One Week Design Challenge
University of Washington wants to strengthen the community by encouraging experienced students to connect with new students and help them adjust to campus life. Design an experience that allows mentors and mentees to discover each other.
Design Process
Research
Survey
According to the survey, I created this affinity diagram to help me consolidate and synthesize the research.
Market Research
In the survey, LinkedIn is listed as a way of connecting with mentor. LinkedIn has a convinient way of connecting people together by using network. However, the quality of connection are easily ignored throughout the connecting process. The potential mentors on LinkedIn are very likely to get numerous connection requests, which means they might not be able to have the time and commitment to actually connect with everyone.
Interview
“Mentorship means commitment.”
“Can you mentor me” might be a big turn off for forming a healthy mentorship.
“Mentorship requires undivided attention from both the mentors and mentees.”
Venn Diagram
Problem Statement
How might we connect mentors and mentees in universities without feeling self-conscious so that they can step out of their comfort zone and develop healthy mentorships?
Wireframe (1st Iteration)
Connect through stories and experiences
Allowing users to post about their stories and share it with other people. People can connect with each other by reading through their posts, connecting with their thoughts.
on campus
User Testing
user testing was conducted with the wireframe (1st iteration)
Risks of one-on-one meeting
“What if I don’t feel comfortable continuing the meeting?”
“What if the person is not what it described on the app?“
“What if the conversation is purposeless?“
…
Redefining Mentorship Experience On Campus
Mentorship is human relationship, it requires time to cultivate.
Redesign CONNECT
“Simplify networking experience and create genuine connections.”
People get to know each other in a safe group environment and naturally form connections.
User Flow
Check out events and meet-ups.
Find your mentorship :)
Topics like WIWIK (What I Wish I Knew) are designed for the experienced students to help new students to prepare for their future college experience.
Information about the event are shared when user click into one event, including discussion topics and video generalization.
Want to catch up after meet-ups?
Message them!
This is a list view of what group the user signed up going.
It provides “check in” function to make sure everyone is there.
User can also view past events and find the person they want to connect with.
The user can send a quick message to people by clicking on the profile picture.
New notifications!
Who’s that?
People will be labeled with the same meet-ups you both attend.
The message function is hidden in the notification bell, so users can not get distracted when browsing events.
CONNECT
Takeaway
Question the way things are: Should contemporary university mentorship still look like the ancient Chinese “Master - Apprentice” relationship? What’s a better way to connect different people with same interests?
User testing and research: Best way to test out a product’s usability and functionality.
Next Step
Keep conducting user testing: How effective is it to start a mentorship by meeting in a group first?
Micro-interactions: To delight the user and create a moment that is engaging, welcoming.
Thanks for reading!