Mentorology

empowers meaningful & rewarding mentorship

Context

Mentor relationships are very helpful to our professional and personal development. When finding a mentor, we want to be specific in order to avoid a mismatched mentorship. The Mentorology mobile app helps you find a mentor or mentee that meet your expectations.

Timeline: 7 days constraint
My roles: UX/UI Designer, UX Researcher

 The process

 

1. Understanding the potential users

I interviewed 2 UW students and 1 UW alumni regarding their experience and expectations of various mentorship programs. I asked follow up questions to understand their needs and pain points based on their responses. User personas were created to represent their background, thoughts, and frustrations.

 

2. Synthesizing Findings

 

Potential mentors are

  • Uncertain about the time needed for a mentorship.

  • Busy with other commitments, such as finding a job.

Potential mentees are

  • Struggling to find conversation topics in a mentorship.

  • Expecting a well planned mentor program.

  • Worried about not being able to give something in return.

 3. Design Question

After understanding the needs from both mentor and mentee, there were 3 pain points in a mentorship that needed to be resolved.

•Low efficiency
•Lack of mutual assistance
•Anxiety & worry

The design question addresses the 3 pain points

 4. Brainstorming

To answer the design question and find possible solutions, I used sticky notes to draw and write down my ideas, and sorted them into 3 categories:

Ideas to empower efficiency

Ideas to lower anxiety

Ideas to encourage mutual assistance

 5. Design Principles & Main Features

 

6. Paper Prototyping

 

I began the prototyping by sketching out possible layouts. Paper and pen helps me focus the ideas I has in mind. I enjoy working without a computer for a while because stepping away from computer made design more personal. During the process, I organized the elements needed for each screen, included the title, content, the place of buttons, etc.

7. Information Architecture

 

After paper prototyping, I had a clearer idea of what features and functions go under each tab in the App.

8. Mid-Fidelity Prototyping

 

The problem I set out to solve had become clearer at this stage, I prioritized 3 main flows that a first time user would walk through in having a first mentorship. I tried to finalize the title and description of each screen at this stage in order to lower the design thinking load before high-fidelity prototyping.

9. High-Fidelity Prototyping

 

Flow A

• Main features introduction
• Sign in

Research Insights

  • Mentorship programs are generally different from mentee’s expectation.

  • Mentees find it difficult to connect with their mentors.

Design Decisions

  • Introduce main features before signing in which help users to understand what to expect in the app.

  • Encourage users to share their values, topics they are interested in, and meet in person to build stronger connections.

 

Flow B

• Create a profile

• Match a mentor or mentee

• Start a conversation

Research Insights

  • There may be lack of common interests in a mentorship.

  • Potential mentors are occupied with seeking employment after graduation, and may hesitate to become mentors.

Design Decisions

  • Add “emojis about me” in the profile to help users find some topics in building rapport.

  • Encourage mentees to write a LinkedIn recommendation for their mentor.

Flow C

• Create an agenda

• Upload the first meeting picture

• Receive a $15 Starbucks gift card

Research Insights

  • Mentor programs may be unstructured.

  • There is pressure in a mentorship.

  • Mentees hope to befriend their mentors.

Design Decisions

  • The “Agenda” feature empowers users in scheduling meetings, creating mentoring plans and to-do lists, writing questions and notes.

  • Provide a $15 Starbucks gift card after users upload a coffee/beverage in-person meeting picture.

10. User Feedback

I conducted usability testing with 2 UW students using a high-fidelity prototype.

 

What went well?

• Users thought the main features introduction in flow A was clear.
• Directly logging in with UW NetID was convenient.
• Knowing the percentage of matching interests was useful in finding an ideal mentor or mentee.
• The visual design was very engaging.
• “Emojis about me” and the “quotes” features made users want to chat.

 

What could be better?

Flow C was a bit confusing for users, here are the findings and my design changes.

 

 Iterated Flow C:

Simplified the screens, one thing at a time, made it intuitive without tutorials.

 

 11. Final Product

Flow A

• Features intro
• Sign in

Flow B

• Create a profile
• Match
• Start a conversation

Flow C

• Create an agenda
• Upload a picture
• Receive a gift card

12. Takeaways

Follow-up questions during the interview are important to understanding users' motivation and frustration with their experience. Not everyone is expressive, one good question or two would encourage them to say more and clarify the pain points. Knowing what’s important to the users from the start would save time.

In the future, I would spend more time on mid-fidelity wireframes to conduct usability tests. Although it only takes one hour to make changes to high-fidelity wireframes, it would save more time in future projects. Since designers may lack a user’s perspective, I’ve learned to test the main ideas and flows as early as possible.

Given more time, I would like to conduct more usability tests and reiterate my design. I would also want to know if users are interested in manually prioritizing their searching criteria, and what kind of interaction would be more efficient in completing the tasks.