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Go Pursue

Go Pursue

Go Pursue is a career exploration app that helps students get exposure to the diversity of career fields by connecting them with working professionals

Go Pursue is a career exploration app that helps students get exposure to the diversity of career fields by connecting them with working professionals

ROLE

ROLE

UX Researcher

UI/UX Designer

UX Researcher

UI/UX Designer

TOOLS

TOOLS

Figma

Google Docs

Figma

Google Docs

DATE/DURATION

DATE/DURATION

Started May 26, 2023

Completed June 20, 2023

Duration 4 weeks

Started May 26, 2023

Completed June 20, 2023

Duration 4 weeks

The Problem Statement

Context

Context

Go Pursue is a career exploration app that is currently contracted by several school districts and universities in the New England region of the U.S. They want to redesign the user flows for their 2 user personas - the student, who explores different career options, and the professional, who provides information on their current careers.


This case study will be looking at the redesign of the professional side.

Go Pursue is a career exploration app that is currently contracted by several school districts and universities in the New England region of the U.S. They want to redesign the user flows for their 2 user personas - the student, who explores different career options, and the professional, who provides information on their current careers.


This case study will be looking at the redesign of the professional side.

Target

Target

Go Pursue is a web-based app that allows students to explore different careers by having students read through profiles created by professionals. Students not only get information about a certain industry, but are also able to connect with a working professional.


My role was to research, design and test the mentor user experiences and UIs related to this project.

Go Pursue is a web-based app that allows students to explore different careers by having students read through profiles created by professionals. Students not only get information about a certain industry, but are also able to connect with a working professional.


My role was to research, design and test the mentor user experiences and UIs related to this project.

Solution Overview - Main Features

Easy and Transparent Onboarding

Easy and Transparent Onboarding

An onboarding experience that informs you of the most important information you can provide to help students out.

An onboarding experience that informs you of the most important information you can provide to help students out.

Profile Checklist

Profile Checklist

A checklist for professionals to use as a guide to complete their profiles for students to read.

A checklist for professionals to use as a guide to complete their profiles for students to read.

My Career Journey

My Career Journey

A storytelling element where students can see how professionals ended up in their current career.

A storytelling element where students can see how professionals ended up in their current career.

Research & Analysis

The goal for this project was to improve the user experience for both students and professionals. To get a better idea of what this looks like, we conducted a heuristic analysis of the Go Pursue app to gain a better understanding of different pain points that can be improved. Once the pain points were identified, we conducted competitive research to find how other apps have resolved these pain points.

Heuristic Analysis

Heuristic Analysis

We went through the entire Go Pursue app, both student side and professional side, and tallied up our findings in an easy-to-read report.


We went through the entire Go Pursue app, both student side and professional side, and tallied up our findings in an easy-to-read report.


Competitive Research

Competitive Research

We identified 3 competitors - LinkedIn, ADPlist, and CareerVillage, and we each took one to conduct competitive research.


I took a close look at CareerVillage, a Q&A type forum for students and mentors, and took away things I really liked about the app.

We identified 3 competitors - LinkedIn, ADPlist, and CareerVillage, and we each took one to conduct competitive research.


I took a close look at CareerVillage, a Q&A type forum for students and mentors, and took away things I really liked about the app.

Goals

From the heuristic evaluation and competitive research, we found several places where the app can improve. We listed these as critical (must fix), major (not necessary to fix, but would be nice), and minor (fix if time allows). We were basing our recommendations on the Jobs-to-be-Done framework of Go Pursue.

User Flow

Once we defined our list of recommendations, we got to work on reworking the user flow of the Go Pursue app. We identified 10 different user flows, and divided the tasks amongst ourselves evenly. I was tasked with reworking the user flow for the hamburger menu and the professional side. The biggest task was figuring out how to integrate our recommendations in the already-existing user flows without causing too much disruption to the original product.

Concepts and Wireframes

After getting the approval for our changes to the user flow, we started making wireframes with the screens they provided for us. Our Go Pursue contact mentioned how they would like to see some kind of career roadmap that students can see similar to something you see on Roadtrip Nation.


Here are the initial wireframes I designed based on what was requested.

From our low-fidelity testing, we learned that users found the new section to be redundant with the Education section. In addition, users were unsure of what to write in this section. One user suggested adding a prompt asking professionals to describe any challenges they faced while making important career decisions.


I updated the screens with user feedback.

Visual Design & Prototype

We used the Go Pursue style guide to make our high fidelity screens.

High Fidelity Designs

This is what the app looks like after putting the visuals into the basic wireframe.

Prototype

I created a prototype using the high fidelity designs. Piecing everything together really brought the app to life.


Link to Prototype: Go Pursue Professional Side Prototype

I created a prototype using the high fidelity designs. Piecing everything together really brought the app to life.


Link to Prototype:

Go Pursue Professional Side Prototype


Test: Validation, Usability, Feedback

We took our changes into the real world for usability testing to see if our design changes met the stakeholder’s request and addressed the users’ needs that we learned in the research phase.


We conducted usability testing with 3 users, 2 who were professionals who had undergone a linear career path, and 1 who did not have a linear career path. These users were asked to gauge the ease-of-use of onboarding and completing the profile.


All users were able to complete the tasks without any help. There still seemed to be confusion on what users should write when it came to the My Career Journey section. We took the feedback from the users and integrated them in our final iteration of the app.

Original

Final

Challenges & Conclusion

Learnings

  • I learned how to work with a team - particularly when it came to communication.

  • I learned to be flexible with my designs when it came to the stakeholder’s requests. Sometimes the stakeholders see the shortcomings to their requests after it has been fully designed and prototyped.

  • This was the first time I experienced pushback with my design decisions because of development limitations. It was a great learning experience because I was able to adjust my designs accordingly.

  • If we could redo this project from the beginning, I would have liked to talk with the developer from the very beginning. Their insight is extremely valuable and would have dictated how the designs could have changed.

    • For example, how students mostly use this app on Chromebooks and not on mobile.

  • I learned how to work with a team - particularly when it came to communication.


  • I learned to be flexible with my designs when it came to the stakeholder’s requests. Sometimes the stakeholders see the shortcomings to their requests after it has been fully designed and prototyped.


  • This was the first time I experienced pushback with my design decisions because of development limitations. It was a great learning experience because I was able to adjust my designs accordingly.


  • If we could redo this project from the beginning, I would have liked to talk with the developer from the very beginning. Their insight is extremely valuable and would have dictated how the designs could have changed.

    • For example, how students mostly use this app on Chromebooks and not on mobile.

Conclusions and Next Steps

  • It was very different working with stakeholders and with a team. It was challenging and at the same time less stressful because I had hardworking teammates to divide the work.

  • We presented our final recommendations to our stakeholders and wished them great success in their future endeavors.

  • It was very different working with stakeholders and with a team. It was challenging and at the same time less stressful because I had hardworking teammates to divide the work.


  • We presented our final recommendations to our stakeholders and wished them great success in their future endeavors.

Linda Rieublandou ⏤ 2023

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