&Arise is a banking-funded community platform advising migrant entrepreneurs.
&Arise is a banking-funded community platform advising migrant entrepreneurs, offering a service where customers can interact with coaches who speak their language. The goal is to support the business ideas of migrants and people who moved to Germany by creating a local network of coaches and mentees.
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IDENTITY, UX/UI DESIGN: Cinzia Bongino
ART DIRECTION (brand identity): Cronica Studio
COPY: Yunus and team (&Arise)
YEAR: February 2022
COPY: Yunus and team (&Arise)
YEAR: February 2022
The platform is currently under development. andarise.org
The naming '&Arise', chosen by the client, is based on the idea of starting something new, without questioning academic background, financial situation, or place of origin. Identifying in those who strive to make their dreams come true, the brand identity creates an overall feeling of energy and passion.
Language and cultural differences can create a huge barrier: &Arise tries to overcome it by offering a service where customers can interact with coaches who speak their language. Users can ask questions or pay the coaches for executing specific tasks. The coaches are not external professionals or dedicated people: they are app users themselves, entrepreneurs who can share their experience and advice. There is no certificate or exam to pass: everybody can register as coaches if they feel they can teach to others.
The entire app design process took about four months, with the first two dedicated only to the wireframe and user journey. The client was very helpful: Yunus and his team dedicated lots of time sketching the first screens before starting our collaboration. They were also very supportive and insightful in their feedback.
The web app was designed primarily for mobile devices. Obviously, the content structure was created thinking about its adaptation to desktop and tablets. Since there were planned many functionalities, basic elements and interactions were implemented in order to facilitate the development. As a matter of fact, most of the design components and text styles were already created during the wireframe phase.
The search results appear on the Ask page. Here registered users can open the offers created by the coaches and contact them directly. Coaches create offers to explain and sell their advice or skills. A few ones are also for free. Chatting does not cost: it is encouraged to establish connections and form a personal network.
Both coaches and mentees have their public profile in which they can share their current job position or aspirations. During the research phase, it emerged that entrepreneurs were proud of their results and happy to share them with fellows. A dedicated feature is called ‘milestones’: users can highlight personal achievements such as the launch of their company, the number of employees or clients. Furthermore, the feature 'competitive distance' has been designed to avoid ideas exploitation among users. Users define the minimum distance an advisor from the same industry should have to them. If a person who is below that range tries to contact them, they get an alert and decide if accept or not.
Users can register for free or pay a monthly fee to create a bank account and have full access to the coach offers.
The dashboard is the personal page of each user. Here, coaches and mentees can access their banking account, communicate with other coaches and mentees, build their network of contacts and create coach offers. A system of news and notifications feed was also implemented. This feature involves the users maintaining an updated status and sharing their progress.