might look like, we were able to solidify our colour and text styles before jumping straight into designing some core components.
Patreon recently underwent a identity rebrand, aimed at highlighting the fluidity of the creators who call the platform home. This is best represented by their new colour philosophy, prioritising gradients in place of defined primary and secondary colours. Taking inspiration from this, we set up our main colour styles using gradients, too.
High-fidelity Prototype
With the design direction finalized, assembling the interface was smooth due to the well-defined user flow. This allowed me to explore Spline's capabilities further (being a relatively new tool). While limitations in exporting 3D elements (Spline would crash with every export attempt) prevented the full interactivity of the "blobs," the core search functionality remained faithful to the user flow. Further iterations would refine the "blobs" and their interaction on the "Recent" page.
High-fidelity Prototype
With the design direction finalized, assembling the interface was smooth due to the well-defined user flow. This allowed me to explore Spline's capabilities further (being a relatively new tool). While limitations in exporting 3D elements (Spline would crash with every export attempt) prevented the full interactivity of the "blobs," the core search functionality remained faithful to the user flow. Further iterations would refine the "blobs" and their interaction on the "Recent" page.
Testing
Testing
Usability Testing
To test our prototype, we used Maze - a user research and usability testing platform.
We focused on three key areas:
Login Process: Evaluating the intuitiveness of the login flow, including the mini-questionnaire.
Search Functionality: Assessing how easily users found creators of interest using the new search features.
User Experience: Gauging how the overall theme, color styles, and UI impacted user experience.
Usability Testing
To test our prototype, we used Maze - a user research and usability testing platform.
We focused on three key areas:
Login Process: Evaluating the intuitiveness of the login flow, including the mini-questionnaire.
Search Functionality: Assessing how easily users found creators of interest using the new search features.
User Experience: Gauging how the overall theme, color styles, and UI impacted user experience.
Test Outcomes
Testing with 25 participants revealed the following:
Login Clarity: The light-on-dark theme for the "Get Started" button ensured clear visibility.
HashtagSearch Confusion: Users expected hashtag searching to be integrated into the main search bar using "#" followed by a phrase. The separate HashtagSearch button caused confusion and diverted users from the intended path. Ideally, the HashtagSearch feature would have a similar UI to the existing filters section, which users found comprehensive and helpful.
UI Preferences: Colors and styles were generally well-received for their intuitiveness and familiarity. The dark color scheme had mixed reactions: some enjoyed it for its clean and sleek look, while others found it chaotic and unwelcoming. Future iterations could explore a lighter theme to cater to user preferences.
Test Outcomes
Testing with 25 participants revealed the following:
Login Clarity: The light-on-dark theme for the "Get Started" button ensured clear visibility.
HashtagSearch Confusion: Users expected hashtag searching to be integrated into the main search bar using "#" followed by a phrase. The separate HashtagSearch button caused confusion and diverted users from the intended path. Ideally, the HashtagSearch feature would have a similar UI to the existing filters section, which users found comprehensive and helpful.
UI Preferences: Colors and styles were generally well-received for their intuitiveness and familiarity. The dark color scheme had mixed reactions: some enjoyed it for its clean and sleek look, while others found it chaotic and unwelcoming. Future iterations could explore a lighter theme to cater to user preferences.
Verdict
Verdict
Through this project, I explored solutions to significantly improve Patreon's search functionality and user experience. User research, as always, proved invaluable, uncovering key frustrations like the unintuitive search interface and lack of personalization. Focusing on impactful and efficient solutions, I developed a high-fidelity prototype showcasing a revamped search experience. This prototype boasts improved searchability, information discovery, and user flow, making it easier for patrons to find the creators they want to support.
Usability testing confirmed the effectiveness of core features, while also revealing areas for improvement. Notably, users expected hashtag searching to be integrated directly into the main search bar. However, some limitations with Maze may have influenced the results. Many testers were familiar with Figma, and their interaction with the prototype (potentially reflected in a higher misclick rate on some screens) might not have been entirely representative of a first-time Patreon user.
Overall, this project establishes a strong foundation for enhancing discoverability on Patreon. By addressing user needs and fostering stronger creator-patron connections, we can ultimately enrich the overall user experience on the platform.
