Adult it - Mentorship App

Adult-it is a mobile app that connects young adults to credible and empathetic mentors for guidance as they transition into adulthood, thus giving them the crucial support that they need to succeed as adults.

My Role:

Collaborated on app concept, user research & paper prototyping. Lead the illustration design and color scheme concept

Skills:

Visual Design & Illustrations, UX Research, Prototyping, Product Management, Sprint Methodology

Project Team

Joel, Deepa 🙋‍♀️ , Laurence, Ebonie

Project Duration

2 weeks

The Challenge

Anxiety & stress due to lack of guidance

A growing number of young adults feel frustrated, lost and anxious due to feeling like they aren’t good enough, and have no one to help them achieve standards of ‘societal expectations of success’.

Initial Research

We interviewed a total of five people, in the age range 22-35. The most striking insight was that no one felt that they were ‘adults’ yet, and felt the need for someone to help them in various aspects of everyday life - professional growth, emotional wellbeing, education, etc. Surprisingly, financial advice was not a priority for 4 out of 5 users interviewed.

We decided to go about the solution in four phases:

Extensive User Interviews to Define Proto Persona and Problem Statement
Find ways to add value to the app proposition by identifying critical points in User Journey
Do a comprehensive competitor analysis, and rework to get ideal User Flow
Perform extensive User Testing on prototypes, and iterate based on target user group feedback

User Research

Based on initial User Interviews, we identified Olivia Aivilo as our key User Persona, and outlined her emotions, thoughts and actions.

After creating an Empathy Map, we condensed the data from the five interviews into a bunch of notes. After sorting them into an Affinity Map, we voted on the insights we thought were most valuable to our app.

User Journey Map

We also created a User Journey map showing how Olivia navigated the Adult-it App, to identify critical points during her journey that would help us iterate and improve upon the final product design.

Definition

Connects young adults to credible and empathetic mentors for guidance as they transition into adulthood. We believe providing guidance and mentorship for adults in transition will provide them with the crucial support that they need to succeed and thrive as adults.

We condensed the data from our user insights and brainstormed notes for the ‘I Like’, ‘I Wish’ and ‘What if’ categories. Based on the matrix, the following features were picked to be incorporated:

Provides customized coaching based on your specific needs
The app had a ‘Dap-me-up’ button for quick motivation
Lets user chat with people who are going through same issues as user
Provides an ‘Anonymous’ mode where you could ask embarrassing questions without being judged
Could meet with mentors either physically or virtually
The app has a relaxing/calming interface

Condensed the data from our user insights and brainstormed notes

Feature prioritization matrix to decide what features to iterate and implement

Ideation

Connecting with Mentor

We mapped out the process of how the mentee selects mentor from a recommended list, based on the quiz results. The mentee can then schedule meetings with the mentor either physically or virtually. They can also keep track of their mentorship progress/ accomplishments on their profile page.

Prototyping

Paper Prototyping

As a team, we sketched out the critical parts of the app- the splash screen, sign up/log in, taking the quiz, choosing a mentor, & mentor confirmation. We pooled ideas, and collaborated on developing the Hi-Fidelity prototypes.

Hi-Fi Prototyping

Usability Testing

5 users completed usability testing from our friends and family group.

We split the interviews up amongst our group and learned that most users had similar feedback.

User Feedback

Include a call to action button on complete Sign-up page & Schedule a Mentor Page
Update color scheme to match the rest of the app from sign-up section
User recommends showing features on splash pages (unsure of what they are signing up for)
Schedule a meeting page, calendar can be the condensed on the same page
Not enough time to read all text copy during page loading section at the end of the quiz

Iterated
Prototypes

Based on User Feedback from our Usability Tests, we prioritized the key changes that would add value to Adult-it, and iterated on our Initial Hi-Fi prototypes

Splash Screen

We designed an animated splash screen to draw in our target user group.

Taking Quiz

The process has been made as interactive , engaging, and short as possible, with the option to take a longer quiz.

Mentor Selection

Forms were designed keeping in mind reducing cognitive overload and being transparent about progress towards the user's goal.

Dap Me Up!

This was a value addition feature that polled highly during user testing.

Presentation

Teams were given a timeframe of 10 minutes, and we gave our first virtual presentation (due to class being remote) to the entire class via Zoom.

Final Thoughts

This was an extremely interesting and insightful project for us to work on, targeting the pain points and necessities of young adults and individuals in navigating adulthood, career transitions, and the need for soft skills to adult successfully.

Understanding your User is Key
We started out defining the User Personas, but after conducting multiple interviews and surveys realized that the User could be any age as people transition in careers and can struggle with Adulting at any age. We also discovered that there was definitely a skill based gap and it was different for each individual.
Iterate based on Research and Analysis
The Competitor Analysis was a useful tool, as it helped us understand the task flows and UI in other apps and webpages, learn from their failures, and iterate our design so that it followed a better, more personalized approach to the user.
Use your Tools wisely
Initially, our entire group struggled with Figma, but learned several plug-in techniques by the end of the project. We picked up the sprinkle plugin and other animation related techniques. We also learned how to use lots of UI principles on a whim.
Collaborate, Collaborate, Collaborate
Our group together had strong skills in particular areas and weaknesses in others. We used our strengths to work on tasks that were well suited for and also learned how to do each of the tasks within the design thinking process. Without each person’s contribution our project wouldn’t have gone as well.