Overview
Project Description
AdmitKard is an online platform that helps students pursue abroad education. It aspires to make global education accessible to every student.
I worked to create an industry standard report that provides students with insights into their study abroad education process. and helps them make informed decisions about their abroad education options.
Scope
During my tenure of 1+ year at AdmitKard, I was extensively involved in leading the design for several internal products with a primary focus on enhancing user experience
For this case study, I’ll be focusing only on the students’ experience of the report.
Discovery
2. Multiple Options
With hundreds or thousands of universities to choose from, students struggle to filter out irrelevant information and identify the best fit for their needs.
3. Personal Preferences
Students have different preferences, interests, and academic backgrounds, and they need tailored recommendations based on these factors.
4. Keeping track of Deadlines
Universities may have complex admission requirements, deadlines, and program offerings that can be difficult to navigate. It is challenging for the students to keep track of everything going.
Solution
The Ultimate Study Abroad Planning Tool
Seamlessly integrated into the platform and personalized according to student's preferrences.
Compare between countries to match your future objective
View country score across different fields.
Suggested country that suits the profile is also mentioned.
Select your area of specialization and shortlist universities
Based on data taken from a million admits every year.
Detailed requirements for every university.
Admit probability based on the profile.
Keep track of various deadlines
See all the steps at a top level.
Mark tasks complete or save them for later.
Research Phase
User Interviews
We first started by creating a user map that depicted the type of users. This helped us narrow down the exact target audience. We had semi-structured interviews with 5 users to further understand what steps they currently take to decide for the universities.
Identifying Pain Points
The biggest thing we discovered was that - although, the users would be excited when starting the process, it would soon start to diminish the further they went. The amount of choices available leads to confusion, which means eventual drop off.
The most impactful solution is one that would speak to the users without overwhelming them with a ton of information.
Defining Personas
Consolidating our key insights into the college student persona.
Ideation
User Flow
Our first task was to understand the user flow and the task they would perform after landing on the PAR (Profile Assesment Report). We mapped out the key path scenario that gets our users to their report within the least amount of steps
User Story
Ashish - "I want to be able to view my personal report."
Early Concept Designs
Due to time constraints, we immediately delved into conceptualizing the design of the report. We began by brainstorming and exploring different design possibilities, identifying essential elements to include in the report.
Design Phase
Validation and Polish
While we had some heuristics to help guide our decision-making, we knew we needed to do testing with actual users to prove our hypotheses. We asked participants to perform a series of tasks and observed their movement patterns, mental models and ability to complete their goals.
By incorporating feedback through multiple iterations, we successfully reduced the cognitive burden on our users and made critical information easily accessible at a broader level.
1. Dividing the report into multiple sections
A big one-page report overwhelmed the users.
Redesigned the report into 4 different sections, making it easier for users to focus on one thing at a time.
Mobile responsive designs
Since most of our users were using mobile devices, we made sure the report is mobile responsive making sure students can view the report anytime anywhere.
This was essentially helpful when they were tracking the deadlines of applications.
Shortlisiting a University
Tracking Deadline & Next Steps
Results
The Outcome
Initial user data showed that the users were interacting with the report as intended. We continued to improve some other features based on the feedback.
Next Steps
Given more time, the report could be further refined using user feedback.
Add more sections to the report
The report was missing scholarship and credit sections. These sections were planned to be added later on after more research.
Shareable email report
The report could also be shared over email, making it easier for the users to share with other people.
Learnings
On the technical side, I got to learn and explore a lot about code and best practises when delivering designs to engineers.
Holistically, I also learned the importance of thinking outside the box. It inspires fresh perspectives, leading to novel solutions that can differentiate our design project from others and deliver greater value to the end-users.