Through this project, I explored solutions to significantly improve Patreon's search functionality and user experience. User research, as always, proved invaluable, uncovering key frustrations like the unintuitive search interface and lack of personalization. Focusing on impactful and efficient solutions, I developed a high-fidelity prototype showcasing a revamped search experience. This prototype boasts improved searchability, information discovery, and user flow, making it easier for patrons to find the creators they want to support.
Usability testing confirmed the effectiveness of core features, while also revealing areas for improvement. Notably, users expected hashtag searching to be integrated directly into the main search bar. However, some limitations with Maze may have influenced the results. Many testers were familiar with Figma, and their interaction with the prototype (potentially reflected in a higher misclick rate on some screens) might not have been entirely representative of a first-time Patreon user.
Overall, this project establishes a strong foundation for enhancing discoverability on Patreon. By addressing user needs and fostering stronger creator-patron connections, we can ultimately enrich the overall user experience on the platform.
Understanding the Problem
Generative User Interviews
To kickstart the project, it was important to understand the landscape of attitudes regarding online search experiences. While the project focused on improving Patreon’s search functionality, I began by researching user search behaviour for content creators across various platforms to gain a more in-depth understanding of why people utilise, and spend money on online talent marketplaces and their feelings about the overall experience of searching for creators to support.
This research took shape in the form of user interviews, where my questions shed light on:
Specific elements of searchability people enjoy
How people typically search for new creators
Integral search features
Whether or not algorithms are helpful - or crucial to the search process
Frustrations or highlights users have previously experienced during their search journeys across different platforms
Two of the biggest and most surprising frustrations were about how difficult it is to find niche content creators online, and how unintuitive people found Patreon as a whole.
Usability Review
Alongside the user interviews, I audited the Patreon web app to understand, contextualise, and frame my research findings. This was done using the SWCDUO method and Nielsen's heuristics. Key findings included inconsistencies in search functionality, content layout hindering discoverability, and information overload on certain pages.
Affinity Mapping
The recordings were transcribed and dropped into Dovetail where we implemented a curated tagging taxonomy to track and group themes and insights.
We synthesised our data using a combination of Dovetail and ChatGPT. Dovetail made it easy for us to categorise more specific themes - but most importantly, it helped us highlight how significant each problem was, based on the frequency that particular pain points were mentioned.
ChatGPT framed these problems as unique insights paired with relevant quotes from the interviews but did not consider frequency.
Problem Statement
Pairing the overall trends gleaned by ChatGPT, with the visual confirmation of how significant each problem was on Dovetail, we could prioritise which issues needed to be solved first, thereby leading us to our problem statement.
Patrons need a more user-friendly search interface that aligns with their personal preferences to foster community and strengthen supporter-creator relationships, enhancing the overall Patreon experience. However, Patreon’s unintuitive user interface, poor search experience, and troublesome navigation hinder user engagement as Patrons struggle to find desired content, opting for alternative social media channels to connect with creators instead.
Competitor Benchmarking
Understanding user frustrations with Patreon's search functionality, I analysed both direct and indirect competitors to assess how they were tackling similar problems - and specifically, what Patreon might benefit from without using an algorithm-based approach to providing user-tailored search experiences.
Defining It
'How Might We'
Through user research and competitor analysis, we identified the following key challenges hindering discoverability on Patreon: an unintuitive search interface, a lack of personalisation, and insufficient search result information connecting users to creators they seek to support.
To address these issues, I formulated a couple of “How Might We” questions that could guide us towards solutions:
How might we personalise the overall Patreon experience based on user search behaviour and preferences?
How might we create a more intuitive and user-friendly search interface on Patreon?
How might we enrich search results with creator details, timestamps, and relevant tags to improve information discovery?
Ideation
Given our tight timeline, we prioritised impactful and efficient solutions for Patreon's search experience. Our ideation process incorporated mind mapping, prioritisation, and "crazy 8s" techniques. We explored various creative solutions but ultimately decided against an algorithm-based approach. This decision aligned with the founder's vision of fostering a creator-centric platform focused on artistic freedom and also addressed the time constraints of defining and implementing a sophisticated algorithm.
