CAREER PATH
A responsive website to help students transform their passion into their career
The Problem
To help students make an informed career decision, a career counselor is needed. However, most of the Indian institutes give the least importance to it.
Students are overwhelmed and confused when choosing a career path after their 12th grade. This causes students to turn to online resources to understand the different career streams in India. However, since most career guidance websites require a fee to help the student choose a career, many students are unable to use this opportunity. The information available on the internet seems overwhelming and hence many students in India choose a career that is recommended by their parents and relatives, unaware of whether the career chosen is their passion
The Goal
A quick, easy and reliable way for students to know themselves better and choose a career best suited for their interests
Learnings
1. Design is an iterative process but knowing when to stop is just as important as the iterations themselves.
This emphasizes the importance of making informed decisions when it comes to the completion of a design, recognizing that overthinking or endless iterations may not always lead to improvement.
2. When in doubt, always return to the users.
There were numerous instances where I struggled to design icons or pages. Each time, I revisited my research and reconnected with what I had learned about the users, which helped me better understand their needs and perspectives.
3. Each demographic requires a tailored approach.
Working with children and younger students taught me how perspectives on education can vary widely. It was essential to adjust my thinking and design approach to meet their unique needs and preferences.
Research
What do the newspapers say?
What do the users say?
How can users choose the right career?
Holland's theory of personality types
Meet the users
User Journey Map
I mapped out the journey of Kartik, who is a student trying to choose his career path
Competitive Analysis and Brainstorming ideas
I carried out a competitive analysis on 3 popular websites used by students to choose their careers. Based on their features and pain points, I grouped the information together to find out the user pain points which need to be addressed. I brainstormed a few ideas to address these pain points and this formed the basis of the further steps in the project.
Information Architecture
After the brainstorming, I started creating a site map to gain a better understanding of the website I was about to design.
Low Fidelity Wireframes
User Testing wireframes
I conducted a usability study with 4 participants and gave each of them 3 tasks to complete.
Task 1: Take the first step to choosing your career, then navigate to one of the careers suggested for your personality
Task 2: Save the career to My Careers, proceed to the next step, and complete the process of choosing a career
Task 3: Try out the notes feature and return to the homepage
High Fidelity Key Screens
Prototyping
The actual prototyping took longer than I had expected since I had to design a few more screens than I had initially created. I also had to create a few overlays, button animations, etc.
View the prototype
Usability testing
I conducted a second round of usability testing. I preferred to use an unmoderated remote user testing method. Using the Useberry plugin in Adobe XD, I carefully picked the 3 most important tasks a user must accomplish in order to choose a career
Task 1: Take the personality test to find your ideal career
Task 2: Choose "Graphic Designer" from the suggested careers and save it to “My Careers”
Task 3: Proceed to Step 3 and choose "Graphic Designer" and return to the homepage
Pain Point 1
Usability study revealed that most users found it difficult to find the suggested careers. Due to this reason, the suggested careers section has been moved to the top in such a way that a part of it appears above the fold and changed the section heading from Careers to Explore to Suggested Careers.
Pain Point 2
The usability study revealed that most users found it difficult to proceed to the next step in choosing a career. Hence, the Proceed to Step 3 button has been moved to make it easily accessible.
Pain Point 3
May participants in the usability study felt that the way to share the notes should be more obvious. To address this, the share icons have been placed above the fold. Thus making it easy to find.
Accessibility considerations
Pain Points
Key Takeaways
1. Build, Test and Repeat: Continuously test the prototype at every stage of the process to uncover user needs.
2. Users should always be given the first priority. Always proceed with user research and the data gathered.
3. Observe the users: Keenly understand when the user is feeling confused, frustrated, irritated, etc. Other than understanding heatmaps and user flows, focus on the users reaction to the task, this truly helps us to understand the user needs better.
Next Steps
Role
Time
November 2021 - December 2021
Project
Responsive Website Design
Category
Case Study