I revised the information architecture for our product and noted the most viable features that could solve mentee's problems that were found in our user study sessions.

How it works:

First, users can sign in and fill out questionnaire about what they are looking for in a mentorship.  mentors who share similar traits will appear on mentor screen.

Users can then see mentor matches based on questionnaire and have ability to form mentorships or quickly schedule virtual meetings with mentors  the app suggest.

Within the app, they can join community discussion forms based on specific interest and life worries related to their profession

How might we provide mentees with ways of developing trust with a mentor to reduce the complex process of finding, searching and maintaining a virtual mentorship?

Young designers preparing to leave college and looking for guidance at the start of their careers were met with challenges of stress and isolation as they missed out on opportunities to seek out mentors naturally before the 2020 pandemic. Seeking support from others and guidance online became a stressful and time-consuming process.

At the time, there was no mobile application that allowed only early career designers to speak to and receive expert advice from readily available mentors in their field.

To kick off the project, I conducted virtual user interviews on zoom with 10 design professionals, split equally between mentors and mentees

By talking to mentee and mentors out there, our goal was to learn the differences between mentee and mentors feelings and experiences when networking to find and maintaining an online mentor-mentee relationship after the 2020 covid-19 pandemic.

It was important to me to learn from both perspective of a mentorship so that I could provide a holistic solution for this challenge.

The user interviews revealed that the shift to online communication caused seeking online help from a higher-level professional became a stressful and highly strategic process.

I aimed to find patterns and themes across the mentorship experiences by analyzing participant responses. the affinity diagram analysis led to  10 unique thematic groups, with a focused on practical aspects of mentorship such as finding a mentor, communication strategies, matching similar qualities, and planning sessions.

I dived deeper into the mindset of a mentee looking for a mentorship by creating an empathy map. Often they are constantly wondering, "Is this mentor legit?", "Can they really offer me the advice I need?".

I emphasized that... It's a mix of hope and hesitation, where you're trying to find someone who's not just credible but who can genuinely guide you in the right direction.

‍

Pivoting the Focus

Based on my research, I identified 4 user types in our interviews: active mentees, passive mentees, industry mentors and education mentors. I chose to focus on creating a solution for active mentees, who are actively seeking a mentor. By addressing active mentees frustrations, I aimed to design an effective and supportive mentorship finding journey.

Active Mentee's Key Frustrations:

• Difficulty finding the right mentor
• Rarely receiving replies from mentors
• Spending long hours searching for the perfect mentor
• Uncertainty about the credibility of potential mentors

Mentees often wonder, "Is this mentor legit?" and "Can they really offer me the advice I need?"

I emphasized that a mentor's digital footprint greatly influences their approachability. Mentees tend to gravitate towards mentors with relatable backgrounds and qualities, believing these similarities are key to establishing a strong connection. When there's a lack of common ground, it can complicate and extend the search for a suitable mentor.

Rapid User Testing and Design Iteration

After developing the initial mockups with my co-designer, we conducted a rapid user testing session with 3 participants to validate our design solutions.

The primary objective was to identify any issues with the prototype's look and feel and explore opportunities for design improvements by observing participants' interactions with the working functionalities of the prototype.

Testing Objectives:

1. Determine if participants can schedule a meeting with a mentor.
2. Assess the ease of finding compatible online mentors.
3. Evaluate how easily participants can access detailed information about a mentor’s work history.
4. Verify the functionality and user experience of joining and chatting in a group discussion forum.

‍

Addressing usability concerns and user recommendations

Upon reviewing feedback, I identified seven usability concerns within the original designs. To better align with the project's goals,

I spearheaded the iteration process. This involved:

• Reimagining our branding: Ensuring a cohesive and appealing visual identity.
• Introducing a 'My Events' page: Enhancing user engagement by providing a centralized location for event management.
• Ensuring uniformity in iconography: Creating a consistent visual language across the platform.
• Refining the onboarding experience: Simplifying and clarifying the onboarding process to improve user satisfaction

I enhanced the mentor matching experience for better clarity

Problem: users were being matched with 20+ mentors but faced difficulty in identifying which mentors had the highest compatibility or shared similar traits. This made it challenging for mentees to select the best prospects for mentorship.

Solution: To address this issue, I proposed and implemented the addition of a compatibility percentage indicator on both the mentor’s profile and the mentor matches dashboard. This redesign allows mentees to easily see which mentors are better matches, simplifying the selection process and improving overall user satisfaction.

