Career Discovery
PROBLEM
Many students are unaware of different career fields that others are choosing all around the globe.
As a college student, I’ve noticed how many students and I could not explore different career options out there in the world that other students are choosing. This sparked the question- Despite socialising so much, why can we not explore many career options out there?
My Role
Solo student project for Springboard UX/UI Bootcamp
Timeline
12 weeks
Student Mentor tab
Having the student mentor tab
It makes it easier for the students to make decisions regarding their choice of the field as they can directly talk with the students in that field or who have just passed out and or are working.
They would be able to give them real-life experience and knowledge.
Guidance would be very different from reading a blog or an article.
THE SOLUTION
Student Mentor tab
All information on one page
Every piece of information needed on one tab makes it easier for the student, and a person looking out for it more accessible as they don't have to go through different websites all along
A video on the information page is more accessible as it helps better understand the career and makes it much more interesting than reading.
Based on your chosen options in the quiz, the application will let you know how compatible you'd be with the career.
Student Mentor tab
Having the student mentor tab
It makes it easier for the students to make decisions regarding their choice of field as they can directly talk with the students in that field or who have just passed out and or are working.
They would be able to give them real-life experience and knowledge.
Guidance would be very different from reading a blog or an article.
WHITE PAPER RESEARCH
Starting with white paper research, I began to draw from research articles on the topic of Career, Development, and achievement- when I stumbled upon an eye-opening statistic from the National Center for Education Statistics.
A way to achieve goals with 95% success…..
“..of college students change their major at least once.”
80%
COMPETITIVE ANALYSIS + THE GAP
While keeping the above statistic in mind, I analysed the 4 most popular apps surrounding this goal/career selection. I found that almost none of them had this aspect of a mentor or all information on one page to help users achieve their goals. This then became my opportunity for a solution.
The competition had NO MENTOR aspect.
USER INTERVIEWS
My interviewees were 3x more likely to succeed when there was all information + a mentor to help them.
Although I saw mentors as necessary from research, I’ve conducted interviews with 6 students who failed to select the right career for themselves. I’ve asked them questions below to find trends on why they failed versus others, then organised my data through affinity mapping.
What was the most challenging part while choosing your career or exploring your options?
What motivated you to start looking out for different career options in the first place?
What was the process for changing your career?
Tell me about a time you had to do something different to choose the right career.
RESEARCH QUESTIONS:
None of the previous apps my interviewees used worked due to a LACK of Information and mentorship.
THE MAIN INSIGHT
Based on the trends in my affinity map, I’ve noticed how if there is no pain (Information or mentorship) associated with NOT achieving their goal, as was the case in previous apps they’ve used.
THE COLLEGE STUDENT PERSONA
DESIGN
Setbacks + a new direction for Mentorship
At first, I spent two weeks trying to play in three different directions: Augmented Reality, gamification, and an app solution. However, upon thinking about its effects, I realised that daily, using either augmented or gamification may be more of a hassle than a benefit. The same results can be achieved through a simple smartphone app. Hence- I stuck to an app for my final solution platform.
TESTING + IMPROVEMENTS
3 significant improvements in my design
Based on various feedback from 6 other peers + mentor feedback, I continually iterated my design over 4 weeks- with 3 significant improvements:
Based on mentor feedback, not adding the home page image on the home page would make more sense and instead, the space could be helpful for other things.
A daily career new, trending career video would be more useful on the page.
Removal of Home Screen Image
Based on mentor feedback, adding boxes took up a lot of unnecessary space and so were not needed.
Clicking on the mentor finding about them, their reviews, and other information inside their tabs makes it easy for users to look for what they want.
Removal of boxes
Based on mentor feedback, the stars did not make sense as there could be a better way of showing it.
So adding a video and read more options with a different kind of changing option bar made more sense.
Removal of the stars and giving it a change
THE FINAL SCREENS
CONCLUSION + LESSONS LEARNED
This was my first-ever UX project! 🎉. More than the actual output, however- I’m immensely grateful to have been through an entire UX process so I can see what it’s actually like. On that note, here are a few things I’ve learned:
Iterate as much as you can. In the beginning stages, I’ve explored so many different options to try to find the right solution for my student users- I’ve ended up “restarting” my project over 2 times with over 4 iterations of my SKETCH file to make sure every aspect of the app was designed with intention. Not to mention- I have a better sense to obey WCAG standards next time!
Focus more on tradeoffs with each direction. Although I initially explored solutions using VR & Gamification, I hope to become more assertive in communicating these tradeoffs with the user so I can better express my design decisions to myself, my mentor, and future recruiters.
Be insight- not process-driven. Despite weeks of research + development, my first version of this case study was full of unnecessary text at this stage instead of tying everything into the bigger question- “so how does this fit into the bigger picture”? Hence, I cut down the copy by more than 60% and focused on the significant points in my project. Therefore, from now on, I believe focusing more on the insights will improve my storytelling abilities for others.
You didn’t fail- you just found 100 ways that didn’t work. From noticing mistakes in my UI to uncovering more foundational UX problems in my app, I’m thankful to have constantly asked for feedback from my peers and my mentor. In the end, I pushed to have the app as best I could and did not let my thinking stop me from questioning if my decisions were truly best for the user.