Case Study:
First Gen in Tech
Career Coaching
App and Responsive Website Design
Google UX Design Certification Project
Project Overview
First Gen in Tech is a Miami-based organization with the aim to create a tech industry where first-generation American minorities are well-represented throughout all levels of the ecosystem and empower them to be leaders. The organization needs a tool that helps individuals easily access career coaching. First Gen in Tech’s primary target users include college students and adults making a career change.
Problem
The strategy team at First Gen in Tech has identified that the tech industry has been exclusive and severely lacking in diversity.
My Role
UX designer leading the app and responsive website design from conception to delivery.
Goal
Design an app that will provides more professional development, leadership development, and recruitment opportunities to first generation Americans to break into tech and make the industry equitable.
Responsibilties
Conducting interviews, paper and digital wireframing, low and high-fidelity prototyping, conducting usability studies, accounting for accessibility, iterating on designs, determining information architecture, and responsive design.
Understanding the User
User Personas
User Research Summary
I used First Gen in Tech data on career opportunities in tech to develop interview questions, which were then used to conduct user interviews. Most interview participants reported feeling overwhelmed by what they can do in the industry and wanted to work for an organization that would make them feel like they belong. The feedback received through research made it very clear that users want to gain professional development, mentoring, and understand roles in tech to help coach them in their new or changing career.
The Design
Ideation
I did a quick ideation exercise to come up with ideas for how to address gaps identified in the competitive audit. My focus was specifically on understanding the users coaching needs.
Digital Wireframe
After ideating and drafting some paper wireframes, I created the initial designs for the Career Coaching tool. These designs focused on delivering personalized guidance to users to help manage their activities from their coaching sessions and remind them of their next session.
Top half of home screen reminds user of upcoming coaching session and activities they have in progress to complete
Easy access to app features from navigation
Usability
Study: findings
1 / Scheduling
People want easy access to schedule or reschedule their sessions with their coach.
2 / Notes
People wanted to see be able to store notes somewhere for each coaching session.
3 / Recommendations
People want recommendations based on their coaches feedback and from goals they put into the app.
Mockups
Responsive
Designs
The designs for screen size variation included mobile and desktop. I optimized the designs to fit specific user needs of each device and screen size.
Mobile
Desktop
Going Forward
Takeaways
Impact
Users shared that the app made it easy to keep track of conversations with their coach and take action on feedback they received.
What I learned
I learned that going through each step of the design process and aligning with specific user needs helped me come up with solutions that were both feasible and useful.
Next Steps
1
Conduct research on how successful the app is in reaching the goal to support first generation Americans.
2
Add more educational resources for users to learn about more about professional development and leader development opportunities.
3
Partner with companies to help hire users.
Let's
Connect!
Thank you for your time reviewing my work on this app design! If you’d like to see more or get in touch, my contact information is provided below.