Mindmapping
We began with a mindmap, separating ideas into “add” or “improve” sections. Each idea was also colour-coded to signify which core user frustration they targeted, i.e. search experience, community, or personalisation. This boosted efficiency when we had to track ideas, follow lines of thinking, and later, favourite and prioritise them.
Prioritisation
Ideas were prioritised using an impact/effort chart. This chart plotted each idea's potential user benefit (impact) compared to the resources required for implementation (effort). Since time was a major constraint, being highly selective was crucial. For example, creating thematic content collections (high effort, low impact) was less appealing than implementing a clear search filter system through content tags (moderate effort, high impact).
User Flows
We loosely mapped out the user flow on sticky notes to understand the implementation efficiency of different solutions. This visual exercise helped to identify potential roadblocks and ensure a smooth user experience. By dragging and dropping some of our favourite ideas onto the user flow map, we could easily categorise which screens needed to be altered before diving into wireframing.
Mid-fidelity Wireframes
I began building wireframes based on the loosely mapped user flow, allowing me to test different layouts and features. To address user feedback about Patreon's navigation, I focused on creating a seamless and intuitive flow in the wireframes.
Despite time constraints, I also took this opportunity to experiment with styles and motifs that played off Patreon's existing branding while introducing a touch of playfulness. Specifically, I built on the idea of creating 3D ‘blobs’ that would keep the user’s onboarding journey homogenous whilst staying true to Patreon’s gradient palette that we wanted to make a more integral part of the flow to champion design consistency.
Regardless of my spontaneous journey into 3D, our wireframing process remained efficient. Defining screen functionalities upfront prevented layout rework during iterations. Each screen iteration was documented with explanations for clarity before we eventually had a set we were happy to proceed with.
Prototyping
Styles and Components
With a loose visual of what the various screens in our flow might look like, we were able to solidify our colour and text styles before jumping straight into designing some core components.
Patreon recently underwent a identity rebrand, aimed at highlighting the fluidity of the creators who call the platform home. This is best represented by their new colour philosophy, prioritising gradients in place of defined primary and secondary colours. Taking inspiration from this, we set up our main colour styles using gradients, too.
High-fidelity Prototype
With the design direction finalized, assembling the interface was smooth due to the well-defined user flow. This allowed me to explore Spline's capabilities further (being a relatively new tool). While limitations in exporting 3D elements (Spline would crash with every export attempt) prevented the full interactivity of the "blobs," the core search functionality remained faithful to the user flow. Further iterations would refine the "blobs" and their interaction on the "Recent" page.
Testing
Usability Testing
To test our prototype, we used Maze - a user research and usability testing platform.
We focused on three key areas:
Login Process: Evaluating the intuitiveness of the login flow, including the mini-questionnaire.
Search Functionality: Assessing how easily users found creators of interest using the new search features.
User Experience: Gauging how the overall theme, color styles, and UI impacted user experience.
Test Outcomes
Testing with 25 participants revealed the following:
Login Clarity: The light-on-dark theme for the "Get Started" button ensured clear visibility.
HashtagSearch Confusion: Users expected hashtag searching to be integrated into the main search bar using "#" followed by a phrase. The separate HashtagSearch button caused confusion and diverted users from the intended path. Ideally, the HashtagSearch feature would have a similar UI to the existing filters section, which users found comprehensive and helpful.
UI Preferences: Colors and styles were generally well-received for their intuitiveness and familiarity. The dark color scheme had mixed reactions: some enjoyed it for its clean and sleek look, while others found it chaotic and unwelcoming. Future iterations could explore a lighter theme to cater to user preferences.
Verdict
Through this project, I explored solutions to significantly improve Patreon's search functionality and user experience. User research, as always, proved invaluable, uncovering key frustrations like the unintuitive search interface and lack of personalization. Focusing on impactful and efficient solutions, I developed a high-fidelity prototype showcasing a revamped search experience. This prototype boasts improved searchability, information discovery, and user flow, making it easier for patrons to find the creators they want to support.
