over the hill
duration | aug - dec ‘21
role | ux & ui designer and researcher
team | 2 ux researchers and designers, 2 ux researchers
tools | figma, illustrator, fresco
course | human-computer interaction design
research space
Focus
We focused on students who are transitioning from a university setting to professional careers and understanding the topic of individualized support through connection & mentorship.
Competitive Landscape
understand
We recruited students and alumni through a Cornell-specific email listserv and through Facebook posts. Through speaking with individuals within the focus of our research space, we categorized our findings into 7 categories for our affinity diagram.
Affinity Diagram
The various colors denote the individuals’ responses
objectives
co-design
We conducted 2 rounds of co-design sessions via Zoom with a total of 6 participants - the team facilitating the session was collocated and participants were on Zoom. These virtual sessions included ice breaker activities, storyboarding, and co-design sessions.
Findings
Based on 2 co-design sessions, we tagged each design and found that 80% of participants are looking to gain specific knowledge when entering a new industry. Additionally, the majority of the designs were focused on mentorship, community, and identifying opportunities.
autobiographical
We conducted the autobiographical design study in 3 steps: 1. Building a system, 2. Using the system and reflecting on action, and 3. Evaluating and iterating on the system design. The system we built on was Slack, and we would provide our feedback and thoughts at the end of every night via a Google Form. The system design was simple and made use of the reminder features in the application to replicate a task management system.
Findings
• Snooze was a convenient function
• Lacked visual aspects to inform the user on task completion and lowered the self-esteem of individuals
• Implementing an #oppotunities channel was helpful and gave a sense of encouragement and community
• Connections were built through a shared platform
persona
prototyping
We based our high fidelity prototype on the designs from the co-design and autobiographical design. From various research and design methods, we came to the decision that given the target user group and persona, a website would be an optimal approach to this research space.
