Coming up with an idea for this brief took me a long time. I wanted to find a subtle solution to address this problem, primarily because it is challenging to change another person's perspective on the topic. On the other hand, women are already doing so much to protest and fight for equality, so why not seize this opportunity to create a digital product that is not exclusively for women? So, I thought to myself, "Why not focus on laws and try to present this as a viable solution for everyone, even though it is primarily targeted at addressing salary disparities, especially for women, due to how society is currently structured?"

When it came to research, I began with zero knowledge about the issue. I interviewed a few friends to understand their main concerns regarding equality. After collecting information, one significant issue that emerged was working environments. This is why I decided to address one of the many issues within the workplace, which is salary disparities.

The idea for this app emerged during a discussion with my mother. Since I received the brief and discussed it with her, she was on the same page about creating a solution that would operate discreetly. She advised me to develop an app to address salary disparities between male and female employees.

Discretion, simplicity, and multifunctionality were the three guiding principles I had in mind when making choices for this app. Upon entering the app, it will resemble the image above. As seen in the image, there are different colors, which are configured by the user who has assigned specific roles to employees in their working environment. This feature makes the app suitable for every industry since you can customize role names yourself.

We can sort the roles accordingly to keep track of various areas within your working environment. Additionally, I've added a function with a simple dot next to some people. This is a way to keep track of the CEOs/leads of different teams, which you should be able to fill in once you add an employee to the list. You can also sort the list by these roles.

Now, we have a good method for keeping track of our employees in our working environment. But if that's not enough, we've also incorporated notifications next to our employees, which may seem out of place but are monitored by an AI. The AI has information on all the employees, and if, for example, it notices that someone with the same role, experience, and hours worked has a significant salary gap, it will notify you to ensure you are aware of the issue. This notification will not disappear until the problem has been resolved.

Obviously, employers may find this feature daunting because they may not want to increase employee salaries. This led me to consider Swedish law, which aims to ensure equal pay. I thought that making this mandatory for workplaces in Sweden to adhere to would be a positive step.

Moving on to the employee profile, I added a function called "Estimated Salary," which is powered by the AI I mentioned earlier. It keeps track of what the salary should be for each employee based on the information you provide. The estimated salary section, as the name suggests, provides a range of what the employee's pay should be. Since different employees contribute varying levels of effort and value to the company, the range can vary, providing both a minimum and maximum estimate of what the employee should be paid.

I aimed to maintain simplicity while ensuring it looked stylish. That's why I primarily focused on text when designing this app. Maintaining a clear text hierarchy was crucial, and I found it highly effective in the app's design. I opted to use the default font in Figma, "Inter," as it offers excellent readability.

One of my major inspirations for this app is Google, especially Google Calendar. I admire how Google Calendar brings calendars to life with its use of colors and the ability to customize them, adding vibrancy to the experience. Hence, I incorporated markers in my design, allowing users to customize these markers and change colors to make the app more engaging.

Apart from these colorful elements, the app predominantly features shades of grey, white, and black to ensure the app's purpose remains in focus, preventing distractions from work-related tasks. To make different sections/cards stand out a bit, I added white outlines around them, setting them apart from the background.

This is one of my first times using components and building them correctly since I started using Figma about a year ago. Building atoms and assembling them into molecules is something that finally made sense to me when creating this app. In the pictures below, you will see some images of my design system in my Figma document.

Responsiveness was also a crucial aspect I wanted to get right when developing the app, and I did just that. The app is fully responsive in my Figma document, which also allows for a pixel-perfect design quite easily. Utilizing the fill function in the auto-layouts makes achieving pixel perfection very straightforward.

Lastly, we have the aspect of naming my layers and maintaining document cleanliness, which is also essential to me and something I truly emphasized during the app's creation. Every layer is meticulously named to keep track of everything, and components and modules also greatly assist in this regard.

Out of all the projects I have done this past year, this has to be one of my favorites. After acquiring all the knowledge required to create an app, it was gratifying to work on one from the ground up. This is the first time I truly felt my skills in Figma shine.

Although this text may seem like it's all butterflies and rainbows, I always find areas for improvement. If there's one thing I'd like to change, it would probably be to infuse more vibrant colors and such into the app to make it feel livelier. However, perhaps having a more restrained color palette is suitable since the app is intended for use in a professional working environment.

I was genuinely pleased with my overall idea for solving the problem and with all the app's functionalities. I believe this app could genuinely have a positive impact on the world and contribute to greater equality between men and women in the workplace.