Locale Scout

Streamlining workflow efficiency

ROLE

UX Designer

DOMAIN

Early Stage Start-Up, 0-1 Product Strategy

TEAM

Product Design, Product Manager, User Researcher, Stakeholder

TIMELINE

June 2020- April 2021

Product Design, Product Manager, User Researcher, Stakeholder

ROLE

UX Designer

DOMAIN

Early Stage Start-Up, 0-1 Product Strategy

TEAM

TIMELINE

June 2020- April 2021

ROLE

UX Designer

DOMAIN

Early Stage Start-Up, 0-1 Product Strategy

TIMELINE

June 2020- April 2021

TEAM

Product Design, Product Manager, User Researcher, Stakeholder

Overview

Location scouts in the film industry operate under brutal production timelines where time wasted is capital lost.

In this high-stakes environment, they were drowning in inefficient workflows that were stubbornly analog. Locale Scout, an early-stage startup aimed to consolidate these workflows into an intuitive platform.

As the sole UX Designer, I was brought in to design a 0-to1 platform to cut through ambiguity to visualize the product's value proposition and design direction.

Solution

Streamline the workflow so that location scouts could work faster without sacrificing organization. All on one platform.

Goals

Fast image uploading: Easy onboarding and image uploading
An organized library: Centralize all location images so that it's searchable
Simple Documentation: A page to capture information of a location their prospecting

" I'm in a battle with time, anything that I can do faster I'm into."

—Ben, Location Scout

Contextual Inquiry

To map the intricate logistics of film production, I conducted an ethnographic observation at the LMGI (Location Managers Guild International) Committee meeting and interviewed our industry stakeholder.

Critical Friction Points Identified:

Analog Fragmentation: Field notes trapped in physical notebooks, high-res imagery buried in unindexed desktop folders.
Asset Bloat: Scouts capture hundreds of photos per property, creating cognitive load when sorting, filtering, and tagging manually.
Sharing Bottleneck: No standardize format to file share or present a location's logistical data directly to teams.

Critical Friction Points Identified:

Analog Fragmentation: Field notes trapped in physical notebooks, high-res imagery buried in unindexed desktop folders.
Asset Bloat: Scouts capture hundreds of photos per property, creating cognitive load when sorting, filtering, and tagging manually.
Sharing Bottleneck: No standardize format to file share or present a location's logistical data directly to teams.

The Key Stars

Research revealed that the location asset is a shared asset requiring seamless coordination between two distinct personas: Andrew (The Scout) who gathers raw data in the field, and Catherine (The Manager) who evaluates it for logistical feasibility Each contributed at different points within their workflow process.

Architecture and Interaction

Stakeholder synthesis revealed that scouts categorize assets into two primary buckets: Libraries and Projects. I integrated this existing mental model directly into the onboarding framework.

Onboarding

To accommodate users with varied technical fluency, I constrained the onboarding experience into 5 steps to ensure ease of use and high retention. This approach enables users to organize their data upfront, saving significant time later in their workflow.

Key Data Extracted

Geographic Anchor: Precise location address
Macro Category: Board classification (e.g., Public & Civic Spaces)
Micro Subcategory: Specific classification ( e.g., Parks or City Admin Building)
Location Features: Searchable tags for discoverability (e.g., High ceilings, Industrial windows)
Importing: A drag and drop for mass image uplaods

Geographic Anchor: Precise location address
Macro Category: Board classification (e.g., Public & Civic Spaces)
Micro Subcategory: Specific classification ( e.g., Parks or City Admin Building)
Location Features: Searchable tags for discoverability (e.g., High ceilings, Industrial windows)
Importing: A drag and drop for mass image uplaods

Image Gallery and Location Detail

To determine the optimal solution for the image gallery and the location detail page, the key requirement was to enable users to fluidly navigate between both pages for a specific location. This matters because these pages were the primary business asset, compiled by the scout, audited by the manager, and pitched directly to the film Director. It informs the entire film crew during film production.

To determine the optimal solution for the image gallery and the location detail page, the key requirement was to enable users to fludily navigate between both pages for a specific location.

This matters because these pages were the primary business asset, compiled by the scout, audited by the manager, and pitched directly to the film Director. It informs the entire film crew during film production.

Image Gallery Features

Wayfinding Breadcrumbs: Persistent context handles as scouts navigate through hundreds of images
Strategic Data Anchoring: Positioned the location address at the top for discoverability
On-Page Search: Quickly location specific images without scrolling
In-Context Gallery Filters: Custom layout dividers with features such as: adjusting image count, row editing, and hiding/ expanding allowing scouts to organize images

Location Detail Features

Property Information Form: Private information about the property, owner contact info, and notes from the scout
Mapping Integration: Embedded interactive map alongside scout notes to understand property layout and facilitate technical planning (grip trucks, lighting set-ups, logistics)

Outcome

As a solo contract UX desinger, I successfully translated abstract buisness hypotheses into a tangible production- ready vision.

As a solo contract UX desinger, I successfully translated abstract business hypotheses into a tangible production- ready vision.

By defining product vision and strategy I validated these core interaction flows early, and elimiated the risk of downstream design changes. This engagement also gave me a deeper appreciation for the unique complexities of the film industry, which helped shape a solution that was not only functional, but relevant and user-centered.

By defining product vision and strategy I validated these core interaction flows early, and elimiated the risk of downstream design changes.

This engagement also gave me a deeper appreciation for the unique complexities of the film industry, which helped shape a solution that was not only functional, but relevant and user-centered.

Deliverables:

Foundational UX Ecosystem: Complete end-to-end user flows onboarding, image gallery, location details form.
Scalable Architecture: Documented information taxonomy to prevent technical debt during production scaling.
Interactive Value Proposition: High-Fidelity prototype for immediate investor pitching and early user acquisition.