I fixed the mentor Profiles for better expertise credibility for the mentees

Problem: Information about mentors was limited, with insufficient details about their specific roles, experiences, and projects. This lack of information made mentees feel uncertain about moving forward in a mentoring relationship.

Solution: To address this issue, I proposed adding a "Projects" section on mentor profiles to showcase their previous work. Additionally, I suggested including links to mentors' social media profiles to solidify their credibility. These enhancements provide mentees with comprehensive information about mentors, facilitating informed decision-making and fostering stronger mentoring relationships.

‍

Through the process of designing my first product concept, I learned to fully embrace any feedback when under a tight deadline.

A significant amount of thought went into this concept, but it was the diverse perspectives of others—not only the mentors and mentees I interviewed, but also my professor and design peers—that guided me toward an innovative solution. Listening and adapting were key to achieving the project's goals.

Leverage initial user interview participants to validate the solution:

If I had the time I would've leverage the initial 5 mentee user interview participants to test the solution and gain feedback to validate the solution and improve the product.

How might we provide mentees with ways of developing trust with a mentor to reduce the complex process of finding, searching and maintaining a virtual mentorship?

Young designers preparing to leave college and looking for guidance at the start of their careers were met with challenges of stress and isolation as they missed out on opportunities to seek out mentors naturally before the 2020 pandemic. Seeking support from others and guidance online became a stressful and time-consuming process.

At the time, there was no mobile application that allowed only early career designers to speak to and receive expert advice from readily available mentors in their field.

16-Week Design Thinking exploration to simplify the complex process of finding a mentorship

During a 16-week project in my first semester of my master's program at the University of Miami, I learned and applied the design thinking and human centered design process. I was the lead designer working in a team of two.

My responsibilities:

• Conducted virtual interviews with 10 design professionals via Zoom.
• Analyzed insights from user research to define our design opportunity.
• Explored potential design solutions.
• ‍Presented our design solution.
• Defined requirements for our solution.
• Designed a working prototype.
• moderated a quick and dirty peer usability testing session.
• ‍Updated the designs based on feedback and presented our design decisions.‍
  

To kick off the project, I conducted virtual user interviews on zoom with 10 design professionals, split equally between mentors and mentees

By talking to mentee and mentors out there, our goal was to learn the differences between mentee and mentors feelings and experiences when networking to find and maintaining an online mentor-mentee relationship after the 2020 covid-19 pandemic.

It was important to me to learn from both perspective of a mentorship so that I could provide a holistic solution for this challenge.

The user interviews revealed that the shift to online communication caused seeking online help from a higher-level professional became a stressful and highly strategic process.

I aimed to find patterns and themes across the mentorship experiences by analyzing participant responses. the affinity diagram analysis led to  10 unique thematic groups, with a focused on practical aspects of mentorship such as finding a mentor, communication strategies, matching similar qualities, and planning sessions.

I found 12 insights among mentee & mentor participants including the need for greater visibility, transparency, and trust: factors significantly impacted by an virtual environment.

Key Findings:

• Time Issues Impact Mentor-Mentee Relationships: Availability of the mentor, frequency of meetings, and duration of meetings are often constrained by time.
• Lack of Trust in Online Relationships: Forming trust is challenging due to the barrier created by connecting through a digital screen.
• High Volume of Messages: With thousands of professionals online, many seeking help might not receive responses due to the sheer number of messages professionals receive.

Pivoting the Focus

Based on my research, I identified 4 user types in our interviews: active mentees, passive mentees, industry mentors and education mentors. I chose to focus on creating a solution for active mentees, who are actively seeking a mentor. By addressing active mentees frustrations, I aimed to design an effective and supportive mentorship finding journey.

Active Mentee's Key Frustrations:

• Difficulty finding the right mentor
• Rarely receiving replies from mentors
• Spending long hours searching for the perfect mentor
• Uncertainty about the credibility of potential mentors

In order to get a deeper understanding of the possible pain points of an active mentee's perspective of entering a mentorship, I created a user journey map.

This exercise helped me empathize with the mentee's feelings and potential pain points throughout the process. One common issue on other networking platforms is the challenge active mentees face in finding a suitable mentor.

By viewing the experience from the mentee's perspective, I identified key areas for improvement in our solution, ensuring a smoother and more effective mentor-matching process.

