Scholarship App
Role
UX/UI Designer
Methods & Tools
User Research, Interviews, Wireframing, Prototyping, Usability Testing, User Personas, Affinity Mapping, Figma, Design System, User-Centered Design
Duration
January 2023 - March 2023
This project, Scholarly, focused on creating a mobile application designed to help students discover scholarships tailored to their profiles and connect with mentors who can guide them through the application process. The app provides a streamlined experience, from setting up a profile to receiving curated scholarship recommendations and connecting with experienced mentors.
Problem Statement
Applying for scholarships can be overwhelming for students, with numerous options and varying eligibility requirements. Students often struggle to find scholarships that match their backgrounds and academic goals. Furthermore, a lack of guidance in the application process can discourage applicants. This app aims to simplify the scholarship search by offering personalized recommendations and a mentorship feature to provide support and increase students' chances of success.
Research and Insights
To understand the needs of scholarship applicants, I conducted interviews with students and recent graduates who had previously applied for scholarships. Key insights included:
Need for Personalization: Students wanted recommendations aligned with their unique academic, financial, and personal backgrounds to avoid sifting through irrelevant options.
Desire for Guidance: Many students felt that having a mentor or guide could boost their confidence and improve their applications.
Simplified Navigation: Users needed an intuitive and easy-to-navigate interface to quickly find relevant scholarships without getting lost in complex filters.
Progress Tracking: Students wanted a way to track their application status and receive reminders about deadlines to stay organized.
Design Process
1. Research & Discovery
User Interviews: Conducted interviews with students and recent graduates to gain insights into their experiences with scholarship applications. The goal was to understand their pain points and identify features that could simplify the application process.
Persona Development: Created user personas based on interview data, representing the needs, goals, and challenges of typical users. These personas guided the design to ensure it remained focused on user requirements throughout the process.
2. Ideation & Planning
Brainstorming & Affinity Mapping (using Miro): Organized feedback from interviews and identified recurring themes. Miro was used to visually map out user feedback, prioritizing features such as personalized scholarship recommendations and mentorship connections.
User Journey Mapping: Mapped the user journey from onboarding to scholarship discovery and mentor connection, ensuring a seamless flow that aligns with users’ needs.
3. Design & Prototyping
Wireframing and Prototyping (using Figma): Created low-fidelity wireframes to outline the app’s structure, followed by mid- and high-fidelity prototypes to visualize the user interface and interactions.
Feature Development: Incorporated prioritized features, such as a personalized scholarship feed and a mentorship connection option, aligning with the user personas and journey map.
4. Testing & Iteration
Usability Testing (using Zoom): Conducted multiple rounds of usability testing with early prototypes to validate design choices. Users tested the profile setup, navigation flow, scholarship recommendations, and mentor connection features, providing feedback on ease of use and clarity.
Iterative Refinement: Adjusted the interface based on usability testing feedback. This iterative approach ensured continuous improvement of navigation, recommendation accuracy, and the mentor-connection feature.
5. Accessibility & Final Refinements
User-Centered Design: Focused on ensuring all elements were intuitive and aligned with student needs, providing a user-friendly experience.
Accessibility Checks: Verified text readability, clear button placement, and smooth navigation to accommodate a broad user base.
Polishing the UI: Used Figma to finalize high-fidelity screens, incorporating clean, accessible visuals and easy-to-navigate layouts.
Final Design
Profile Creation & Information Gathering: The onboarding flow begins with a profile setup, where users input personal, academic, and demographic details to help the app generate tailored scholarship recommendations.
Personalized Scholarship Recommendations: Using the user’s profile data, the app displays scholarships that match their eligibility, academic interests, and financial needs. This feature reduces time spent on irrelevant opportunities and increases focus on suitable scholarships.
Mentorship Connection Feature: In addition to scholarships, the app includes a “Find Mentors” section where students can browse profiles of mentors with relevant expertise. Users can send a request to connect, facilitating direct support and guidance.
Simplified Navigation & Tracking: The main screen provides easy access to “Scholarships,” “My Scholarships,” and “Mentors.” Students can view upcoming deadlines, manage scholarship applications, and track mentor requests, all in one place.
Usability Testing & Iterations: Throughout development, usability testing was conducted to refine the user experience. Users’ feedback led to design improvements, such as clearer instructions for setting up profiles and better organization of scholarship information.
