Every platform has two sides - demand and supply. I worked together with the social enterprise Circle Economy on their platform called Circle Lab for Cities, to create the onboarding and user interface for the business owners (supply), that we call Solution Providers (SP). Next to the platform I also created a solution provider directory that suites the needs of both the users and the solution providers. I created this concept to offer a better way for users to connect with the solution providers and therefor enhance the value of the Circle Economy platform.
Circle Lab for Cities is a platform and must be two sided, where demand meets supply. There are different users - organizations strategizing urban change, policy makers, decision makers, sustainability consultants (demand). The platform needs to link the user with the solution providers (supply) which can help them execute and implement their plans, for which the sustainability consultant (user) came to the platform in the first place. While Circle Economy started project development and user research on the user side, I was focusing on project development and research on the solution provider side.
I designed the supply side of the platform to meet the solution provider needs. Based on my research I found that the platform can best help start ups and scale ups, thus I designed for them. The platform allows the users to showcase their work, create case studies of their projects, offer their services to users that are working on a circular project and network with other solution providers. Using this platform gives the solution providers a competitive edge since they will be aware of relevant projects that have been starter by city stakeholders. On the other hand the city holders will be greatly satisfied to come to one place and find all they need there, from strategy suggestions to business services offered by the solution providers.
In order to achieve this I did not only design the interface, but a database of the solution providers. The platform works based on a set of frameworks which it uses to give recommendations and strategies to the city stakeholders. I designed the database of the solution providers in order to link them to those frameworks and thus creating a better functionality of the tool.
I was a part of this project for 6 months, and at the end, I did a hand off of the prototypes and the solution provider database, which Circle Economy will continue to grow. This project is live, however the current version was built without the solution providers. This project will continue for on for 2 years. In the next phase my concept and designs will be implemented.
I also added further recommendations on creating a premium service in the tool. In the recommendation, I suggest a membership model with different offerings based on other resources that the client has.
