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Hello, I'm Xin

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I’ve chosen mentor connection for my design challenge. 

Here I will go through the design process, share the design thinking, the user research, as well as the final deliverables. It will take around 20-30 min. Thanks for your time and hope you enjoy it:)

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Quick Recap: The design challenge I received last week

Mentoring can be a great way to share knowledge and help someone be successful in their personal or professional life. But many potential mentors are often too busy to commit to regular meetings, or they have a hard time connecting with people seeking help. Design an experience where prospective mentors and mentees can be matched, based on similar interests, location, and availability. Show your process and how you arrived at your solution. Please include a sequence of high-fidelity mocks from your design solution.

Quite a journey in a short period of time

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Here's an overview of my design process. I’ve started my research by talking to 4 potential users(mentor &mentee). I also researched on current existed products. Based on the insight I learned from the users, I created 2 personas for mentor and mentee. 

 

I ideated the ideal product map and then scope down my actual design excises to a specific scenario. I did some sketches of the user flow and put it in Balsamiq to quickly test it with users. After getting some feedback, I started to do detail design and iterating it along the way.

It all started with interviews

I've talked to four people total at the beginning of this project to get to know better how in general how people feel about mentorship.

I have some questions written but depend on the answers I got, dived deep into some specific scenarios the user experienced.

1. Their mentor experiences (if not, why?)

2. Their mentee experiences (if not, why?)

3. How do they start making the connection and what’s the frequency?

4. What do they expect to get and what do they actually got?

5. How do they feel about some current exist mentor app concepts?

A quick summary

The purpose of having a mentor:  Career advice, Networking, Portfolio review, Technical review

Ways to find a mentor:  School advisor, Trainer or manager in the company, Conferences, Meetups, LinkedIn connection

Connecting method and frequency:  Prefer face to face at the beginning. Catch up around every 2 months to 6 months

The problem of finding a mentor:  Afraid to reach out, Not sure if they have time, Lost connect after a while

Review for the current mentor concept: Trusting issues, Quality of the match, Privacy issues

Ways to find mentee:  School alumni, Company mentor program, Conference, Team member

The purpose of finding a mentee:  Give back, Teach and learn, Make the connection with young talents

The problem of getting a mentee:  Can’t always commit due to busy work, No much of them reach out for help, Not sure how to help

Review current mentor app concept:  Profile privacy, Sharing privacy issue

How did they say about the current concept?

I really want to reach to more users to understand their needs and pain-points. So I did some research online. There’s really no leading product for this category. I downloaded and used 6 apps total, only 2 of them open to the public.

 

I found the review of their apps is revealing more truth. They gave a clear signal that the persona we were looking in this category is more serious and cautious. If they sense fake account, social&dating or people selling stuff there. This product will be a big no for them. 

Interestingly, I also found that products designed for a specific company has been more successful since they had specific user groups and goals for the product. However, it also makes them an internal tool that won't be able to help the larger audience.

Competitor
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What’s the fine line between social app & professional networking?

I was curious about this phenomena and did some readings that helped me illustrate the reason behind it. Although it seems like a similar logic of matching people with the same interests. The way of human interaction is completely different.

 

When we match for fun, we are in an exploring mode. We talk to strangers and share random insignificant stuff. We are equal in this communication.

 

However, when we match for mentor or mentees, it becomes more serious because what we are sharing may affect our daily job. We naturally have a clear idea of who's inside of our group that can be trust and who's not. That group can be your family, your school, your company or a friend's friend.

Persona for mentee & Persona for mentor

Based on the research and reviews I have, I started to write up the persona for mentor and mentee. I cross-examed their motivation and frustration, and try to build a health long-term interaction that will not only connect them in the beginning, also benefit them in the long run.

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Design a product that mentor the mentorship

The fundamental goal of this product is to match mentors and mentees.

After understood the user’s needs and their pain-points, I added three constraints:

1. A reliable source of mentor/mentee. (Users suggested the positive mentor experience usually formed in school or company.)

2. Make a professional connection. (No social like interaction, no random connecting. It needs to be genuine and serious)

3. Provide useful guidance and healthy interactions to grow the community. (The user profiles in this product presents the product itself.)

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The ideal product and the scope down

I Ideated this product road map that starts with an internal training tool in a close group like schools and companies. Then expand: From students to alumni, From current employee to the past and future employee. I also imaged the possibility of users/community lead help to connect different community and integrate into one in the end.

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The Ideal Future

Product Roadmap

All group started to communicate with each other and the groups expand and join each other.

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Scope down deliverables

Consider the time limit, I decided to scope down the actual deliverables into one section: The part when schools reaching out to the alumni, where the close platform become open. The individuals start to connect by will.

How's Melinda's on-boarding experience with our product?

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Based on the persona I previously created, here's the scenario of one of the alumni first onboarding experience. I drew a storyboard of what happened when Melina first invited and joined Mentor+Me. This product will be the connecting point for all the alumni and students starting their mentorship. Based on the user research, I didn't limit the user role to be specific mentor and mentee, so that they can all contribute and benefit through the experience.

Although this scenario is about mentee finding a mentor, I also validated it with the mentor persona. The mentee will need to do more contacting and explaining so that the mentor will have a clear understanding for the need of their conversations.

