the project
As the solo designer in this this project, I worked with the Epixego team to design the user interface of their web platform. Epixego strives to help university and high school students find mentorship and job opportunities aligned with their unique interests and passions. My goal was to design this platform to be simple, intuitive, and user-friendly for all the different types of users (students, employers, and advisors).
my role
Senior Product Designer
Responsible for creating, interaction patterns, wireframes, design system, and high-fidelity prototypes
context
Part-time role I did for a start-up called, Epixego. I worked cross-functionally as the sole designer with product managers, and developers.
tools & skills
Figma
Wireframing, Prototyping, Visual Design, HTML, and CSS
the design process
01. the problem
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The average college student changes their major up to 4 times during their college career
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About 2/3rd, of the millennials reported not being engaged at work, and seeking to change careers not just jobs.
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1/2 of students report not having access to role models and mentors to help them navigate major decisions around their career. Many end up feeling "lost or stuck" throughout their career.
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With a rapidly changing employment landscape, this problem is continuing to grow exponentially and can lead to higher rates of dissatisfaction in life.
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The current platform was not very user-friendly and not very intuitive. It was not engaging for students and signing up for the platform was a very confusing process.
02. framing the solution
design principles
easy-to-use
all students should be able to intuitively use platform to find relevant jobs and mentors.
personal
must be designed to meet all needs of different students with different experiences
inspirational
students should be motivated when they are using the platform to connect with others
design challenge
How might we change the platform to help students learn about and connect with potential job opportunities and mentors with similar goals and skills to help them find career path that fits their interests and needs?
03. ideation
two user journeys
student
students of all backgrounds and interests should be able to access and use this platform to find inspiration, connections, and opportunities for their professional career.
advisors
teachers/faculty of high schools and colleges should be able to guide students to the mentorship course, share job or internship openings, and reccommend mentors for their students on the platform that would be of interest to students. They need to manage all their classes and cohorts.
features to design
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landing page
Invite users to learn about epixego and sign up either as a student or advisor
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competency match graph
The most important feature of this platform is a bar graph that analyzes the user's interest from their profile and compares it with the job they are viewing or the person they were recommended.
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story format of student profile
Users will present their profiles in a story format by outlining how they spent each part of their lives from high school to the professional work force. This was decided to draw attention away from the resume format and help students understand other's stories and backgrounds better to build deeper connections and create more inspiration.
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advisor experience
Track enrollments across different programs, send and receive messages for different groups, and manage students
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mentorship course
An interactive, online 5-week course designed to teach the concept of mentorship to students to help them understand the value and practice of being both a mentor and mentee and how it can impact their career and lives.
proposed solution
This platform was designed to connect high school and college students to opportunities that can create meaningful experiences for them. The goal of this for them to be able to design a path that fits their own passion and story. It is different than other career platforms in the sense that it takes the student's full story into account and uses an algorithm to create their core strength skills and uses their scores in these skills to match them to relevant jobs and people. They are able to find role models who can eventually become mentors and other students with similar goals.
The main audience of Epixego are the students and our research showed that since most people do not follow one plain career path, we want to show students how there are so many other options out their for them. We also wanted to provide a space for employers and recruiters to look specifically for students and post positions or programs that are designed for students.
04. iteration
site maps
student journey
employer journey
wireframes
Landing Page
Student Interface: People Search
Employer Interface: Candidates
Landing Page
design system
typography
colors
components
05. final solution
landing page
student profile
student mentorship course
advisor experience
advisor + student job board
advisor dashboard
06. user testing
A few months after the platform was developed, it was tested at University of Washington St. Louis to a group of 50 students. The feedback received opened my eyes to the importance of being cognizant of designer bias and the importance of having multiple iterations for every project.
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Positive reviews of visual design of interface
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Addition of chat feature with mentors to connect with them easily
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"Groups" feature for schools on the platform to help students build a network that is tied to their school so it is more accessible.
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Wanted to see changes in competency graph overtime as their skills evolved.