Usability testing confirmed the effectiveness of core features, while also revealing areas for improvement. Notably, users expected hashtag searching to be integrated directly into the main search bar. However, some limitations with Maze may have influenced the results. Many testers were familiar with Figma, and their interaction with the prototype (potentially reflected in a higher misclick rate on some screens) might not have been entirely representative of a first-time Patreon user.
Overall, this project establishes a strong foundation for enhancing discoverability on Patreon. By addressing user needs and fostering stronger creator-patron connections, we can ultimately enrich the overall user experience on the platform.
Understanding the Problem
Generative User Interviews
To kickstart the project, it was important to understand the landscape of attitudes regarding online search experiences. While the project focused on improving Patreon’s search functionality, I began by researching user search behaviour for content creators across various platforms to gain a more in-depth understanding of why people utilise, and spend money on online talent marketplaces and their feelings about the overall experience of searching for creators to support.
This research took shape in the form of user interviews, where my questions shed light on:
Specific elements of searchability people enjoy
How people typically search for new creators
Integral search features
Whether or not algorithms are helpful - or crucial to the search process
Frustrations or highlights users have previously experienced during their search journeys across different platforms
Two of the biggest and most surprising frustrations were about how difficult it is to find niche content creators online, and how unintuitive people found Patreon as a whole.
Usability Review
Alongside the user interviews, I audited the Patreon web app to understand, contextualise, and frame my research findings. This was done using the SWCDUO method and Nielsen's heuristics. Key findings included inconsistencies in search functionality, content layout hindering discoverability, and information overload on certain pages.
Affinity Mapping
The recordings were transcribed and dropped into Dovetail where we implemented a curated tagging taxonomy to track and group themes and insights.
We synthesised our data using a combination of Dovetail and ChatGPT. Dovetail made it easy for us to categorise more specific themes - but most importantly, it helped us highlight how significant each problem was, based on the frequency that particular pain points were mentioned.
ChatGPT framed these problems as unique insights paired with relevant quotes from the interviews but did not consider frequency.
Problem Statement
Pairing the overall trends gleaned by ChatGPT, with the visual confirmation of how significant each problem was on Dovetail, we could prioritise which issues needed to be solved first, thereby leading us to our problem statement.
Patrons need a more user-friendly search interface that aligns with their personal preferences to foster community and strengthen supporter-creator relationships, enhancing the overall Patreon experience. However, Patreon’s unintuitive user interface, poor search experience, and troublesome navigation hinder user engagement as Patrons struggle to find desired content, opting for alternative social media channels to connect with creators instead.
Competitor Benchmarking
Understanding user frustrations with Patreon's search functionality, I analysed both direct and indirect competitors to assess how they were tackling similar problems - and specifically, what Patreon might benefit from without using an algorithm-based approach to providing user-tailored search experiences.
Defining It
'How Might We'
Through user research and competitor analysis, we identified the following key challenges hindering discoverability on Patreon: an unintuitive search interface, a lack of personalisation, and insufficient search result information connecting users to creators they seek to support.
To address these issues, I formulated a couple of “How Might We” questions that could guide us towards solutions:
How might we personalise the overall Patreon experience based on user search behaviour and preferences?
How might we create a more intuitive and user-friendly search interface on Patreon?
How might we enrich search results with creator details, timestamps, and relevant tags to improve information discovery?
Ideation
Given our tight timeline, we prioritised impactful and efficient solutions for Patreon's search experience. Our ideation process incorporated mind mapping, prioritisation, and "crazy 8s" techniques. We explored various creative solutions but ultimately decided against an algorithm-based approach. This decision aligned with the founder's vision of fostering a creator-centric platform focused on artistic freedom and also addressed the time constraints of defining and implementing a sophisticated algorithm.
Mindmapping
We began with a mindmap, separating ideas into “add” or “improve” sections. Each idea was also colour-coded to signify which core user frustration they targeted, i.e. search experience, community, or personalisation. This boosted efficiency when we had to track ideas, follow lines of thinking, and later, favourite and prioritise them.
