Grigora
Client
Final Year Project - Nottingham Trent University
Location
Nottingham, UK
Year
2025
Info
Grigora is a non-profit freelancing platform I built as my final year project. It removes commission fees and rankings to give freelancers equal visibility, while offering full marketplace features such as dashboards, job posts, proposals, messaging, notifications, and a work room all developed with PHP, MySQL, and a responsive design.
Services
Full-stack Development
UI/UX Design
Visual Identity
CHALLENGE
Most freelancing platforms like Fiverr and Upwork are commission-driven and competitive, making it difficult for beginners to gain visibility. The challenge was to design and build a non-profit platform that removed these barriers while still providing the full functionality of a modern freelancing marketplace.
RESULTS & REFLECTION
Delivered a fully functional proof-of-concept freelancing platform that prioritises fairness and accessibility over profit. Grigora demonstrates that it’s possible to create a scalable, ethical alternative to mainstream platforms by focusing on equal visibility, transparent workflows, and user-first design. Reflection on this project underscored the importance of combining technical development with UX research to build meaningful digital solutions.
THE PROCESS
Research & Planning: Conducted surveys and interviews with freelancers and clients to identify pain points such as high fees, ranking systems, and lack of fair exposure. Planned the system using the Waterfall methodology with clear phases for design, development, and testing.
Information Architecture: Designed role-based dashboards for freelancers, clients, and admins, mapping out core user flows like job posting, proposals, messaging, and profile management.
Wireframing & Prototyping: Created iterative wireframes and high-fidelity mockups to refine layouts for job search, dashboards, and the work room feature. Focused on accessibility, fairness, and usability.
Development: Built the platform from scratch using HTML, CSS, JavaScript, PHP, and MySQL. Implemented job posts & proposals with milestone tracking, real-time messaging with AJAX polling, live notifications, and a dynamic search & filter system.
