UniPath
Maximize your college experience!
Involvement in relevant courses and clubs is crucial for students aiming to advance their career skills. UniPath is a platform designed to empower students by offering tailored recommendations for university clubs and courses that align with their professional goals.
My Role:
UX Research & UI Design
Team:
Michelle Aung, Jasmine Gonzalez Pacheco, Janine Kong, Sean Tinio
Length of Project:
8 hours
Background
Unipath was created for the 2024 Davis Design Fest, an 8-hour design-a-thon at the University of California, Davis.
The design challenge was to create a mobile or desktop application that seamlessly integrates with individuals’ daily lives to promote education and career development.
Our First Approach
Networking is one of the best ways for students to gain insight into their careers, and we initially approached the prompt with this idea in mind. We created a user survey and shared it with students to gather more research.
Our goal was to create a platform that made connecting with alumni more approachable so that students could receive the mentorship they seek and mentors could offer their experiences and guidance.
Wait a minute, this sounds familiar…
Redirecting Our Focus
Surprise, surprise. After researching competitors and speaking with a mentor, we found that companies like ADPList and LinkedIn already served this purpose effectively.
So, instead of reinventing the wheel, we decided to shift our approach…
While reflecting on our own academic and professional journeys, my team recognized the significant role that clubs and courses played in shaping our careers.
To ensure that there was a need amongst students within this aspect of career-building, we conducted research with a competitive analysis and user survey.
Insights from User Research
For our competitive analysis, we examined existing platforms, such as RateMyProfessor, the UCD General Catalog, and Clubly, to identify key features and assess how effectively they addressed their users’ needs.
Our competitive analysis revealed that the university's club and course catalogs were outdated and contained limited information that was not insightful to students. In addition to this, their user interfaces were tedious to navigate and restrictive to users.
After that, we conducted an in-person user survey by asking nearby students: “How did you discover that Davis Interactive is a UI/UX design organization?” The overwhelming result showed that students relied on individual research across multiple platforms, particularly social media.
The problem was clear: there was no centralized platform where students could easily identify the clubs and courses best aligned with their career aspirations.
Ideation & Prototyping
Building on our research insights, our team brainstormed solutions to address students' challenges with online research when it came to finding career-relevant classes and clubs. We decided that a platform focused on rating clubs and courses for career advancement would be the most effective approach.
We sketched out multiple screens that showcased the core functions we envisioned for UniPath. We took inspiration from our competitive analysis and decided that some features we found essential to integrate within our platform were search filters to tailor recommendations and the ability for users to rate and leave testimonials for clubs and courses.
Final Designs
UniPath is a desktop application designed to empower students by providing personalized recommendations for clubs and courses, coupled with anonymous reviews to guide their choices.
UniPath’s key features include
The ability to filter courses and clubs based on a student’s major or interests
Allows users to submit and browse anonymous reviews on both club and course pages
These features work together to help students make informed decisions and foster a community of shared experiences, all aimed at enhancing career development.
Awarded 2nd Best Overall Design
Participating in the Davis Design Fest was a rewarding experience, particularly working under tight time constraints alongside my peers and truly testing our design thinking.
Earning 2nd place for Best Overall Design was a testament to our hard work and creativity.
To Be Continued…
Moving forward, we’re collaborating with a project manager and web developers to turn UniPath into something more than just a prototype.
Our next step is to conduct further research to identify areas for improvement and refine UniPath into an even more powerful tool for student career development.