Building Prodigies: A talent marketplace for the next generation of creatives
Building Prodigies: A talent marketplace for the next generation of creatives
Building Prodigies: A talent marketplace for the next generation of creatives
Building Prodigies: A talent marketplace for the next generation of creatives
Building Prodigies: A talent marketplace for the next generation of creatives
How Methodborne designed the product UX, built the scalable cloud infrastructure, and shipped the creative talent marketplace in 12 weeks.
How Methodborne designed the product UX, built the scalable cloud infrastructure, and shipped the creative talent marketplace in 12 weeks.
How Methodborne designed the product UX, built the scalable cloud infrastructure, and shipped the creative talent marketplace in 12 weeks.
How Methodborne designed the product UX, built the scalable cloud infrastructure, and shipped the creative talent marketplace in 12 weeks.
Lisa Nandy, Culture Secretary, UK
Lisa Nandy, Culture Secretary, UK
Lisa Nandy, Culture Secretary, UK
The context
Prodigies is a curated creative talent platform with London College of Fashion as its founding institutional partner. The premise is simple: the creative industry’s discovery model is broken. Brands and agencies need emerging talent. Emerging talent needs visibility. The platforms that exist either charge creatives to be seen or bury them in noise. Prodigies sits in the gap: a place where creatives are discovered by the quality of their work, and where brands, agencies, and institutions can source talent across disciplines without the overhead of traditional recruitment.
When Methodborne came in, the platform had been in development with a previous agency. The product UX existed in fragments, the infrastructure was fragile and went down multiple times a month, and a London College of Fashion presentation was eight weeks away. They needed a team that could hold design and engineering in the same room, move fast, and deliver a platform that could survive a demo, investor scrutiny, and real users.
We took it over, redesigned the product, rebuilt the infrastructure, and shipped it.
Prodigies is a curated creative talent platform with London College of Fashion as its founding institutional partner. The premise is simple: the creative industry’s discovery model is broken. Brands and agencies need emerging talent. Emerging talent needs visibility. The platforms that exist either charge creatives to be seen or bury them in noise. Prodigies sits in the gap: a place where creatives are discovered by the quality of their work, and where brands, agencies, and institutions can source talent across disciplines without the overhead of traditional recruitment.
When Methodborne came in, the platform had been in development with a previous agency. The product UX existed in fragments, the infrastructure was fragile and went down multiple times a month, and a London College of Fashion presentation was eight weeks away. They needed a team that could hold design and engineering in the same room, move fast, and deliver a platform that could survive a demo, investor scrutiny, and real users.
We took it over, redesigned the product, rebuilt the infrastructure, and shipped it.
“Talent exists everywhere, but opportunity does not.”
“Talent exists everywhere, but opportunity does not.”
“Talent exists everywhere, but opportunity does not.”
“Talent exists everywhere, but opportunity does not.”
What we shipped
Project Snapshot
The
The
The
Work
Work
Work
Work
Work
Work
Layer 01
Layer 01
Layer 01
Marketing Experience
Marketing Experience
Marketing Experience
Marketing Experience
A marketplace succeeds only when both sides understand its value. Every marketing experience had to educate, build trust, and convert while remaining easy for the Prodigies team to manage.
We designed and built a modular marketing system spanning the homepage, partner landing pages, reusable content blocks, statistics, testimonials, and CMS-powered publishing workflows. Rather than treating marketing pages as isolated designs, we created a flexible system that could scale alongside the product and support future campaigns without additional development.
The outcome was a faster publishing workflow, a more consistent brand experience, and a marketing platform that evolved as quickly as the business itself.
A marketplace succeeds only when both sides understand its value. Every marketing experience had to educate, build trust, and convert while remaining easy for the Prodigies team to manage.
We designed and built a modular marketing system spanning the homepage, partner landing pages, reusable content blocks, statistics, testimonials, and CMS-powered publishing workflows. Rather than treating marketing pages as isolated designs, we created a flexible system that could scale alongside the product and support future campaigns without additional development.
The outcome was a faster publishing workflow, a more consistent brand experience, and a marketing platform that evolved as quickly as the business itself.
A marketplace succeeds only when both sides understand its value. Every marketing experience had to educate, build trust, and convert while remaining easy for the Prodigies team to manage.
We designed and built a modular marketing system spanning the homepage, partner landing pages, reusable content blocks, statistics, testimonials, and CMS-powered publishing workflows. Rather than treating marketing pages as isolated designs, we created a flexible system that could scale alongside the product and support future campaigns without additional development.
The outcome was a faster publishing workflow, a more consistent brand experience, and a marketing platform that evolved as quickly as the business itself.