Let the story comes alive on screens

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I did some user-flow sketches on paper. But I felt considering all the context, it'd be better to test it with the actual screen. So I did a low-fi prototype.

The story started with an email with the user's very considerate school advisor. Then they will be brought to this platform and start to adding stuff to their own profile. Then we will help them find the mentor/mentee matches their needs.

Along the way, we will guide them from the first contact to writing a letter and break the ice, to writing thank you note after the meet. What I tried to do is to make it official and serious. I feel this is very important for the mentor to considering helping someone relatively unfamiliar. 

But will this be too much? I needed to test it with the user to find out.

Let's hear what the user say about it

I put the user-flow into a low-fi prototype and tested it with 3 users.

2 users from a local tea shop and 1 remote user through the web. 

I recorded the online session. 

The goal of the testing is to: 

1. See if they would use this service if contacted.

2. If the experience is meaningful and useful to the user.

3. To get feedback on the general user-flow. 

I tried to let the user tell me more of what they think it should be and then compare it to what I have.

They all agreed the experience meets the needs and they will try it. They pointed out some of the usability issues which is very helpful for my later detail design. Such as the selection of mentor and mentee, they are not sure at the beginning, since they can help the current student but also learn from others. I also found it very interesting that they pay great attention to the wording, the tone and manner, they told me it could be a break for the experience if the language sounds casual.  

The one caught their most attention is the homepage. After the onboarding experience, they all felt a bit of lost when first enter the page. They mentioned things like how should the filter work, how they can see their own profile and what to do for the next, etc. So I developed different approaches to this issue and then test it with the user. 

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More sketches, more iterations

I designed three options for the dashboard and tested with users.

1. vertical menu + personal info + next step

2. detail panel with personal info + mix of cards/updates

3. all cards of people recommended

Of all the users I asked they all favored the first one since it has a clear hierarchy for reading as well as good guidance for the next step. I also felt this design has more flexibility in terms of adding new stuff in the navigation bar.

In the meanwhile, I also iterated on the filter design. I tested different methods and interaction idea for on-boarding flow.

From Mentality to Mentor+Me

When I first tested it in low-fi prototype, some users mentioned they would like the name to be more catchy. They felt a bit disconnected when I put "Mentality" there. So I brainstormed a bit and change it "Mentor+Me" instead.

 

I've also branded it before I got to detail design. I created a very basic guideline including color palette, icon, button, and typography for this product. I would definitely test the visual if I have more time. For now, I tried to keep it simple and clear. The characteristic should be warm&welcoming to the user but definitely not soft and sweet.

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Design the details and test it rapidly

After I finished the screens, I sent the link to the users from the previous testing and gathered more feedback from them. Those who replied are mostly satisfied with the flow and helped me pointed out some usability issues. Such as after they send the message, they want to know how they will be notified. Or things like if they can change their ID to a different email address. Details really matter a lot to the users. 

I would really like to test it with more fresh eyes = more users to gather the feedback.  If you are interested, here's the prototype link.

Screens

Some learnings

1. How to Scope: I feel I spent too much time on research and ideate the ideal product, consider the assignment is pretty straight forward. But it did let me feel more confident dive into detail design since I'm clear on the goal and having a big picture in mind. 

2. Observe Users: Sometimes the feedback from the user is subtle. They entered a page and they don't know what to do, they might start guessing. This is a sign that there's an issue with it and it's most likely not providing enough information. They might also not sure if they can pick on things that are too detail. When they are hesitating, they should be encouraged.

3. Mentor platform: This is an interesting category that people want to create something but find it hard to succeed. I found it sometimes we need to stop thinking about what's already out there but think about the fundamental human needs of the interaction. In this case, when people are seeking help, they are looking for something reliable and trustworthy. 

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What's the next step?

For this flow

1. More testing: I'm curious to know if there are more things I can improve for both the usability and visual design. Will it work for the larger audience or is it only for the user group I tested?

2. Some Motion design: More motion feedback can help the user get a sense of achievement and add more product likeness.

3. Design for mentor's experience: I want to see if the mentee's flow eventually matches to mentor's. Like when they exchange message, sharing calendar, making goals, there's a lot of details still needs to be figured out.

 

For this product

1. How to scale: Thinking about expanding the individual communities, it makes sense to start from school to alumni.

What's the next step? How can employees expand their mentorship and make connections with the industry leader that might be their potential competitors?

2. Mobility: The experience on the mobile screen should be more intuitive. For example, using heat maps to show how many alumni locate near you would be an interesting idea to test.

3. The people search engine: If this concept work, is it possible that we can visualize the people connection? Your mentor can be connected to an enterprise community. You will be able to see how you can get connected to your ideal mentor through rounds of referral. Eventually, we will be able to get to know anyone we want to as long as they are in a community of any kind. 

 

Will this make all human connection more transparent?

Special Thanks

I thoroughly enjoyed this design challenge.

Took a breath from daily work and dived into a real-world problem and seek solutions. 

I'm really grateful that I can find some users to test my idea and they've been really helpful.

Thank you for letting me walk you through my journey!

Feel free to explore more of my work if you haven't got bored yet:)

xintu7.cc

(and yes, the password is the same.)

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