Net Minds: Reimagining Publishing

Net Minds

Net Minds is a publishing startup with a mission to change the way books are created and how authors, editors, and designers are compensated and credited. They empower individuals to find book projects and talent to publish and market successful books.

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The Approach

  • Competitive Analysis
  • Project Plans and Roadmap
  • User Research and Personas
  • Scenarios / Storyboards
  • User Journey Flows
  • Information Architecture
  • Site Architecture
  • User Interface Design
  • Content Development
  • Website Development
  • UI Component Design
  • Analytics Implementation
  • Technology (API) Integration
  • Social Media Plan

The Challenge

As with many startups, the Net Minds concept and app had a lot of moving parts. But instead of tackling a facet of a problem or creating one tool, the ambitious Net Minds team tackled the problem of the entire publishing industry, from concept, to hiring, to contracts, to collaboration, to distribution, to payments. Yeah, a lot!

The challenge lay in designing an intuitive user interface and creating just the right user experience to easily move people through the entire publishing process, including new member marketing. Net Minds also needed to educate new users, and provide veterans with tools and the ability to find projects they’d want to work on and help negotiate the right fees for the right idea.

The Solution

With an app and website as big as the Net Minds system, we started by thinking about the user experience in a flow, while keeping an eye on maintainability and feature creation. Because consistency is key in an app like this, we designed and developed the entire app and website with modular and reusable components. We developed a completely custom HTML5 framework, utilizing a new percent-based approach so we had size flexibility regardless of the screen size or content within it. This unique solution allowed us to pair modules and functions with unprecedented flexibility because of our hybrid fluid layout. The website was designed and developed with the same modular components, giving members and site visitors a consistent and vibrant look and feel. We then helped to generate unique and insightful content to promote the right kind of change needed in the publishing industry.

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