Believe in Me - College Resource App
Introducing One College Hub, a B2C college resource app that enables college affordability and admission success for under-served high school students
PROBLEM
Navigating college admissions has become increasingly more complex for today's high school students. From skyrocketing tuition costs to complex application processes, the pathway to college is more challenging than ever before. But for students from marginalized backgrounds, the obstacles are even greater.
Under-resourced students are 11 times less likely than their peers to earn a college degree by age 24 due to massive systemic burdens and hardships.
SOLUTION
One College Hub is a native web and mobile app that empowers, supports, and informs the journey to college. Created by the non profit, Believe in Me, One College Hub delivers tailored college resource discovery through gamified UI and AI integration. Students can swiftly curate a personalized suite of scholarship programs, find the best matches, and easily manage their college applications all in one place.
MY ROLE
I spearheaded research, discovery, and design of the college and scholarship search experience with a focus on simplifying user flows, building scalable content design, designing AI conversation experiences, and delivering gamified search dashboard design.
TOOLS
Paper, Pencil, Figma, Adobe Illustrator, Adobe Photoshop, Jira, Confluence, Chat GPT, Otter AI
TIMELINE
4 Months
Capturing Student Narratives
RESEARCH AND DISCOVERY
I led my team through qualitative research in order to capture authentic student experiences that would lead to an inclusive app design. We conducted 15, 1:1 semi-structured interviews with students identifying as first generational college graduates, students from low income backgrounds, and students from immigrant families.
I performed discovery workshops utilizing affinity mapping to synthesize research data. Three key themes emerged:
Deep Economic Hardship- Students are not able to pay for ANY amount of college including the "hidden costs" of admissions.
Emotional Turmoil- Students face crippling stress, feelings of shame, and feeling like they have to be the adult when navigating complex processes without caregiver support.
Complex Admission Processes- Students must contend with unfamiliar terms (like FAFSA), demanding application requirements, and competing deadlines while often lacking support from teachers and counselors.
Centering Student Experiences
PERSONA / JOURNEY MAP
I synthesized key research into an actionable persona to help our team to visualize and connect user-centered data insights into the next phases of design.
I then mapped out the user journey within the college application process to explore critical touch points, expectations, and feature priorities for our student persona.
MEET ELLA- HIGH SCHOOL JUNIOR
Ella hopes to be the first in her family to graduate college. She dreams of becoming a doctor and is in search of full financial support to help her achieve her goals.
How might we empower, inform, and support today's high school students as they navigate the path to college success?
Student Persona- Ella
Journey Map
Advocating for User Centered Design
STAKEHOLDER COLLABORATION
Our leadership team envisioned dynamic AI integration and engaging gamified learning design that would stand out in the edtech marketplace.
We needed to bring in youth relevant AI integration along with focused gamification elements to support and inform the complex application and college search processes for students.
VISUALIZING AI SUPPORT + GAMIFIED LEARNING DESIGN
I led our team through design workshops utilizing collaborative mood boarding to visually capture and symbolize AI personas, chat design, and gamification structures. We envisioned everything from adventure quests to badges and leaderboards to AI guide stars.
Collaborative Mood Board
Crafting Scalable App Structure
INFORMNATION ARCHITECTURE / USER FLOW
I synthesized key features into a solid content map and user task flow for onboarding, college search, AI interaction, and favorites page exploration. At this time, we were presented with the challenge of new feature expansion through the addition of a career and college readiness skills sequence for grades 6 to 12. I performed additional research and synthesized content into a refined and scalable information architecture.
Visualizing UI Patterns
FROM SKETCHES TO WIREFRAMES
I sketched out potential UI patterns and then built low and mid-fidelity wireframes detailing the college search experience to present to my team for feedback. I implemented team suggestions through multiple iterations focused on specifying search results, incorporating additional gamification, and further clarifying search card components.
Sketches
Mid-fidelity Wireframes with Card Iterations
Putting Designs to the Test
USABILITY TESTING
I recruited groups of high school students for quick usability testing in order to gain feedback on ease of task completion, overall subjective user experience, AI utility, and gamification preferences.
All users appreciated the ease of onboarding and the college search process.
90% of users tested wanted MORE gamification including fantasy avatars, additional badges, and an internal app currency system.
All users tested preferred the AI guide star along with the scaffolded conversation prompts to uncover complex terms like the FAFSA.
Crafting Design Coherency
DESIGN SYSTEM
I developed a branded UI kit featuring a bold, adventurous color scheme, logo design, typography, button styles, re-usable card components, avatars, icons, and gamification elements that could be utilized for a smooth developer hand off.
Full Fidelity Prototyping
I incorporated user feedback into interactive full fidelity prototypes that feature the following solutions:
Product Integration
I redesigned Believe in Me's homepage to facilitate web app integration while also increasing customer conversions for donations and voluteer needs.
Frictionless Onboarding-
I crafted simple modal sequencing requesting only key data to inform tailored college matches.
Motivating the Experience-
I incorporated positive system feedback, progress indication, leader boards, and a badge gallery to encourage key task completion that would lead to easy resource allocation for students
Personalizing the College Search Flow-
I built detailed card components featuring tags, drop down menus, and interaction design to place students at the center of the search experience.
Simplified Dashboard Design-
I delivered a visually dynamic and user centric dashboard featuring resource curation, tracking, and application management.
College Support AI Integration-
I fashioned an AI chat bot search feature through scaffolded conversation design and digital avatar illustration that simplifies complex terms and processes.
Main Onboarding Screens- Features progress indication and avatar galleries
Main Dashboard with AI Chat
Favorites and College Search Pages
Mobile View- Click to Start
Take Aways
Our team found success through creative problem solving and design collaboration. We utilized Agile frameworks, competitive research, and ongoing ideation to navigate the challenge of balancing stakeholder needs with user needs. As we synthesized research insights into solutions, the scope of our product changed dramatically due to rapid expansion of product features.
We managed this expansion by leaning into the tenants of human centered design and team collaboration. This product is still in development due to fundraising efforts and new feature integrations.