Think Company Interview
/ CLIENTThink Company
/ PROJECT TYPEInterview Project
/ DURATION2 Weeks
/ DELIVERABLES/ BACKGROUNDThink Company is a premier experience design and software development company—a group of more than 100 thinkers who are experts at creating digital products that are beautiful and easy to use. As part of the interview process, candidates are invited to participate in a “Think Exercise” which is an opportunity to showcase your expertise.
/ PROMPTThis Think Exercise—first and foremost—is a chance for you to show off your content strategy skills. At the same time, it also allows us to get a better sense of who you are, how you think, and how well you communicate your ideas.
IMDb for the Theater
Your client, an industrious theater veteran, would like to build IMDb for plays and musicals. Your job is to organize and structure content in the experience in a way that allows users to access all of the relevant content about their favorite plays and musicals, discover works that are new to them, and generally get them excited about live theater, even if they are new to it.
Be sure to consider:
The motivating factors for users of the experience
The challenge of finding relevant content within the experience
The challenge of creating consistency within the experience
While we are interested in seeing what you come up with, we are equally interested in understanding your thought process and approach to designing the experience, so be prepared to talk about that as well. Whatever you choose to design and present, please keep any formal presentations to no more than 30 minutes, as we will want time to discuss your ideas (in addition to your work history and answer any questions you may have for us).
/ APPROACHTo begin the project I printed the project brief and highlighted key words that I wanted to pull into the experience. It was clear that the experience would be crucial but the organization and structure of the content would be the most important thing for me to nail. There was also a need for consistency. From there I poked around the internet for content I could analyze–I discovered a key competitor in IBDB (The Internet Broadway Database) so I knew I would need to address that in my discovery. I also referenced IMDb for content patterning and organization, Yelp for location discovery and reviews, and finally Ticketmaster for the ticket buying experience.
Next, I imagined a fictitious client and interviewed him about why he wanted to create the IMDb for plays and musicals. I used the 5 whys approach to understand the goals of the project — this was to establish motivation and discern potential success markers that may have gone unseen. We also discussed what the client liked about IMDb (since he has previously spoken highly about it) and why IBDB didn’t fit with his product vision. We also did a mood and tone card sorting exercise to establish what the product is and what it decidedly isn’t. Following my client interview I scheduled time to speak with potential users of the product (again fictitious) and understand why and how they would use this product.
Then, based on my findings, I created a content model for the experience with an emphasis on a taxonomy that supported connected content.
Finally, I began to create a design system (as best I could anyhow) and build out my site experience.
/ ARTIFACTS
Figma Presentation
When it came to the presentation I knew I wanted it to feel like something Think would produce so I used their brand colors and fonts when formatting the deck. I also wanted to tell a story since a lot of our conversations durning the interview centered around the client experience and the partnership Think brings to the table.
Figma App Prototype
I also knew I wanted to WOW the team so I spent a good deal of time creating an interactive mid-fidelity prototype so the team could see I was thinking holistically about not only content strategy, but also how this discipline informs the final outputs.
/ OUTCOMESThe following feedback was shared after our session:
We really enjoyed our time with you and felt like you did a great job. It's likely we'll need some time into next week to decide how to proceed with this role, but I wanted to share our feedback now.
Your problem-solver approach to your work really stood out for us and is something we really value. While you may not have a ton of formal content strategy training or knowledge, your conversation and work clearly demonstrate a familiarity with how content models impact design and development—a key aspect of this role in our eyes. You show a lot of very strong consulting skills through your tendency towards storytelling, using the concept of 5 Whys, and just overall listening skills. The holistic way you approach the project was really encouraging as well.
As I said, we need a few more days to work through next steps, but I will be back in touch next week once we know. I hope this feedback is helpful, but if you have any further questions please just let me know.
— Brad Sukala
Senior Vice President, Design
A few days later I was contacted by HR with an employment contract to review 🎉
