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CareerScope
A platform for people to Search, See the real career paths and Connect with each other.
Overview
My Role
UX Research, Ideation, Information Architecture, Wireframes, UX/UI Design, Interaction Design, Usability Testing
I worked on this project independently, from defining the problem, conducting the research to ideating. Also, I drew the sketches and wireframe and tested them by guerilla testing. Finally, I created the interactive prototype and ran two rounds of usability testing.
Problem
Most people do not know how to choose the “Right” career.
They have never had a chance to browse every kind of career worldwide since they were teens, ending up choosing the most plausible career. After working for decades, they finally realized it was not the best career. Nowadays, the challenge is understanding the actual situation of the chosen career effectively and selecting it wisely.
Timeline
Aug. 2021 - Feb. 2022
6 Months
Solution
A tailored platform that was designed, prototyped,
and tested from scratch lets people plan their careers based on their recent experiences.
Features
Custom-Search
Smart-Prioritization
Easy-Chat
Research
Desktop Research
Not only students but some workers also need to plan their careers.
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44% of students don’t know what they want to do after graduation.
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52% of school students agreed or strongly agreed with the statement, “I have no idea what I want to do with my career.”
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80% said they would prefer “advice from professionals who work in a chosen field.”
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70% of the workforce is actively looking for a change in career.
Primary Research
Interview
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With the screener survey, I chose these five interviewees; they’ll have planned their careers before, the age range is from 20 to 35.
Affinity Map
After the interviews, I gathered their opinions and my observations. I then grouped them into specific topics, like why they changed their careers, their views on finding their passion, their methods of planning their careers, the frustrations, etc.
Empathy Map
Following participants’ behaviors, I defined two types of planners. The empathy map shows what they think, say, do, and feel.
Active Planner
Passive Planner
Persona
Key Insights
After analyzing all the information from the research, I gained these insights.
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Being unable to figure out what’s the actual situation of the career
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Lack a solid channel to connect with the right people
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Have no confidence to make a change
How Might We
How might we help people understand the career by doing actual tasks?
How might we help people connect to someone they can consult with?
How might we improve the self-assessment process to help people understand themselves?
How might we help people understand the career by observing the actual situation?
How might we help people study a similar case according to each individual’s background?
Ideation
Ideating Process
Putting all the how might we together, I came up with several ideas.
Among them, I selected Career Path Platform that meets three of How Might We.
Final Selection - Career Path Platform
After registering as one of the members, users can explore, observe and chat. With these highlights, I named it CareerScope.
Information Architecture
I created an Information Architecture to structure all the contents efficiently.
Design
Sketch on Paper
Home
Results List
All Messages
Other's Profile
Guerrilla Usability Testing
I conducted guerrilla usability testing with five participants to test my initial design with these Sketches.
In such a case, I redesigned it effectively.
Participant's Feedback
Well… I don’t read each word on the page.
My Solution
I replaced a lengthy instruction on the Home page with just one simple sentence.
Participant's Feedback
It’s hard to read the contents based on a curved line.
My Solution
On the other's profile page, I placed one's journeys in a straight line for users to read more easily.
Wireflows
With the feedback from guerrilla testing, I redesigned the sketches, built up the wireframes, and organized them into the wireflows, concentrating on three red routes: search, see and connect.
Visual Design
The main design are all around starry sky because the positioning of CareerScope is to motivate people to explore various careers.
Moodboard
Style Guide
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Two Rounds of Usability Testing
Taking my high fidelity prototype, I launched two rounds of remote moderated usability testing, with four participants and five participants, respectively. Each session took about twenty minutes, with six tasks for them to complete.
Participant's Feedback
Searching and Exploring on the Home page confused the participants.
My Solution
I added the arrows and contexts to guide users to search or explore.
Participant's Feedback
The journeys on the Profile page should be expanded or not.
My Solution
I decided that journeys on the Self's Profile page should be expanded by default because users tend to check their journeys in detail; journeys on the Other's Profile page should be collapsed by default because users would like to others' journeys in overall firstly.
Participant's Feedback
Some participants advocate Chatbox and journeys should be on the same page, while the others disagree.
My Solution
I added a button for users to expand and collapse Chatbox.
Participant's Feedback
Sending the same messages, again and again, is troubling.
My Solution
I created some standard templates for users to send messages more conveniently.
Final Work
Flow 1: Edit Profile
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Add one more work experience to one’s profile.
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Check if it has been added successfully.
Flow 2: Explore Careers
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Explore others' career paths based on one's current career.
Flow 3: Search Dream Career
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Search one’s specific dream career.
Flow 4: See Results and Add Prioritization
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See the members who have achieved one's dream career.
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Prioritize the members who have the same experience as one's.
Flow 5: See and Save Other’s Profile
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Expand and collapse other’s journeys and Chatbox.
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Save other’s profile.
Flow 6: Send Messages
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Send messages on the Other’s Profile page.
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Check the All Messages page.
Reflection
Make each tiny decision with a strong Why.
Initially, a black rectangle is in the back on the Home page. During the usability testing, the participants were confused with the differences between Searching and Exploring, wondering why I put this black rectangle in the spot. I failed to make any sense. This issue lets me conclude that every design should be based on a logical reason.
Pay attention to Users.
Reflecting on the evolution of my design, when participants hesitated, got stuck in the tasks, or critiqued even a minuscule design during the usability testing are the opportunities for me to learn more about the users and discover the blindsight I kept ignoring.
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