Cast Cab

Realtime Creative Talent Booking for Freelancers

Impact

95%

User Base Integration

35%

Monetization Rate

0

Waitlist Time

2

Years Funding

The Cast Cab app project targeted talent booking in the creative industry and addressed inefficiencies in traditional booking methods, such as high agency fees and prolonged negotiations. The app lets photographers and models connect instantly through a “swipe” feature. The platform integrates social media and streamlined verification processes, maintaining professional standards while removing conventional barriers. This approach empowers independent creatives, minimizes booking friction, and generates opportunities for established and emerging talent. The platform fosters collaboration, reduces costs, opens new avenues for local partnerships, and solves unexpected marketing initiatives requiring real-time local artists to be hired.

My Role

I was the product designer who developed the experience design from 0 to 1, including creating the brand story and style guide.

Confidentiality: Certain details in this Cast Cab case study have been modified due to confidentiality agreements. The design process and outcomes presented reflect my views and contributions as Design Lead, not necessarily those of Cast Cab or its stakeholders.

Project Duration: June – November 2017
Team: Fas Lebbie, Arthur Francis

Problem Context

The creative talent industry has historically operated through a system disadvantaging both talent and clients. While providing valuable services, traditional booking agencies create significant barriers as intermediaries. They typically take substantial commissions, extend booking timelines through prolonged negotiations, and limit direct artist-client communication. This system creates a barrier to entry for emerging photographers and models, as agency representation remains inaccessible to many talented individuals. Alternative approaches like direct messaging on social media platforms present their own challenges, introducing risks without formal agreements or payment protection. This creates a market gap where independent creative professionals need a solution offering the security and structure of agency booking without the associated costs and inefficiencies. The rise of social media has fundamentally changed how creative professionals showcase their work, with platforms like Instagram becoming de facto portfolios. Despite this evolution in self-presentation, the booking process had not kept pace with these changes. This disconnect between modern portfolio presentation and outdated booking processes represented an opportunity to create a more integrated, efficient system leveraging existing digital behaviors and expectations.

Design Interventions

Cast Cab is a real-time booking app that connects photographers and models directly, eliminating waitlists. Users can easily find talent or opportunities by browsing options based on specialty, location, and availability. The app simplifies profile creation by integrating with Instagram, making onboarding quick and easy. Its success helped us secure two years of funding, proving that our solution effectively addresses a key challenge in the industry.

Login screens showing Instagram integration option for quick account creation and verification in the Cast Cab app.

User selection screens for choosing talent type, enabling location services, and browsing nearby creative professionals.

Model profile view with swiping interface, portfolio gallery, hourly rate display, and user reviews system.

Booking completion screens showing payment details, multiple payment options, and recommended talent suggestions.

My Approach

Design Process

1. Design Research & Strategy

Guided by my research question- How might we improve how models and photographers are booked in real-time to increase supply to startups needing marketing content? Our first step was understanding the existing talent booking landscape through contextual inquiry field research at creative industry events and competitive analysis of platforms like Ubooker, Swipecast, Model Mayhem, and Modl App. The research strategy includes fieldwork and engagement with photographers and models. I traveled to photoshoots and creative events to observe industry dynamics firsthand. I complemented this with an extensive review analysis of competing platforms. While apps like Model Mayhem dominated the market, none had successfully addressed the dual needs of efficiency and professional standards. Competitive research: I also analyzed app review comments in the app store, focusing on comments like “I would have given it five stars if it did…” we identified concrete improvement opportunities that would differentiate Cast Cab from existing solutions.

2. Summary of Findings

My research identified three critical opportunity areas. First, existing verification processes were either too restrictive (limiting scalability) or loose (compromising safety). Second, while providing valuable services, traditional agency models created unnecessary barriers through high commissions and limited direct communication. Third, despite the prevalence of social media portfolios, booking platforms require redundant profile creation.
User surveys revealed significant digital behavior patterns, with 95% of potential users actively using Instagram and 34% preferring it for authentication. The existing booking ecosystem was particularly challenging for three user types: part-time professionals struggling with availability management, specialized creators needing targeted talent searches, and emerging artists lacking agency representation. We organized these research findings into actionable design priorities through affinity mapping sessions.
These insights presented design intervention opportunities in developing a platform that maintained professional standards while removing unnecessary friction from the booking process. We established three essential requirements: real-time booking capability, streamlined verification that balances safety with accessibility, and seamless integration with existing social media portfolios. Our design intervention focused on independent creatives and small businesses as our primary target users, based on research showing existing solutions most underserved them. With 95% of users active on Instagram and 35% maintaining monetized accounts, we identified an opportunity to leverage existing digital behaviors rather than creating entirely new ones.

3. Prototyping & Implementation Strategy

Our prototyping process progressed from low-fidelity wireframes focusing on core booking flows to high-fidelity mockups incorporating visual design elements. Each iteration was validated through user testing, particularly concerning the verification process and onboarding experience. A pivotal moment came during expert evaluation using Nielsen’s Heuristics, where feedback from industry professionals challenged our initial positioning against traditional agencies and emphasized the role agencies played in the career development of models and photographers. Initially, the team and I had viewed traditional agencies as obstacles, but additional insights revealed their valuable role in talent development and career guidance.
This led to the incorporation of educational resources and career development tools that complemented rather than replaced agency services. Implementation followed a phased approach, beginning with Instagram authentication integration and followed by the booking system, verification process, and payment infrastructure. Technical challenges included developing a verification system and creating a reliable availability management system.

Summary of Findings

Reflections & Impact

Impact (Short-term)

Within the first months after launch, Cast Cab achieved immediate adoption with zero waitlist time, significantly improving competitors’ six-month to one-year waiting periods to be approved in the app due to long vetting periods. The Instagram integration strategy proved successful, with 34% of users authenticating through this method, validating our research-driven design decisions. The qualitative feedback from users who reported completing bookings in hours rather than days or weeks saw emerging talent secure opportunities that would have been inaccessible through traditional agency routes, demonstrating Cast Cab’s role in democratizing access to the creative industry.

Mid term impact

Impact (Long-term)

The project’s broader impact extends beyond the immediate booking efficiencies. Based on our initial design and implementation, we secured two years of operational funding. The platform’s approach to enhancing rather than replacing traditional industry structures influenced how subsequent platforms positioned themselves in this space.

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Fas Lebbie