‍

Mentees often wonder, "Is this mentor legit?" and "Can they really offer me the advice I need?"

I emphasized that a mentor's digital footprint greatly influences their approachability. Mentees tend to gravitate towards mentors with relatable backgrounds and qualities, believing these similarities are key to establishing a strong connection. When there's a lack of common ground, it can complicate and extend the search for a suitable mentor.

Exploring focused solutions for active mentees

To address the mentorship challenges, I brainstormed 3 distinct concepts: a search engine for quick information retrieval, a video chat service for direct mentor-mentee interaction, and a mobile app designed for finding compatible mentors.

I focused on the mentorship mobile app and I created sketches outlining the main screens of the mobile app and created a storyboard of the onboarding process, highlighting the questionnaire feature to match with a mentor.

I revised the information architecture for our product and noted the most viable features that could solve mentee's problems that were found in our user study sessions.

How it works:

First, users can sign in and fill out questionnaire about what they are looking for in a mentorship.  mentors who share similar traits will appear on mentor screen.

Users can then see mentor matches based on questionnaire and have ability to form mentorships or quickly schedule virtual meetings with mentors  the app suggest.

Within the app, they can join community discussion forms based on specific interest and life worries related to their profession

Addressing usability concerns and user recommendations

Upon reviewing feedback, I identified seven usability concerns within the original designs. To better align with the project's goals,

I spearheaded the iteration process. This involved:

• Reimagining our branding: Ensuring a cohesive and appealing visual identity.
• Introducing a 'My Events' page: Enhancing user engagement by providing a centralized location for event management.
• Ensuring uniformity in iconography: Creating a consistent visual language across the platform.
• Refining the onboarding experience: Simplifying and clarifying the onboarding process to improve user satisfaction

I enhanced the mentor matching experience for better clarity

Problem: users were being matched with 20+ mentors but faced difficulty in identifying which mentors had the highest compatibility or shared similar traits. This made it challenging for mentees to select the best prospects for mentorship.

Solution: To address this issue, I proposed and implemented the addition of a compatibility percentage indicator on both the mentor’s profile and the mentor matches dashboard. This redesign allows mentees to easily see which mentors are better matches, simplifying the selection process and improving overall user satisfaction.

I fixed the mentor Profiles for better expertise credibility for the mentees

Problem: Information about mentors was limited, with insufficient details about their specific roles, experiences, and projects. This lack of information made mentees feel uncertain about moving forward in a mentoring relationship.

Solution: To address this issue, I proposed adding a "Projects" section on mentor profiles to showcase their previous work. Additionally, I suggested including links to mentors' social media profiles to solidify their credibility. These enhancements provide mentees with comprehensive information about mentors, facilitating informed decision-making and fostering stronger mentoring relationships.

‍

I streamlined the scheduling process to consider busy mentors

Problem: Users found it difficult to select a time to schedule a meeting with a mentor.

Solution: To improve the scheduling process, I proposed adding a calendar widget. This widget makes scheduling more efficient by displaying available times clearly, allowing users to easily select and book meeting slots with mentors. This redesign enhances the overall user experience by simplifying the scheduling process.

Overall, the final design resulted in significant improvements in the mentor-mentee matching process and in-app experience

This design solution is expected to lead to:

Stronger Mentor-Mentee Relationships: By matching mentees with mentors whose skills and experiences resonated with their own, users felt more aligned and open to communication, fostering stronger, more effective relationships.

Improved Engagement: Access to a comprehensive list of mentors and the ability to maintain constant contact ensured ongoing support and a richer professional journey for mentees.‍

Enhanced Mentor Credibility: Detailed mentor profiles, showcasing availability, work history, expertise, and prior mentorship roles, enabled mentees to make informed choices, boosting trust and confidence in the platform.

Through the process of designing my first product concept, I learned to fully embrace any feedback when under a tight deadline.

A significant amount of thought went into this concept, but it was the diverse perspectives of others—not only the mentors and mentees I interviewed, but also my professor and design peers—that guided me toward an innovative solution. Listening and adapting were key to achieving the project's goals.

Leverage initial user interview participants to validate the solution:

If I had the time I would've leverage the initial 5 mentee user interview participants to test the solution and gain feedback to validate the solution and improve the product.

How might we provide mentees with ways of developing trust with a mentor to reduce the complex process of finding, searching and maintaining a virtual mentorship?

