A responsive web resource for students to navigate their post-high school options with ease.
Role: Lead UX Designer
Team: PM, Data Analyst, Learning Experience Designer, Developer
Duration: 3 months
Tool: Figma, FigJam, Notion
Company: Radius Group
Empathize and
Secondary, Surveys & Interviews
Flows, WireFrames, Hi-Fidelity
User Testing, Iterations, Final Thoughts, Next Steps
Background, The Problem, & Solution
Secondary Research, Competitive Analysis, User Interviews
Information Architecture, Flows, Wireframes
User Testing, Iterations, Final Thoughts, Next Steps
Deciding which college to attend, what major to choose, to start working, or even take a gap year has always been a significant dilemma. Although it may seem like ages ago for some of us, the anxieties we faced back then still persist for today's new generations.
Even with the rapid growing technology and resources, high school students still struggle to find reliable information about career options, scholarships, internships, and vocational training. Existing resources are scattered and outdated, making it challenging for students to plan their futures effectively.
(Disclaimer: At the start of this project, there was no website. I did not work directly with the company because they were already working with a designer, but I wanted to support it by designing a website for a cause I care about. During my project, they released a new website and updated the branding. However, my project is entirely separate from their designer’s work.)
Prior to diving into this project, students were surveyed to understand how they felt about post-graduation planning. Based on those results, we discovered that high school students face significant challenges in accessing reliable, comprehensive, and centralized information for planning their post-graduation careers. They also lack guidance and resources that are up-to-date and tailored to their needs, resulting in difficulty making informed decisions about their future paths. Finances were also a burned for many students, so that was important to keep in mind as well.
To address these issues, we aimed to create a responsive website that would serve as a centralized, user-friendly resource. The goal was to provide guidance and support, helping students navigate their career options and make informed decisions about their post-graduation plans.
1. Tight Timeline: We had just 3 months to design and launch a complete experience for students.
2. Limited Research Resources: We couldn't interview or test with students prior to launch and had to rely solely on data from previous pilot survey results.
3. Industry Focus: The project was limited to using Healthcare as a model due to anticipated major changes in the healthcare industry in the Charlotte area. However, we still wanted to be inclusive of students outside of the Healthcare path, so we needed to find a way to provide valuable information to everyone.
4. MVP: The MVP was limited to generic information, without options for personalization or data saving behind a login.
Considering our goals and constraints, and recognizing that students have short attention spans, we prioritized simple navigation by organizing the site into three sections, enabling students to achieve the following key objectives:
By giving students a resource such as the Pathway Portal, they now can:
Our future goal is to refine and enhance this MVP based on launch feedback. The team will conduct another survey to evaluate how prepared and better informed users feel after using this resource. Additional features that could add value include:
It was important for the main CTA to be finding health care providers because it is one of the main issues women have when it relates to their health.
During interviews, participants made it clear the two most important factors they considered when searching for new doctors were health insurance and location. Many also said that depending on the specialty, gender, and sometimes race influenced their decision to see them as well.
The homepage needed to display the information and value users would get in a simple, yet informative way. I showed a preview of what they could expect by highlighting featured doctors, recent content, and popular forum topics.