Role and Responsibilities
Team Lead
I worked on this idea from scratch where we ideated the problem and expanded it to have a clearer picture. Conducted user interviews to draft a flow model from the user perspective and combined it with our model. Based on this we created low-fidelity screens, high-fidelity screens and prototyped them. At every stage, we user-tested for feedback and iteration.
Overview
Gradvisor is an educational consulting and guidance mobile application for users pursuing graduate and post-graduate education in the united states of America. There are multiple sections that help consultants connect and guide them throughout the different application processes. Students in the states don’t get enough data on how to target universities. This product helps them strategize and target universities and increase their chances.
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User Problem
The problem we were focusing on was how students applying for graduate and post-graduate education face problems when it comes to guidance and counseling. They really don’t get a structure to follow and better their chances by focusing on each step without getting overwhelmed.
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Causes
The major reason for this is due to a lack of existing advisors in the united states market. Lack of understanding of the structure of masters application.
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Solution
With this app, the student can get in touch with an advisor who will learn their interests and guide them toward programs and universities and help them at each step to curate an application destined for acceptance.
Platform
Mobile application
Tools
Figma
Duration
September 2021 - December 2021
Top 3 Features which help solve the above problem
1- My Application Tracker
The application tracker dashboard showcases the essential process to give a brief overview and helps you dive deeper into each section depending on the phase you are in.
2- Specialized Modules
You can use individual modules as a helpful tool to contact counselors and upload documents for them to review. You can also chat with them to constantly work with them.
3- Tweaking Preferences
You can go to "The Preferences" section to tweak the type of suggestions you get regarding the Universities that you can potentially apply for.
Research Process
How it all started - Foundational Research
We conducted moderated interviews with 10 test participants whom we recruited to understand the problem and expand on it. We analyzed their understanding of the Master's application process by asking foundational questions and surveys. We also conducted an activity where we asked them to arrange boxes of individual steps and add their own to create a flow for the application process. We used and made some notes regarding their trends by creating an affinity diagram (Figma Affinity Diagram Link) and also created an initial user flow model.
Affinity Diagram
Based on what we learned, there are not many certified training counselors to guide the students in this process. Thus they don't get any guidance on their application materials while working on it and don't have constant feedback to iterate smartly.
Foundational User Flow Model
Story boarding
We created a story board to visualize the environment and situation of the user while using to help us prioritize the needs and smoothen the flow out.
Personas
With the help of the flow and storyboarding we came up with an accurate user persona to give our design a scenario based user around whom we would create our flow for the final pitch.
User Case Scenarios
We created multiple scenario scripts dictating each level of interaction from the user, and counselor to the system, or computer to understand how the flow will be at a granular level.
This helped us inform our design in order to have attention to the details and have no logical gaps.
Final User Flow
Based on the user flow model and our model (domain analysis) of the real industry and its constraints, we combined them and created a final flow which we tested and used to start our sketches. This was done in order to integrate the user's process and empathize with them.
We learned that users really cared about their flexibility to tweak their preferences and get personalized counseling for each application material.
Design
Sketches
This phase was mainly for bringing structure to our flow and thoughts and how the screen and the app flow work. We used this phase to create a lot of sketches using crazy 8s and used that to inspire our final sketches.
Through this process, we understood what is our top priority on the screen and how our information architecture is being visualized.
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Low Fidelity Wireframes
We started off with lo-fi wireframes, as usual, to build on our hand sketches, we chose the best design from our crazy 8s and started converting them into lo-fi. This was the building block of our Prototype.
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We tested the lo-fi screens for functional testing and also moderated interviews to understand how they stack up. We made iterations based on this feedback like:
High Fidelity Wireframes
After testing the lo-fi wireframes, we converted them to hi-fi versions by first creating a design system comprising components as it was the final deliverable of our project.
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During our hi-fi design, we learned the following concepts and how it matters:
In our Hi-Fi designs we designed the further modules adding to the 3 crucial ones mentioned above:
Testing - User Interviews
Key Takeaways
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To provide structure to the students on the application and also give them the freedom to upload documents for review. ​
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Individual sections where communication was the key between the counselor and the student.
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The articles, Videos, and Events section helped give domain knowledge.
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Have tie-ups with common organizations that store data about Universities and the type of courses they offer.
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What I learned
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Based on this project I learned the ground-up UX Research and Design process.
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How to conduct foundational interviews to focus on the right problem and solution.
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Practiced user testing and moderated interviews.
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Gained empathy for users and the mentality to include them in our designs to keep them very user-centric.
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