Prioritisation
Ideas were prioritised using an impact/effort chart. This chart plotted each idea's potential user benefit (impact) compared to the resources required for implementation (effort). Since time was a major constraint, being highly selective was crucial. For example, creating thematic content collections (high effort, low impact) was less appealing than implementing a clear search filter system through content tags (moderate effort, high impact).
User Flows
We loosely mapped out the user flow on sticky notes to understand the implementation efficiency of different solutions. This visual exercise helped to identify potential roadblocks and ensure a smooth user experience. By dragging and dropping some of our favourite ideas onto the user flow map, we could easily categorise which screens needed to be altered before diving into wireframing.
Mid-fidelity Wireframes
I began building wireframes based on the loosely mapped user flow, allowing me to test different layouts and features. To address user feedback about Patreon's navigation, I focused on creating a seamless and intuitive flow in the wireframes.
Despite time constraints, I also took this opportunity to experiment with styles and motifs that played off Patreon's existing branding while introducing a touch of playfulness. Specifically, I built on the idea of creating 3D ‘blobs’ that would keep the user’s onboarding journey homogenous whilst staying true to Patreon’s gradient palette that we wanted to make a more integral part of the flow to champion design consistency.
Regardless of my spontaneous journey into 3D, our wireframing process remained efficient. Defining screen functionalities upfront prevented layout rework during iterations. Each screen iteration was documented with explanations for clarity before we eventually had a set we were happy to proceed with.
Prototyping
Styles and Components
With a loose visual of what the various screens in our flow might look like, we were able to solidify our colour and text styles before jumping straight into designing some core components.
Patreon recently underwent a identity rebrand, aimed at highlighting the fluidity of the creators who call the platform home. This is best represented by their new colour philosophy, prioritising gradients in place of defined primary and secondary colours. Taking inspiration from this, we set up our main colour styles using gradients, too.
High-fidelity Prototype
With the design direction finalized, assembling the interface was smooth due to the well-defined user flow. This allowed me to explore Spline's capabilities further (being a relatively new tool). While limitations in exporting 3D elements (Spline would crash with every export attempt) prevented the full interactivity of the "blobs," the core search functionality remained faithful to the user flow. Further iterations would refine the "blobs" and their interaction on the "Recent" page.
Testing
Usability Testing
To test our prototype, we used Maze - a user research and usability testing platform.
We focused on three key areas:
Login Process: Evaluating the intuitiveness of the login flow, including the mini-questionnaire.
Search Functionality: Assessing how easily users found creators of interest using the new search features.
User Experience: Gauging how the overall theme, color styles, and UI impacted user experience.
Test Outcomes
Testing with 25 participants revealed the following:
Login Clarity: The light-on-dark theme for the "Get Started" button ensured clear visibility.
HashtagSearch Confusion: Users expected hashtag searching to be integrated into the main search bar using "#" followed by a phrase. The separate HashtagSearch button caused confusion and diverted users from the intended path. Ideally, the HashtagSearch feature would have a similar UI to the existing filters section, which users found comprehensive and helpful.
UI Preferences: Colors and styles were generally well-received for their intuitiveness and familiarity. The dark color scheme had mixed reactions: some enjoyed it for its clean and sleek look, while others found it chaotic and unwelcoming. Future iterations could explore a lighter theme to cater to user preferences.
Verdict
Through this project, I explored solutions to significantly improve Patreon's search functionality and user experience. User research, as always, proved invaluable, uncovering key frustrations like the unintuitive search interface and lack of personalization. Focusing on impactful and efficient solutions, I developed a high-fidelity prototype showcasing a revamped search experience. This prototype boasts improved searchability, information discovery, and user flow, making it easier for patrons to find the creators they want to support.
Usability testing confirmed the effectiveness of core features, while also revealing areas for improvement. Notably, users expected hashtag searching to be integrated directly into the main search bar. However, some limitations with Maze may have influenced the results. Many testers were familiar with Figma, and their interaction with the prototype (potentially reflected in a higher misclick rate on some screens) might not have been entirely representative of a first-time Patreon user.
Overall, this project establishes a strong foundation for enhancing discoverability on Patreon. By addressing user needs and fostering stronger creator-patron connections, we can ultimately enrich the overall user experience on the platform.