Location-based Directory

1. Project Overview

Client: Nylut (2 co-founders)
Role/Contributions: Product Designer, UX Researcher, and Lead Developer
Duration: 6 months

Project Summary

Nylut is a community-driven platform designed to connect Black, Indigenous, and People of Color (BIPOC) with service providers who understand their unique needs. By using location-based search, verified reviews, and inclusive design principles, Nylut empowers users to find culturally competent businesses in their area. I led the user research, testing, design, and development process, working closely with Nylut's co-founders to create a human-centered experience that supports trust, inclusion, and accessibility.

2. The Problem

BIPOC communities often face significant challenges in finding businesses that meet their unique needs. Service providers (e.g., hair salons, skincare specialists, and photographers) frequently lack the skills, products, or knowledge to serve clients with diverse hair textures, skin tones, or cultural experiences. Without an easy way to identify businesses that offer these services, users were left to rely on trial and error, word-of-mouth referrals, and extended online searches.

Challenges

Black women faced significant challenges finding service providers with the knowledge and experience to meet their needs (e.g., 4C hair textures, darker skin tones).
Users had to spend hours, sometimes weeks, searching for trustworthy providers, often experiencing disappointment and frustration.
Many current review platforms lacked BIPOC-specific filters and features to identify LGBTQ+ friendly, culturally aware, and inclusive service providers.

Goals

Provide a platform where Black, Indigenous, and People of Color can easily find service providers who meet their unique needs.
Enable location-based searches to connect users with local businesses.
Showcase verified reviews from users to build trust and credibility with service providers.
Offer businesses the ability to create profiles, showcase their services, and manage customer bookings directly on the platform.

3. Research & Discovery

Research Methods

Conducted surveys with 36 respondents to understand their pain points, search behaviours, and service needs.
Performed user interviews with two BIPOC women, gathering in-depth qualitative data on their personal experiences and frustrations when searching for services.
Analyzed empathy maps to visualize users' thoughts, feelings, and behaviors during the search process.

Insights

Users consistently mentioned the difficulty of finding haircare and skincare providers that understood their unique needs.
Safety was a core priority for LGBTQ+ individuals, who sought businesses where they could feel affirmed, respected, and safe from discrimination.
Many users found existing search engines unreliable, with incomplete information and reviews that did not reflect their specific needs.
Users preferred reviews that came from people who experience the world as they do — reinforcing the need for a culturally aware, community-driven review system.

Pain Points

Trial-and-error approach to finding services was costly and frustrating for users.
Users often experienced microaggressions or substandard service due to a lack of cultural awareness from service providers.
Many existing platforms relied on imagery and language that centered whiteness, alienating BIPOC users.

4. Strategy

Design Recommendations

To address these challenges, I prepared a plan for a location-based, category-driven platform that allows users to filter search results by service type (e.g., hair salons, barbers, photographers) and additional filters like "safe for LGBTQ+" and "expertise in 4C hair." User-centric design principles ensured that BIPOC users would feel seen, supported, and included in every interaction.

Design Process

Created wireframes for the homepage, search filters, and service provider profiles.
Ran 3 rounds of usability tests to identify areas of improvement in navigation, inclusivity, and trust signals.
Iterated on the layout, improving visibility for review trust indicators and location-based filters.

Design Priorities

Inclusivity: Use of BIPOC imagery, language, and testimonials to reflect the user base.
Trust: Verified reviews and safety indicators to ensure users felt confident booking appointments.
Intuitive Design: Clean, simple navigation with large, clear calls-to-action for essential features like “Filter by Hair Type” and “LGBTQ+ Friendly.”

5. Implementation

How It Was Built

I created the website on a custom platform to handle the unique ways Nylut need to handle business profiling, user authentication, payment processing, and geolocation, customer bookings, and customer reviews. The system also featured a comprehensive self-serve tools for business owners to manage their profiles, upload images, and track bookings.

Launch & Delivery

Phase 1: Designed and tested homepage, location-based search, and search filters.
Phase 2: Developed business profiles and customer accounts with booking functionality.
Phase 3: Completed review system, allowing users to leave reviews and submit “Positive Place” ratings.

6. Results & Impact

Outcome

The Nylut platform successfully empowered BIPOC communities to connect with local service providers that meet their unique needs. By centralizing search, reviews, and bookings in one system, Nylut reduced the burden of searching for trusted service providers.

Key Metrics

User Engagement: Testers overwhelmingly praised the clarity, usability, and warmth of the design.
Safety & Inclusivity: Key design elements like "Positive Place" ratings and LGBTQ+ friendly filters helped users feel supported and safe.
Time Savings: By using location-based filters, users could find suitable businesses in seconds rather than spending hours searching online.

Before/After Comparison

Before: Relying on Google searches, word-of-mouth, and social media, which often led to unreliable, slow, and frustrating experiences.
After: Nylut provided an all-in-one platform with verified reviews, location-specific results, and features to ensure inclusivity and trust.

7. Reflections

What Went Well

Conducting user research at the outset led to a deep understanding of user needs, guiding the design process toward empathy and precision.
Community-oriented design, with features like the “Positive Place” rating, helped reinforce trust and safety for LGBTQ+ users.

Takeaways

Collaborating with community members directly produced insights that would have otherwise been missed.
Empathy-led design helps create platforms that reflect users' lived experiences, rather than trying to force them to fit into an existing mold.

It was an honour and a thrill to conduct user interviews for this project. Hearing their stories was like a master class in how essential it is to provide inclusive designs that place marginalized voices at the heart of product development. This was an opportunity to learn user needs at a much deeper level, and to provide a service that truly makes a difference to a vast community.

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