Project Team Matchboard
Design a mobile marketplace that helps independent professionals evaluate and join short-term project teams.
The brief
Understand the problem
Background
Small product teams often need a designer, developer, writer, or researcher for a defined piece of work. Generic job boards make it hard to judge whether the project is credible, sufficiently scoped, and compatible with a candidate's availability.
User context
Noah is a freelance product designer with ten hours available each week. He wants a paid six-week project with clear ownership and collaborators whose experience complements his own.
Product problem
Candidates need enough information to assess the work and team before applying, while project owners need comparable signals without reducing people to a single score.
Objective
Create the discovery and application experience for matching a professional to a well-scoped project team.
What to design
Define the experience
Required experience
- Browse projects by role, duration, commitment, and compensation
- Review a project brief, team roster, responsibilities, and working norms
- Compare personal availability and skills with the stated needs
- Submit a focused application and track its status
Screens and states
- Project discovery
- Project detail
- Application form
- Application status
Core user flow
Follow the critical path
- 01
Noah filters for product design roles that fit his weekly availability
- 02
He opens a project and reviews scope, teammates, pay, and expected overlap hours
- 03
He answers role-specific questions and submits relevant work samples
- 04
He returns later to see a request for an introductory call
Product rules
Requirements and constraints
Requirements
- Make compensation, time commitment, project duration, and role expectations easy to compare
- Show which profile details are shared before the candidate submits
- Let candidates save a draft application
- Provide clear states for submitted, shortlisted, declined, and withdrawn applications
Constraints
- Some projects have incomplete team rosters
- Availability can differ by time zone
- Long role descriptions must remain scannable on a mobile screen
Reality check
States worth considering
Finish line
What to deliver
- Four to six mobile screens covering discovery, evaluation, application, and status
- A short note explaining the trust signals used for projects and professionals
Optional direction
Visual resources
Use these as a starting constraint if you want one. They are not part of the required solution.