Rising woman

About the client

Brand identity and product UI/UX design for a women's social platform

Rising Woman is an online social network platform designed to help people connect, and celebrate exceptional women in various professional fields.

Polybox Studio was Rising Woman's design partner for 6 months — delivering brand identity and product UI/UX design for web and mobile.The platform aims to provide a comprehensive and inclusive environment for users to engage, interact, and collaborate.

Timeline:
6 months
Services:
Branding
UI/UX design

Tanzanian context

Despite making up 51% of the population, women in Tanzania face significant barriers in professional advancement. The World Economic Forum's 2023 Global Gender Gap Report ranked Tanzania 48th out of 156 countries in terms of gender parity.

Problem Statement

Mwananchi needed to build a platform with a tight deadline that would have all the essential features: user profiles, jobs and tenders search, events and live streams, resource library, discussion forum, and user feeds, with different levels of access to features and resources.

Rising Woman mobile app shown in hand — feed screen with community posts

Our role

We had six months to create a social network for Tanzania. The catch? It had to support local mobile payments. Easy, right? (Spoiler alert: not even close!)

We studied existing prototypes carefully. They worked, but had serious flaws: complex designs and clunky interfaces that could scare users away. We needed to create something smoother and more intuitive.

Time was tight, so we explored software as a service (SaaS) solutions. We compared seven platforms and found one that met four out of five criteria. The missing piece? Mobile money support, of course.

After launching the basic version, we tackled our next challenge: developing a subscription system and integrating local payment methods. No ready-made solutions existed. In three intense months, we built our own payment system from scratch.

— Polybox marketing research

Prototype makeover

We evaluated the design consistency of the previous platform prototype and conducted a UI review to identify strengths and weaknesses. While the initial prototype effectively outlined the idea, it primarily focused on the company's business goals.  

We made changes to the User Journey to better meet user expectations. Our intent was to create a visually vibrant and welcoming design appealing to a diverse user base. We designed the platform and its interface to be easily navigable and accessible throughout various sections of the website.

SaaS hunt

Rising Woman SaaS platform comparison — radar chart evaluating Circle against alternatives

We conducted a study of existing software as a service (SaaS) solutions in order to quickly launch our platform on a pre-built solution. We analyzed their strengths and weaknesses, ensuring the chosen SaaS product offered all necessary features and integrations while meeting our budgetary requirements.

Rising Woman platform requirements — features, payment integrations, budget, scalability, and support

Rising Woman mobile app screens — feed, stories, member profiles, jobs board, and tenders

We created spaces with different levels of access within the social platform and assisted with the implementation of necessary integrations.

Visuals

Rising Woman visual identity — branded cards for Stories, Events, Gist Women's Accelerator, and MCL Academy

We developed a range of visual elements that are based on a carefully chosen color palette. This palette was designed to show the platform's commitment to professionalism, as well as to subtly emphasize feminist and empowering values.