The product:
Candle is a mentorship app which aims and objective is to create a platform where new graduate can meet experts from different field. Candle App users include new graduate and anyone getting into a new career path they have chosen for themselves. As the name Implies CANDLE as a light will help guide users with the help of experience mentors to have a successful career.
My role:
UX designer leading the app and responsive website design from conception to delivery
Responsibilities:
Part of my responsibilities are Conducting interviews, paper and digital wireframing, low and high-fidelity prototyping, conducting usability studies, accounting for accessibility, iterating on designs, determining information architecture, and responsive design .
I develop an interview questions, which were then used to conduct user interviews. Most interview participants reported feeling anxious and confused, but they didn’t know where to turn to and how to connect with experts. The feedback received through research made it very clear that users would be open and willing to work towards connecting mentors if they had access to an easy-to-use tool to help guide them.
Competitive audit
An audit of a few competitor’s products provided direction on gaps and opportunities to address with the Candle app.
Ideation
During the ideation exercise i quickly came up with different ideas on how best to address gaps identified in the competitive audit. My focus was specifically on creating a platform where experts are easily accessible
During the ideation exercise i quickly came up with different ideas on how best to address gaps identified in the competitive audit. My focus was specifically on creating a platform where experts are easily accessible.
Low-fidelity prototype
To prepare for usability testing, I created a low-fidelity prototype that connected the user flow of viewing a mentor’s profile, read comment and schedule a mentorship session.
Usability study: parameters
Usability study: findings
These were the main findings uncovered by the usability study:
Mockups
Additional design changes included adding a message icons on the expert profile so a user can easily have initiate a conversation with the expert.
Based on the insights from the usability studies, I applied design changes like providing a clear Button from the home screen to enable users easily view profile and book a session.
High-fidelity Prototype
The high-fidelity prototype followed the same user flow as the low-fidelity prototype, including design changes made after the usability study.
Accessibility considerations
Sitemap
After i completed the design for the candle app. I started work on designing the responsive website. I used the Candle app sitemap to guide the organizational structure of each screen’s design to ensure a cohesive and consistent experience across devices.
Responsive designs
The designs for screen size variation included mobile, tablet, and desktop. I optimized the designs to fit specific user needs of each device and screen size.
Takeaways
Impact:
Users shared that the app made finding an expert and scheduling a mentorship session easy and fast. Overall the app will help in guiding them through their career paths.
What I learned:
All through the design process I have learned that even though the problem I was trying to solve was a big one, diligently and patiently going through each step of the design process and aligning with specific user needs helped me come up with solutions that were both feasible and useful.
THANK YOU!!