Young designers preparing to leave college and looking for guidance at the start of their careers were met with challenges of stress and isolation as they missed out on opportunities to seek out mentors naturally before the 2020 pandemic. Seeking support from others and guidance online became a stressful and time-consuming process.

At the time, there was no mobile application that allowed only early career designers to speak to and receive expert advice from readily available mentors in their field.

16-Week Design Thinking exploration to simplify the complex process of finding a mentorship

During a 16-week project in my first semester of my master's program at the University of Miami, I learned and applied the design thinking and human centered design process. I was the lead designer working in a team of two.

My responsibilities:

• Conducted virtual interviews with 10 design professionals via Zoom.
• Analyzed insights from user research to define our design opportunity.
• Explored potential design solutions.
• ‍Presented our design solution.
• Defined requirements for our solution.
• Designed a working prototype.
• moderated a quick and dirty peer usability testing session.
• ‍Updated the designs based on feedback and presented our design decisions.‍
  

To kick off the project, I conducted virtual user interviews on zoom with 10 design professionals, split equally between mentors and mentees

By talking to mentee and mentors out there, our goal was to learn the differences between mentee and mentors feelings and experiences when networking to find and maintaining an online mentor-mentee relationship after the 2020 covid-19 pandemic.

It was important to me to learn from both perspective of a mentorship so that I could provide a holistic solution for this challenge.

I enhanced the mentor matching experience for better clarity

Problem: users were being matched with 20+ mentors but faced difficulty in identifying which mentors had the highest compatibility or shared similar traits. This made it challenging for mentees to select the best prospects for mentorship.

Solution: To address this issue, I proposed and implemented the addition of a compatibility percentage indicator on both the mentor’s profile and the mentor matches dashboard. This redesign allows mentees to easily see which mentors are better matches, simplifying the selection process and improving overall user satisfaction.

I fixed the mentor Profiles for better expertise credibility for the mentees

Problem: Information about mentors was limited, with insufficient details about their specific roles, experiences, and projects. This lack of information made mentees feel uncertain about moving forward in a mentoring relationship.

Solution: To address this issue, I proposed adding a "Projects" section on mentor profiles to showcase their previous work. Additionally, I suggested including links to mentors' social media profiles to solidify their credibility. These enhancements provide mentees with comprehensive information about mentors, facilitating informed decision-making and fostering stronger mentoring relationships.

‍

The user interviews revealed that the shift to online communication caused seeking online help from a higher-level professional became a stressful and highly strategic process.

I aimed to find patterns and themes across the mentorship experiences by analyzing participant responses. the affinity diagram analysis led to  10 unique thematic groups, with a focused on practical aspects of mentorship such as finding a mentor, communication strategies, matching similar qualities, and planning sessions.

I found 12 insights among mentee & mentor participants including the need for greater visibility, transparency, and trust: factors significantly impacted by an virtual environment.

Key Findings:

• Time Issues Impact Mentor-Mentee Relationships: Availability of the mentor, frequency of meetings, and duration of meetings are often constrained by time.
• Lack of Trust in Online Relationships: Forming trust is challenging due to the barrier created by connecting through a digital screen.
• High Volume of Messages: With thousands of professionals online, many seeking help might not receive responses due to the sheer number of messages professionals receive.

Pivoting the Focus

Based on my research, I identified 4 user types in our interviews: active mentees, passive mentees, industry mentors and education mentors. I chose to focus on creating a solution for active mentees, who are actively seeking a mentor. By addressing active mentees frustrations, I aimed to design an effective and supportive mentorship finding journey.

Active Mentee's Key Frustrations:

• Difficulty finding the right mentor
• Rarely receiving replies from mentors
• Spending long hours searching for the perfect mentor
• Uncertainty about the credibility of potential mentors

In order to get a deeper understanding of the possible pain points of an active mentee's perspective of entering a mentorship, I created a user journey map.

This exercise helped me empathize with the mentee's feelings and potential pain points throughout the process. One common issue on other networking platforms is the challenge active mentees face in finding a suitable mentor.

By viewing the experience from the mentee's perspective, I identified key areas for improvement in our solution, ensuring a smoother and more effective mentor-matching process.

‍

I streamlined the scheduling process to consider busy mentors

Problem: Users found it difficult to select a time to schedule a meeting with a mentor.

Solution: To improve the scheduling process, I proposed adding a calendar widget. This widget makes scheduling more efficient by displaying available times clearly, allowing users to easily select and book meeting slots with mentors. This redesign enhances the overall user experience by simplifying the scheduling process.

