Mabel Ortega

Info

Projects

The #1st 0n-Demand
Jop App in the US

On how we created the #1 On-Demand Job App
in the US and support 70M+ gig and hourly workers.

Company

Jobble, Inc.
2022
Mobile App
Web App
Product Designer
1 Design Director
2 UX Designers
1 Visual Designer
5 Developers
2 PM

Product

Role

Team

Design Toolkit

Company

Jobble, Inc.
2022

Product

Mobile App
Web App

Role

Product Designer

Team

1 Design Director
2 UX Designers
1 Visual Designer
2 Product Managers
5 Developers

Design Toolkit

Context
Process
Challenge
Research
Exploration
Solution
Impact
Highlights
Learnings
Top

The Context

The gig economy, a rapidly growing market

Imagine a world where work means an open-door of opportunities. Well, that's precisely what the gig economy is all about. Over the past decade, this movement has been growing rapidly with more and more people choosing to work as independent contractors or freelancers.
This trend is particularly prevalent among younger generations, who are increasingly drawn to the flexibility and autonomy that comes with gig work. Our project is about them.

The Design Process

A 0-1 approach

The Challenge

How do we give control to gig workers and make the gig market sustainable?

Despite the numerous benefits that the gig economy offers, there are also significant challenges that accompany this type of work.
Gig workers often faced struggles such as inconsistent job opportunities, financial management issues, and the complexities of tax and legal regulations. Moreover, they frequently lack the essential benefits and protections that come with traditional employment, like health insurance and retirement savings.
While existing gig job market apps attempted to address some of these challenges, many of these apps suffered from cluttered interfaces, confusing flows, and difficulties in navigation. Some also lacked transparency, leaving gig workers uncertain about the true nature of the work and compensation.

‍That's where Jobble comes in.

The Business

Perspective

With more and more people looking for flexible work arrangements, a gig job marketplace app provides a platform for workers to find short-term, project-based work, and for businesses to find skilled talent on-demand.
Jobble generates income through various methods such as transaction fees, service fees, and advertising.
Service fees are charged to businesses for each gig worker they hire through the app, while service fees could be charged to both businesses and gig workers for access to premium features.
Moreover, Jobble also generates revenue partnering with other businesses to provide value-added services such as background checks and insurance for gig workers.

Research

📈 Tendencies - What we learnt from the industry

Flexibility is important for gig workers
Over 80% of gig workers listed schedule flexibility as a key factor in their job choice.
Autonomy is another key factor
Being their own boss was a motivator for 79% of gig workers.
Fair and reliable pay is important to gig workers
71% of gig workers felt that the pay for their work was not fair.
Skill alignment drives job searches
63% of gig workers chose work that allowed them to use their skills to the fullest extent.
Safety and security is essential
75% of workers listed safety as their top reason for repeating a gig job.

The Competitive Landscape

As we analysed the competitors, which involved digging into product documentation, we learned how each of our competitors were offering certain features but not addressing the gig market industry main pain points and eventually none of them were offering an effective solution to make the industry sustainable.

Competitor Feature Audit

We selected features to analyze based on what Jobble’s platform would need to be successful. Our evaluation of the way each product handled relevant features led to several key realizations, the most important of which was:

No other platform was offering benefits and instant payments at the same time, to improve financial stability and safety, which were some of the main lacking aspects from the industry, as we mentioned previously. We needed to proceed with more qualitative research to confirm those assumptions.

User Interviews:
Designing for users mental models

    We performed our research with the goal of better understanding the needs and motivations of people participating in the gig economy, including the job seekers and hiring managers. To finalize our research, we performed 16 interviews over a period of 5 days. We spoke with 10 job seekers with varying degrees of experience using Jobble and 6 hiring managers.

    🗝️ Key findings

    Lack of trust and transparency in gig work can create feelings of insecurity, particularly with regards to safety in the workplace and fair payment.

    Some gig job apps have a long and complicated application processes, which can be discouraging for workers.

    Finding gig jobs can be time-consuming and frustrating due to high competition and the short-term nature of gigs. This can impact job satisfaction and overall well-being.

    Gig workers often need to take on multiple gigs, but inconsistent job opportunities can make it difficult to earn a stable income and manage their schedules effectively.

    Flexibility is a key advantage of gig work, allowing workers to set their own schedules and balance other commitments like caregiving or education.

    Exploration

    We started with some user flows

    to arrive to wireframes

    Branding

    Colors

    Photography

    Typography

    Solution

    Streamlined the way to find work

    After dedicating more than 6 months to the preceding steps, we arrived at the following solutions that are aligned with the primary pain points users encounter while using gig work apps:
    Provide the essential benefits to improve workers' overall safety and confidence
    By offering health insurance, retirement plans, and other perks, the gig work app aims to address the needs of gig workers in multiple aspects of their lives. Costumer
    Visualize earnings data to provide overall financial progress
    To enhance the user experience and make users aware of their daily earnings we included graphical representations providing users with a quick and intuitive understanding of their earnings patterns and overall financial progress.
    Our users customers satisfaction increased by +6%.
    Robust reviews and rating systems fostering the transparency and accountability lacking in the industry
    By incorporating such a rating system, Jobble enables workers to have a voice and share their perspectives on the companies they have worked with.
    Providing this feature, we approach the trust and accountaibility problem in the industry. Since the creation of it, we increased +13% the users who complete a second shift, solving the first issue: finding the company they would trust to through a good rating system.
    A job board with matching algorithms for the most relevant job opportunities
    Providing the essential benefits to improve workers' overall safety and confidence
    By incorporating a job search feature and utilising matching algorithms, Jobble streamlines the process of connecting companies and gig workers. It empowers workers to explore relevant job opportunities and enables companies to reach a pool of potential candidates with the desired skills and preferences.
    This approach enhances efficiency and effectiveness in the gig job market, benefiting both workers and companies by facilitating successful job matches. More than +9% of view to apply conversion was increased thanks to the effectiveness of the job matches.
    Real-time job updates to enhance communication and improve the overall work experience by +35%
    By offering real-time job updates, which includes notifications for changes, new postings, and job status updates, Jobble ensures that gig workers have access to up-to-date information and remain well-informed throughout their work engagements.
    This enhances communication and transparency between workers and Jobble, allowing for smoother job coordination and improved overall work experiences. Thanks to that the shift show rate increased +16% improving they overall experience from the beginning of the application flow.

    Impact

    Outcomes

    +9%
    View to Apply conversion rate
    +16%
    Shift show rate
    +13%
    Workers who complete a 2nd shift
    +70M
    Support gig and hourly workers

    Highlights

    Being part of the creation of a full multi-platform design system

    Learnings

    Uncovered thanks to this project

    • Overcomplicating the design

      I learned the importance of simplicity and clarity in user interfaces. I realized the value of prioritizing information and using visual hierarchy to guide users, and the dangers of unnecessary or confusing elements in a design.

    • Building trust is essential for creating a user-friendly platform

      We could make the app feel more dynamic and responsive, but it was important to use this sparingly and intentionally. If it was too distracting or frequent, it could actually hinder the user experience.

    • Design for diversity

      Designing for different cultural contexts was crucial, but assumptions about what will work for different audiences could lead us to a lack of inclusivity. Involving users from diverse backgrounds in the design process and being open to feedback and suggestions for how to create a more inclusive platform was essential.

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    I'm always up for a chat about groovy products
    (or we can go into deep     philosophies from which
    it is impossible to return).

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    © 2025 Mabel Ortega
    From 🇪🇸 with Passion.