The Journey of Oktopi
Mark Austen is a lawyers from USA and passionate about water sports. However, when he wanted to connect with other like-minded water sports enthusiasts, he had to search several websites and social network platforms. He decided to launch a dedicated social network for water sports enthusiasts for interaction and networking. He approached Vinfotech because of its winning track record of creating niche communities. Our team was thrilled to get this project because we hadn’t created anything in water sports specifically before.
Are there enough water sports enthusiasts who would appreciate a community like this?
Our team answered in the positive because we were confident that it’s not the size of the targeted demographic that makes any community huge but it’s the amount of engagement that leads to its success. We gave Austen solid confidence that a community such as this would not only thrive but also succeed in becoming a one-stop-platform for everything related to water sports.
Client's challenges & our solutions
I want this platform for people to meet similar people and take part in their favourite sports-related events.
We can create a platform that would have features of social networking as well for events.
I want a team that understands community not just social networks.
We have an experience of more than eight years of creating engaging and niche communities.
Will the platform also provide ways to share knowledge and take part in activities?
We can customize and include specific features for this platform quite easily.
I want to know if there are any water sports related events near me.
I want to share my knowledge of water sports with other like-minded people.
I have an agency that organizes water sports but how do I inform interested people about my events in a more organized way?
Team Vinfotech aimed at creating an exciting, fun and easy-to-use online platforms where water sports enthusiasts could connect, interact, share knowledge and participate in various activities together.
Market research
We compared various sports-related communities to understand what all people want in such communities. We realized water sports was indeed very niche in terms of the kind of things users want to discuss and participate in.
Engaging with users
Our user demographic profiles spanned across USA as we interacted with water sports players and enthusiasts through several online surveys to see what they prefer. We compared these with our older user demographic surveys just to see the changes in the patterns of preferences.
Business assessment document
We then created a business assessment document in order to refer and go back to whenever needed during the project cycle.
Creative workshop with client
We had several video conferences with the client so we could keep him constantly in the loop about our plans and intentions with design and development.
Wireframing
Oktopi was to be an online community for water sports. We had to keep the design fun yet easy to use. We presented a few fireframes that gave the client complete confidence in the community.
User interface design
By now, our team moved confidently towards design part of the application.
Front-end development
This involved active front-end development working through how the designs would interact with users.
Development
Our developers had user stories to refer to whenever they felt stuck. Our project manager ensured the team had easy access to client in terms of clear communication.
Testing
We confidently did the beta testing because the client was very happy and satisfied with our work.
