CASE STUDY
Create Connect Mobile App Design
A comprehensive mobile app design created for Create Connect — a freelance marketplace built specifically for creatives — giving designers, illustrators, animators, photographers, and other creative professionals a dedicated platform to find work, showcase their skills, and connect with clients who understand the value of creative talent.
CLIENT
Kobby Boateng
NICHE
Freelance
DURATION
6–8 Weeks
SERVICE
Product Designs
Tools Used
Project Overview
Create Connect is a freelance marketplace designed with one specific audience in mind: creatives. While general platforms like Upwork serve a broad range of professionals, Create Connect was conceived as a dedicated space where designers, illustrators, animators, photographers, videographers, and other creative talents could find work that was genuinely suited to their skills — and where clients could find the right creative professional without having to sift through unrelated profiles.
The goal of this project was to design a mobile app experience that felt native to the creative world — visually sharp, intuitive to navigate, and built around the specific needs of both freelance creatives looking for opportunities and clients looking for the right talent. With a 6–8 week timeline, the scope covered the full product design journey from concept through to a complete, handoff-ready mobile UI.
Deliverables: Full mobile app UI design across all core screens in Figma, Onboarding, profile, job listing, proposal, and messaging screen designs, Separate user flows for creatives (freelancers) and clients (buyers), Complete UI design system including components, colour styles, and typography, Interactive prototype for key user flows
Collateral Services: User flow mapping for both freelancer and client journeys, Information architecture and screen hierarchy planning, Visual identity development suited to a creative-first platform
The Challenge
Designing a freelance marketplace is inherently complex — the platform has to work well for two very different types of users at the same time. Creatives need a space that feels like it was built for them: somewhere they can present their work with pride, find relevant opportunities quickly, and manage their client relationships without friction. Clients, on the other hand, need confidence — the ability to browse, evaluate, and hire the right creative with minimal guesswork.
The additional challenge with Create Connect was carving out a clear identity in a space already occupied by established general platforms. The design needed to communicate from the very first screen that this was something different — a platform that genuinely understood the creative industry and was built to serve it, not just accommodate it. Achieving this across a full mobile product, with all the complexity that involves, within a 6–8 week window required a structured, phased approach and strong creative direction from the start.
Key Obstacles:
- Designing two distinct but equally seamless user experiences — one for creatives, one for clients — within a single app
- Establishing a visual identity and product feel that set Create Connect apart from generic freelance platforms
- Managing the complexity of a full mobile product design across a 6–8 week timeline
Our Strategy & Approach
The design process was structured in clear phases to manage the scope effectively across the 6–8 week timeline. It opened with a deep product definition phase — mapping out the core user journeys for both creatives and clients, identifying the key screens and interactions that would make or break the experience, and defining the product’s visual personality before any UI work began.
Wireframes in Figma established the structural logic of each flow — from onboarding and profile creation through to job browsing, proposal submission, and in-app messaging — ensuring every screen had a clear purpose and a logical place within the overall experience. Once the structure was validated, the visual design phase built a UI language that felt distinctly creative: considered typography, a confident colour palette, and a layout system that gave visual work the space to be seen properly. Particular attention went into the profile and portfolio screens, where a creative’s work needed to be displayed in a way that did it justice. The final weeks were dedicated to refinement, component consolidation, and building an interactive prototype that brought the core user flows to life for client review.
Behind The Scenes
Results & Impact
The finished Create Connect mobile app design delivered a product that felt purpose-built for the creative industry — not a generic marketplace with a different name, but a platform with its own clear identity and point of view. Both user journeys — the creative looking for work and the client looking for talent — felt considered and complete, with each screen designed to reduce friction and increase confidence at every step. The client received a full, handoff-ready mobile UI with a robust design system, interactive prototype, and the kind of visual quality that reflects the audience the product is built to serve.
Key Results:
- A complete mobile app design that serves both freelance creatives and clients with distinct, seamless user journeys
- A strong visual identity that positions Create Connect as a platform built specifically for the creative industry
- A fully documented UI design system ready to support development and future product growth
- Full product design delivered within a 6–8 week timeline, from concept to handoff-ready prototype
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