Credible Careers
Sudha Rachel
User Experience Designer
Credible Careers is an app and a responsive website that helps people choose a suitable career path. I conducted User Research amongst people of age groups 15 to 50, built User personas followed by wireframes, Low and high fidelity prototypes along with a lot of Usability Tests throughout the process to make it a success.
Project Duration: 15th of April 2023 to 10th of May 2023
Check out the links below to directly go to desired sections or scroll down to view the entire case study-
Challenge and Solution
CHALLENGE: After conducting some research, it seemed that a lot of people had difficulty choosing a career path be it at a young age, or just wanting a career change. Professional help is expensive for everyone to afford. People also wanted to ensure confidentiality and a bias-free experience throughout.
SOLUTION: My website and app "Credible Careers" helps shortlist possible career paths for people and also provides them with free expert guidance, easily available.
Preliminary Research
PRELIMINARY USER RESEARCH SUMMARY: Different methods of Research were conducted throughout the project at different stages. The initial research to start the project and 2 rounds of Usability studies.
The first round was comprised of both secondary and primary research to find out about people’s needs by conducting interviews and later conducting a competitive audit to analyze the pros and cons of competitors for the product.
Following were the most important research goals considered:
USER PERSONAS: Based on the people interviewed, I’ve narrowed their personalities down to the following personas:
USER RESEARCH PAIN POINTS: After careful consideration of data synthesized from the User Research conducted, the following seemed to be the most common pain points faced by users-
1. People found it difficult to understand their choices
2. There also wanted reliable and confidential sources of help
3. A lot of them wanted to explore more streams and didn't know how to shortlist
4. Some of them wanted to interact with reliable sources to get a better understanding on what to expect from a profession
INSIGHTS: People need an easy and reliable way to assess their personality, explore professions and receive expert advise
Ideation
I did a quick ideation exercise to come up with ideas to fill the gaps identified in the competitive audit. My main focus was on creating a career quiz, blog and connecting mentors to people.
Paper Wireframes
DIGITAL WIREFRAMES & PROTOTYPES: I then brought my idea to an interactive digital low-fidelity prototype and tested it with five potential users to collect feedback.
Usability Studies
After conducting Usability Studies for the prototypes, the results were synthesized as follows-
USABILITY STUDY FINDINGS: 2 rounds of unmoderated usability studies were conducted with a diverse set of audience and the following problems were identified-
ROUND 1 FINDINGS:
1) 4 out of 5 users found issues with transitions
2) 2 out of 5 users found issues with the loading screen after taking the quiz
3) 2 out of 5 users wanted more details and colours on the prototype to avoid confusion
ROUND 2 FINDINGS:
1) 3 out of 5 users wanted the confirmation screen to have a way to make changes/cancel an appointment
2) 2 out of 5 users thought there were some gaps that could be filled with content
Iterations
ITERATIONS: I made two major modifications based on the feedback that I received from the usability testing sessions. I took note of the user comments and suggestions, and worked hard to implement them in a way that would provide the best user experience possible. My goal was to create a product that was easy to understand, efficient to use, and enjoyable to interact with. To achieve this, I paid close attention to the user feedback and made changes accordingly.
ITERATION 1: I changed the confirmation screen for the bookings on the website so the users can modify/cancel appointments
ITERATION 2: More content has been added to screens with gaps to make the experience more engaging
Final Designs
WHAT I LEARNED: It was difficult working towards building an app and a website together towards a social good. I learned to find solutions by putting myself in the user’s shoes and understanding their pain points. I understand now that User Testing is crucial and can help one see things one wouldn't have thought of before. Design sure does go beyond what meets the eye and every project is a learning experience.
