Graduated
MOBILE APP
EDTECH
Almost three million high school students apply to college each year in America in a long, complex application process. This college application process is complicated and stressful, leading to increased mental health issues, which are heightened for low income and first generation students. To combat this, I designed a solution that improves the college application experience for students in a straightforward, easy-to-use, mobile application.
Problem
The college application process is complicated and stressful for students, leading to increased mental health issues. Many of these problems are heightened for low income or first generation students who often lack access to resources.
Solution
Graduated provides everything needed during the college application process in a straightforward, easy to use mobile application. Users can research colleges and financial aid, set goals, receive wellness tips, connect with advisors, and organize tasks with one central list.
Key takeaway
I spent a lot of time agonizing over colors, flows, microcopy, and tons of other small design choices. Remembering to keep the user at the center helped guide me, focusing on two questions: "How does this help the user? What are they trying to do?"
During secondary research, I learned that during the college application process, students suffer from increased mental health issues like anxiety and stress. They struggle with organization and procrastination, and these problems are even worse for students who are low socioeconomic, first generation college students, or non-native English speakers.
"…to all the other people who are first-generation, like, this is not your fault. This is a problem of the system."
Mehrsa Baradaran, NPR: "When Applying For College Is Especially Difficult"
I surveyed 40 seniors at a public high school in San Francisco, who were either low socioeconomic, a first generation college student, or a non-native English speaker. Each had applied to 3 or more 4-year universities.
75%
felt anxiety, stress, and depression
68%
needed better time management
46%
were not knowledgeable enough
I also interviewed 6 future first generation college students. They felt both internal and external pressures to be successful, and all had different ways and levels of organization. Students who felt successful throughout the process pointed to the support of one-on-one mentors or counselors.
"I was alone. My parents expect me to do something better. I felt that pressure from them and from myself."
12th grade student from San Francisco Unified School District
I began sketching out ideas to address major pain points of the students, including organization, procrastination, and a way to connect students to one-on-one help.
I began refining sketches into low fidelity wireframes, focusing on basic page structure and layout. I explored different concepts and ways of visualizing the information without the distractions of visuals.
I created a quick style guide to help with both consistent and efficient design. After experimentation and exploration, I landed on the color blue to represent freedom, stability, and intelligence, and the logo of a paper airplane to represent the playful adventure that moving onto college can be.
I aimed to design an app with low cognitive load by utilizing both minimalism and white space. Solutions include a streak counter to encourage students to use the app daily, the ability to schedule meetings with mentors both in small groups and one-on-one, a learning space for college information, a dedicated task list, and wellness check-ins.
I user tested the prototype with 5 students, focusing on user impressions, accessibility, and usability. Results were mostly positive, although two issues arose: unknown features and the lack of confirmation after scheduling an appointment. I created a new onboarding flow along with a feedback modal to combat these issues. I also made minor changes in UI.
Potential key metrics would include:
Number of students who successfully apply to or are accepted by a 4-year college
Number of tasks added and completed by students
Average streak length (days in a row the student interacts with or completes a task within the app)
Percentage of students who achieve weekly time goal
Bringing value
If used by a school district or youth program, Graduated could improve the percentage of students who are accepted by a 4-year college, allowing the district to save money on resources like counselors, tutors, or college information nights.
If run as a private company, Graduated could be used to cross sell products to users that help them prepare for college acceptance including standardized test preparation or personal statement editing. It could also help students prepare for moving to college and cross sell through partnerships with companies like Ikea, Quizlet, or Evernote.
Designing inclusively
I spent a lot of time and energy trying to adjust colors to meet AAA contrast compliance. If I would have spent more time initially choosing colors that met compliance, it would have been beneficial in the long run.
Style guide was a time saver
Building out a style guide and using text styles, color styles, and components helped me save time and ensure design was consistent throughout the app.
Always think of the user
I spent a lot of time agonizing over colors, flows, microcopy, and tons of other small design choices. Remembering to keep the user at the center helped guide me, focusing on two questions: "How does this help the user? What are they trying to do?"
"Wow! I wish I had this when I was applying to college."
12th grade student during usability testing
