CAPTURE
A mobile platform designed to connect people with local photographers wherever they are. Photography captures moments, experiences, and memories for a lifetime.
The Problem
Finding a local photographer that meets the needs of specific pricing, photography style, and location is challenging.
The Story
The idea of CAPTURE came from the pain I experienced searching for a photographer in Hawaii for family photos. Google wasn’t helpful; it simply populated a list of photographers, often larger-scale businesses and studios.
At a glance, I couldn’t see helpful information such as pricing, viewing a photographer’s editing style, narrowing down a location, or availability.
I ultimately found a photographer using hashtags on Instagram. I spent hours scouring images on their social media accounts and websites, reaching out for availability and pricing, often feeling disappointed because they were outside my budget or travel dates.
My Role - Entrepreneur & Product Designer
As the sole designer for this project, I owned everything from initial discovery and research to a high-fidelity clickable prototype. I created the logo, branding, and all visual design elements.
As an entrepreneur, I constantly seek opportunities to create, build, and bring ideas to life. I designed CAPTURE with the intent to connect local photographers with users all over the world.
Providing an amazing experience and helping users establish what they are looking for helps them narrow their focus and find professional photographers more easily.
As business owners, Photographers need a way to showcase their work, passion, and the value they bring. Providing an elegant profile where they can provide relevant and helpful information for consumers will improve their ability to grow their business and gain new clients from searches that match them with ideal customers.
The Solution
A mobile app helping users photographers based on their needs and preferences
CAPTURE Features
In research, I discovered that users couldn’t identify what they were looking for in a photographer, but two main constraints greatly influenced their decision: Pricing and location.
Translating context and insights, I came up with a few questions to help users identify what exactly they were seeking in a photographer.
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CAPTURE allows consumers to select the type of photos they want and a preferred setting and identify the photo editing style they prefer. These user selections then help surface photographers who specialize in their interests.
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There are lots of factors to consider when establishing a budget for photography. Wedding photography may be priced differently than family photos. Whatever the occasion, users can determine a price range that works best for them and the occasion they want to capture.
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After narrowing down the list of photographers, users can browse different profiles and see helpful, relevant information such as pricing, location, customer reviews, photographer portfolios, and even schedule bookings.
“Photography is the only language that can be understood anywhere in the world.”
— Bruno Barbey
Research & Gathering Needs
I started doing initial research to understand the market and if others were trying to solve this problem. I explored existing solutions, competitors in the space, and how photographers were marketing themselves.
I conducted a total of eight user interviews (four consumers and four photographers) to understand their experience in booking photography and finding clients or photographers and worked to gain deeper understanding and clarity on the pain points, and needs they had.
My research helped me understand the potential market fit and validated that this was a problem worth solving.
Existing solutions were part of larger platforms and didn’t highlight photography; they were just lumped in with other searchable things.
The UX on larger corporate websites, studios, and booking agencies lacked basic functionality with search, filtering, and surfacing of important information.
Photographers found most success through word of mouth or self-promoting via social media and ads. If they did use other platforms, they were hit with additional fees and didn’t feel the value outweighed the cost of acquiring new customers.
All consumers I spoke with used a social platform (Instagram or Facebook) to find photographers. They interacted with friends or knew someone who knew a photographer. Several also outlined the same painful process I went through of using hashtags and websites to reach out directly to photographers.
Through user testing, I refined my designs and improved the user experience.
Initial Sign-Up experience
Conducting moderated user tests, I quickly gathered feedback and insight into their experience when trying to find and book a photographer.
In my initial designs, I thought users would prefer not to sign up right away. I designed models with a sign-up option and an option to dismiss the sign-up request. Through testing, I learned users actually experienced more pain because they were kept from being able to accomplish a task without interruption.
My final revision helped me determine a required sign-up initially, and I opted to use OAuth sign-in to help reduce some of the initial friction with sign-up.
Pricing & Contact
Pricing was a concern for both consumers and photographers. Photographers expressed the need to be able to negotiate their pricing based on several factors, including distance, location, and the number of individuals in a session.
My initial designs allowed consumers to contact the photographer directly regarding pricing. From a business perspective, I needed to consider how to incentivize users to send an official booking request through the marketplace. I also wanted to ensure photographers received more qualified leads, not someone far outside their price range.
User testing allowed me to understand when consumers were comfortable sending booking requests. Users conveyed that if they had a way to reference a pricing range and liked the photographer, they would be ready to submit a request.
My final designs allow consumers to click to see pricing details in a modal outlining base prices for session types and a disclaimer specifying that final pricing would be determined with a photographer.
What comes next?
CAPTURE is an MVP design focusing on helping users accomplish their goal of matching with a local photographer and booking a session. I’m currently evaluating business viability and if it’s an entrepreneurial opportunity I want to pursue.
I asked users what they expected to see after sending a booking request. The top request was a way to view upcoming sessions. I’ve already started thinking through future flows and requirements for the photographer’s experience when setting up a profile on CAPTURE.
