UX Case study
Career Guru
Connect with mentors and enhance your career
Problem
Individuals seeking career guidance and mentorship often struggle to find the right mentor who can provide personalized advice and support. This leaves individuals feeling isolated, uncertain, and less confident about their career aspirations.
Solution
A user-friendly app that can help individuals connect with the right mentors and receive customized guidance that can enhance their career growth and development. Career Guru will simplify the mentor search process, offer seamless communication tools, and provide valuable resources to both mentors and mentees.
Surveys
To begin the project's discovery phase, I conducted a survey to help me understand the users and create appropriate personas. The goal of my research was to:
- Identify frustration about current competing mentorship and job-searching apps.
- Identify preferences, thoughts, beliefs, and experiencesIdentify opportunities.
- Understand the values and needs of target users
Interviews
Based on a series of interviews about competing apps and experiences with mentors, I organized the results into insights and painpoints.
Insights
Pain Points
Personas
Using the data collected from interviews and surveys, I developed two personas representing typical app users. These personas will serve as a reference point to empathize with throughout the rest of the process.
The recent graduate
Alice
Alice just graduated from college with a bachelor's in computer science. Alice needs to find a job in order to obtain a work visa so she can stay in the states. If this doesn't happen pronto she has to leave.
Goals
- Connect with someone experienced who will help her start a new career.
- Get exposure by putting herself out there through networking and resume submissions.
The career switcher
Elliot
Elliot is currently a marketing manager but wants to transfer his skills into developing his own business. He is making a transition between careers and feels like he could use some guidance in the world of entrepreneurship before he quits his job.
Goals
- Attend events where he can start building a network
- Learn how to build a successful business
Sitemap
To gain clarity on how users naturally group information and what labels and categories they find intuitive, I conducted a card sorting test. With that information, I organized a sitemap with appropriate clusters of features and calls to action.
Wireframe
To gain clarity on how users naturally group information and what labels and categories they find intuitive, I conThe next part of my design process was creating a layout of the app's main pages. With pen and paper, I designed a handful of wireframes.ducted a card sorting test. With that information, I organized a sitemap with appropriate clusters of features and calls to action.
low-fidelity Prototype
Using figma, I turned the wireframes into a functioning prototype.
Flow 1:
Schedule an appointment
Flow 2:
Attach a link to profile
Flow 1:
Comment on a discussion
Before and After
The next step of my process was to conduct usability tests. By observing participants while they completed a series of tasks, I was able to identify points of friction.
The following are the most sever issues testers faced and the solutions to those issues
High-fidelity prototype
When designing the UI, I utilized the Material Design guidelines and components to inform my design decisions. After sharing the design, I received constructive feedback and responded by making thoughtful adjustments to the layout, incorporating elements like contrast, borders, and increased whitespace to improve the overall accessibility.As a result, I was able to arrive at a final design for Career Guru that effectively balances functionality and aesthetic appeal. I’m grateful that I received structural criticism and was able to go through another design iteration.
Thank you for reading!