Homepage & Partners Experiences: Editorial-inspired landing experiences introducing the platform through curated creative work and purposeful motion
Homepage & Partners Experiences: Editorial-inspired landing experiences introducing the platform through curated creative work and purposeful motion
Featured Creative Showcase: Reusable discovery component bringing curated creative portfolios to the homepage and brand-facing marketing experiences
Featured Creative Showcase: Reusable discovery component bringing curated creative portfolios to the homepage and brand-facing marketing experiences
Layer 02
Layer 02
Layer 02
Product Experience
Product Experience
Product Experience
Product Experience
Prodigies is a multi-sided creative talent marketplace where creatives, brands, agencies, and institutions each interact with the platform differently.
We redesigned the product from the ground up, simplifying user journeys, improving navigation, and creating a design system that could scale across every surface. From public discovery experiences to vetted & approved creator workspaces and internal administration tools, every experience was redesigned as part of a single, cohesive product ecosystem.
The result was a product that felt simpler to use, performed significantly faster, and provided a scalable foundation for future growth.
Prodigies is a multi-sided creative talent marketplace where creatives, brands, agencies, and institutions each interact with the platform differently.
We redesigned the product from the ground up, simplifying user journeys, improving navigation, and creating a design system that could scale across every surface. From public discovery experiences to vetted & approved creator workspaces and internal administration tools, every experience was redesigned as part of a single, cohesive product ecosystem.
The result was a product that felt simpler to use, performed significantly faster, and provided a scalable foundation for future growth.
Prodigies is a multi-sided creative talent marketplace where creatives, brands, agencies, and institutions each interact with the platform differently.
We redesigned the product from the ground up, simplifying user journeys, improving navigation, and creating a design system that could scale across every surface. From public discovery experiences to vetted & approved creator workspaces and internal administration tools, every experience was redesigned as part of a single, cohesive product ecosystem.
The result was a product that felt simpler to use, performed significantly faster, and provided a scalable foundation for future growth.
Authentication Experience: Dynamic login experience combining streamlined authentication with a live showcase of featured creative portfolios
Authentication Experience: Dynamic login experience combining streamlined authentication with a live showcase of featured creative portfolios
Creative Discovery Experience: Browsing, filtering, and evaluating creative portfolios through a curated, category-driven discovery interface
Creative Discovery Experience: Browsing, filtering, and evaluating creative portfolios through a curated, category-driven discovery interface
Creative Portfolio Experience: Public-facing creator profile designed to help brands and agencies discover, evaluate, and connect with creative talent
Creative Portfolio Experience: Public-facing creator profile designed to help brands and agencies discover, evaluate, and connect with creative talent
Creative Project Experience: Dedicated project viewer designed to present individual creative work with immersive media and distraction-free navigation
Creative Project Experience: Dedicated project viewer designed to present individual creative work with immersive media and distraction-free navigation
Creator First-Run Experience: Guided onboarding workspace for creating a professional profile, publishing portfolio projects, and preparing creative work for public discovery
Creator First-Run Experience: Guided onboarding workspace for creating a professional profile, publishing portfolio projects, and preparing creative work for public discovery
Creator Workspace: Authenticated publishing workflow for creating, managing, and publishing portfolio projects with rich media
Creator Workspace: Authenticated publishing workflow for creating, managing, and publishing portfolio projects with rich media
Layer 03
Layer 03
Layer 03
Platform Engineering
Platform Engineering
Platform Engineering
Platform Engineering
The inherited platform was running on a single 4GB DigitalOcean droplet hosting both Directus and PostgreSQL. The CMS schema had grown to nearly 20 nested levels—far beyond what Directus itself recommends for maintainability.
Operational reliability had also begun to suffer. The platform experienced 1–3 production incidents each month, image uploads failed frequently without feedback, and the Creatives Directory regularly took around four seconds to respond to search and filtering requests.
We rebuilt the entire platform, layer by layer.
The inherited platform was running on a single 4GB DigitalOcean droplet hosting both Directus and PostgreSQL. The CMS schema had grown to nearly 20 nested levels—far beyond what Directus itself recommends for maintainability.
Operational reliability had also begun to suffer. The platform experienced 1–3 production incidents each month, image uploads failed frequently without feedback, and the Creatives Directory regularly took around four seconds to respond to search and filtering requests.
We rebuilt the entire platform, layer by layer.
The inherited platform was running on a single 4GB DigitalOcean droplet hosting both Directus and PostgreSQL. The CMS schema had grown to nearly 20 nested levels—far beyond what Directus itself recommends for maintainability.
Operational reliability had also begun to suffer. The platform experienced 1–3 production incidents each month, image uploads failed frequently without feedback, and the Creatives Directory regularly took around four seconds to respond to search and filtering requests.
We rebuilt the entire platform, layer by layer.
Project Snapshot
Traction