I dived deeper into the mindset of a mentee looking for a mentorship by creating an empathy map. Often they are constantly wondering, "Is this mentor legit?", "Can they really offer me the advice I need?".

I emphasized that... It's a mix of hope and hesitation, where you're trying to find someone who's not just credible but who can genuinely guide you in the right direction.

‍

Mentees often wonder, "Is this mentor legit?" and "Can they really offer me the advice I need?"

I emphasized that a mentor's digital footprint greatly influences their approachability. Mentees tend to gravitate towards mentors with relatable backgrounds and qualities, believing these similarities are key to establishing a strong connection. When there's a lack of common ground, it can complicate and extend the search for a suitable mentor.

Exploring focused solutions for active mentees

To address the mentorship challenges, I brainstormed 3 distinct concepts: a search engine for quick information retrieval, a video chat service for direct mentor-mentee interaction, and a mobile app designed for finding compatible mentors.

I focused on the mentorship mobile app and I created sketches outlining the main screens of the mobile app and created a storyboard of the onboarding process, highlighting the questionnaire feature to match with a mentor.

I revised the information architecture for our product and noted the most viable features that could solve mentee's problems that were found in our user study sessions.

How it works:

First, users can sign in and fill out questionnaire about what they are looking for in a mentorship.  mentors who share similar traits will appear on mentor screen.

Users can then see mentor matches based on questionnaire and have ability to form mentorships or quickly schedule virtual meetings with mentors  the app suggest.

Within the app, they can join community discussion forms based on specific interest and life worries related to their profession

Rapid User Testing and Design Iteration

After developing the initial mockups with my co-designer, we conducted a rapid user testing session with 3 participants to validate our design solutions.

The primary objective was to identify any issues with the prototype's look and feel and explore opportunities for design improvements by observing participants' interactions with the working functionalities of the prototype.

Testing Objectives:

1. Determine if participants can schedule a meeting with a mentor.
2. Assess the ease of finding compatible online mentors.
3. Evaluate how easily participants can access detailed information about a mentor’s work history.
4. Verify the functionality and user experience of joining and chatting in a group discussion forum.

‍

Overall, the final design resulted in significant improvements in the mentor-mentee matching process and in-app experience

This design solution is expected to lead to:

Stronger Mentor-Mentee Relationships: By matching mentees with mentors whose skills and experiences resonated with their own, users felt more aligned and open to communication, fostering stronger, more effective relationships.

Improved Engagement: Access to a comprehensive list of mentors and the ability to maintain constant contact ensured ongoing support and a richer professional journey for mentees.‍

Enhanced Mentor Credibility: Detailed mentor profiles, showcasing availability, work history, expertise, and prior mentorship roles, enabled mentees to make informed choices, boosting trust and confidence in the platform.

How might we provide mentees with ways of developing trust with a mentor to reduce the complex process of finding, searching and maintaining a virtual mentorship?

Young designers preparing to leave college and looking for guidance at the start of their careers were met with challenges of stress and isolation as they missed out on opportunities to seek out mentors naturally before the 2020 pandemic. Seeking support from others and guidance online became a stressful and time-consuming process.

At the time, there was no mobile application that allowed only early career designers to speak to and receive expert advice from readily available mentors in their field.

16-Week Design Thinking exploration to simplify the complex process of finding a mentorship

During a 16-week project in my first semester of my master's program at the University of Miami, I learned and applied the design thinking and human centered design process. I was the lead designer working in a team of two.

My responsibilities:

• Conducted virtual interviews with 10 design professionals via Zoom.
• Analyzed insights from user research to define our design opportunity.
• Explored potential design solutions.
• ‍Presented our design solution.
• Defined requirements for our solution.
• Designed a working prototype.
• moderated a quick and dirty peer usability testing session.
• ‍Updated the designs based on feedback and presented our design decisions.‍
  

Through the process of designing my first product concept, I learned to fully embrace any feedback when under a tight deadline.

A significant amount of thought went into this concept, but it was the diverse perspectives of others—not only the mentors and mentees I interviewed, but also my professor and design peers—that guided me toward an innovative solution. Listening and adapting were key to achieving the project's goals.

Leverage initial user interview participants to validate the solution:

If I had the time I would've leverage the initial 5 mentee user interview participants to test the solution and gain feedback to validate the solution and improve the product.