case study

GigHero

GigHero connects NYC denizens with vetted young talent seeking part-time employment opportunities. Community building through opportunity awareness is at the core of GigHero’s mission.

Overview

Students and young professionals are seeking gig work now more than ever. New York City’s 9MM residents needed a new platform for connecting with vetted local talent for a safe work experience.

Naming

Our team determined early on that “Gig” would be an essential component to the brand name. The real challenge would be landing the perfect rejoinder. With our whiteboard covered with stickies and our Sharpies sharpened, we dove deep into a maelstrom of linguistic possibilities.

We determined that the brand name needed to communicate strength and optimism — safety and confidence. We also knew it needed to carry a certain unit of familiarity and pop cultural belonging. Hence, GigHero was born. She’s beautiful and strong.

Brand Identity

Feeling super powered by our successful naming mission, we proceeded to ideate through several familiar DC and Marvel metaphors such as flight, lightening and shields.

After several iterations we found ourselves going back to the shield motif again and again. The shield is practically an archetypal symbol of PPE — a fitting reference to the times.

Color

We’re all familiar with the super saturated colors that dominate the superhero’s wardrobe – Superman, Wonder Woman, The Green Lantern, Richard Simmons. We balanced out the dominant saturated blue of the new GH logo with a family of soothing pastels — pale tints of primary and secondary colors. Pastels rarely work well on their own, but they come to life when they’re surrounded by other colors in their range.

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Typography

We chose Poppins, a geometric serif font with beautiful curves and rounded corners. It’s monolinear quality pairs well with the typography associated with retro superhero swag, yet it is also one of the most contemporary examples of open source web fonts.

Website Planning

Planning is the first stage in our process and also the most important. It’s where all the foundational decisions are made. Defining, ideating, sketching, iterating — we proceed through a formal process documented by technical schematics such as user flows, site maps and wireframes. It is the blueprint that inspires the design.

Interface Design

GigHero needed a UI design that was cheerfully optimistic and easy to use. It also needed to feel familiar to a New York City audience.

Once inside, the user experience is simple and intuitive with no extraneous features that interrupt the user from doing what needs to be done. Posting a job takes about two minutes, and applying for one is a 2-click process.

Home Page Design

Custom home page with clear messaging that instantly targets the New York City area.

User Dashboard

View of the logged in Employer dashboard featuring multiple applicants to the job “Spanish tutor for 12 year old”.

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