INTRODUCTION _______________________
OVERVIEW _______________________
SECONDARY RESEARCH
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DESIGN ITERATIONS
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USER GROUPS
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DEFINING THE SCOPE
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MEET THE DREAM TEAM
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PERSONAL REFLECTIONS
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INTRODUCTIONOVERVIEW My role
1/ Led a team of 7 in designing user flows, branding, and visual designs for the Worldwide Learning Innovation Studio’s student networking platform, which helps students discover their path, develop real-world skills, and build their network; resulting in project adoption and release
2/ Conducted intensive user research on the transition from high school to college to facilitate academic growth
Duration: 5 months; Tools: Figma
Problem space
Students preparing for the transition from high school to college lack a pool of resources to lessen anxiety in networking environments and reduce the misinterpretation of job roles
Final designs
A networking platform to connect high school students with college students or alumni to learn about college majors, how classes impact real world jobs, and identify job prospects
01
Ambassador’s Profile
Prepare for a bachelors’ in Computer Science by looking at Gavin’s highlights which includes the coursers taken, internships, extracurriculars, conferences attended, etc.
02
Class Details
Read more about how this class is relevant to the jobs in the industry and Gavin’s takeaways from the class. This will help students understand the course outcomes and make informed decisions.
03
Internship
Read more about the responsibilities of a Software Engineer Intern at PayPal and learn about the courses which helped Gavin be a successful intern.
04
Chat with Gavin
Chat with Gavin about his experience at PayPal and he can answer additional questions relating to the application process, interviews, assignments, etc.
05
Chat Suggestions
Unsure about what to talk to Gavin about or how to start a conversation? Don’t worry! Read the questions in the chat suggestions and use them to frame your messages accordingly.
P.S. This was before the AI wave 😉
SECONDARY RESEARCHUnderstanding the user problem
1/ Students feel unprepared for the college transition
2/ Students feel uncomfortable asking for help
3/ Students find LinkedIn intimidating
4/ Cultural differences and upbringing affect your career choices and networking practices
USER GROUPSTwo Kinds of Users
1/ Primary Users*
High school students seeking networking or guidance
*Our main focus is the journey of the Primary Users
2/ Ambassadors
College students create their own profile and give academic and professional advice
Consolidating the research for a primary user
DEFINING THE SCOPEDESIGN ITERATIONSDesign 🔁 Iterate
Scoping down
01/ Chat feature: The primary user can connect with an Ambassador on the platform and begin to chat. This feature would suggest pre-written messages for the user to jumpstart their conversation with the Ambassador.
Abbreviated User Journey Map
Period: April - July (Transition Period)
During this period, the decrease in the level of support and engagement is extremely evident. Students get a lot of advice on courses from their advisors but apart from that, they need to prepare for college on their own by going through online resources, course catalogs, campus videos and student blogs. They have plenty of networking opportunities to learn about their majors in turn preventing major switching in the future. By talking to current college students, they can gain a better perspective on classes and how they tie into real world jobs.
MEET THE DREAM TEAMSuggestions and Tips for Chat
“
I’m usually okay with starting conversations, that’s not a problem for me. But when it comes to asking about more uncomfortable topics like their grades or job income, I like the idea of chat suggestions.
Pre-curated Messages
02/ Paths: The profile page of an Ambassador would display that their educational and professional path, including their major, impactful milestones (internships, scholarships), professors, or college courses.
“
I like that it’s divided into internships, projects, job, education etc so I know what I’m looking at and what kind of questions to ask them."
“
The organization by year and category is really helpful. It easy to glance through the information and find something of interest."
“
Am I breaking rules if I don’t follow the format? What if I wanted to ask about something else?”
“
The pre-curated message feels kind of impersonal...almost like a Q&A or a chatbot."
Journey and Milestones
Microsoft x Purdue University
Will, Simmi, Mina, Janhavi, Isa, Amelia, Nasya (That’s me! 🙋🏻♀️)
Project Sponsors: Microsoft’s Worldwide Learning Innovation
That’s our team in action! 📸
PERSONAL REFLECTIONS👊🏼 Roll with the punches
As we all know, the year 2020 was full of ups and downs. Right in the middle our project, the world came to an unpredictable stop and work from home became the new norm. As a team, we stayed connected and shared our highlights and frustrations which strengthened our bond!
🙌🏼 Teamwork is everything
Our team members were kind, and provided a safe space for everyone to express their interests. I had the opportunity to work on my user research skills and take the lead on visual design. Having considerate team members really makes you want to come to work every single day!
🧠 Always rationalize
Since our project was rather open-ended, it gave our team the opportunity to explore our way through the project. When presenting, our amazing sponsors always stressed on rationalizing every single design decision and tying it back to the research. Visual aesthetics is nothing without purpose!
🗂 Organization is fun!
If there’s one thing people should know about me, it’s that I’m an organization nerd. I love structure as it helps projects to flow smoothly. Lucky for me, everyone in this team had a similar liking towards organization and this really helped us meet submission deadlines way ahead of time!
UP NEXT …
Sight-Aid →
A mobile application that helps the elderly and visually impaired navigate through their daily lives by enabling them to identify objects and read text.