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Project Overview
The product
VeteranFirst Coaching is a non-profit making organization with the mission to help all veteran for their career transition. They need a tool that help veteran to get free tailor-made coaching service and resources to prepare for their next career.
The problem
There are a number of non-profit making organizations that provide free coaching service to veteran. However, the registration process may be too complicated; the service has been waiting too long or uneasy to reach. In addition to this, the coach is randomly assigned, sometime the coach do not have a related industrial knowledge, that mean veteran don’t really have a choice and sometime may not meet their need.
The goal
Design an App that help veteran to match the right coach for the Free Tailor-made Career Coaching Services; Track Progress and to get related resources to prepare for their next career.
Project duration
30 March 2022 – 5 May 2022
Understand the User
I have conducted a research about common obstacles that a veteran may face when dealing with career transition.
According to VA.gov, the data revealed that some veteran may have never looked for, applied for, or interviewed for a civilian job, especially if he or she had a career in the military.
In applying for a job, a Veteran will have to determine how to translate his or her military skills and duties into civilian terms and create a resume. A Veteran may have never created a resume. Instead of a resume the military uses a Field Service Record to detail qualifications, training, and experience.
Returning to the job may include a period of catching up, learning new skills, or adjusting to a new position. It will also include adjusting to social changes that may have occurred in the workplace.
During the transition back to work, some Veterans also experience worry and fear about possible job loss.
Civilian workplaces may be competitive environments, as opposed to the collaborative camaraderie of the military.
Given the direct nature of communication in military settings, there may be subtle nuances in conversations and workplace lingo that are unfamiliar to Veterans.
Persona & Problem Statement
Josh
Josh is a degree holder veteran without any prior experience on teaching, he needs to reach a career coaching service because he needs guidance on the career transition from Veteran to High School Teacher.
Marie
Marie is a young veteran without prior experience on IT industry, she needs to approach career coaching services because she want to get herself well prepare so as to increase her competitiveness and increase the chance to get hired.
Competitive Audit
An audit of a few competitor’s products provided direction on gaps and opportunities to address with the VF Coaching app.
Ideation
I did a quick ideation exercise to come up with ideas for how to address gaps identified in the competitive audit. My focus was specifically on Coach Searching and Progress Tracking as well as Free Resource features.
Starting The Design
Digital Wireframe
After ideating and drafting some paper wireframes, I created the initial designs for the VF Coaching app. As the service is for veteran only, sign up/login for service is required.
Usability study
To start testing the designs, I created a low-fidelity prototype which you can view here. This prototype was used in an unmoderated usability study with 5 participants. Here are the main findings uncovered by the usability study:
Synthesizing result using affinity diagram
Findings
Sign Up
People need a way to insert their current location and military occupation code for verification
Create Profile
People need a way to insert their college name, GPA and other language
Coach Profile
People want to add coach to favorite list for further consideration
Filter
People need a location option to fine tune their search result
Refining the Design
Mock Up
Based on the insights from the usability studies, I applied design changes like adding Military Occupation Code and the user current address to verify their Veteran Status.
Another insight form the usability study is that, user can’t find a way to insert their college name, GPA and add other language, so I made changes by adding those items for user to complete the create profile process.
Based on the insight from the usability study, user would like to save coach’s profile for further consideration, so adding the “add to favorite” feature help user to keep their search result for later use.
The final finding is user don’t understand “search coach by State”. So, I have made changes on the filter option by dividing ”current location (current address)” and “pre-set location (answer at the create profile page)”.
Accessibility considerations
Screen Readers
Clear labels for interactive elements that can be read by screen readers.
Voice Input/Scanner
Audio input or photo input to ease the sign-up process
Refined Design
High-fidelity Prototype
The high-fidelity prototype followed the same user flow as the low-fidelity prototype, including design changes made after the usability study.
View VF Coaching’s high-fidelity prototype
After finishing the High fidelity phototype, I documented the design system ready to hand off to the Engineer.
Responsive Design
Sitemap
With the app designs completed, I started work on designing the responsive website. I used the VF Coaching sitemap to guide the organizational structure of each screen’s design to ensure a cohesive and consistent experience across devices.
Responsive Design
The designs for screen size variation included mobile, tablet, and desktop. I optimize the designs to fit specific user needs of each device and screen size.
View VF Coaching’s responsive designs prototype
Going Forward
Takeaways
Impact:
Users shared that the app look more appealing than other similar app, it offers the impression of professionalism and able to give them a sense of confident to try on. Also, coach matching is the best feature that they ever want because they are able to choose what is right for them.
What I learned:
I learned that even though the problem I was trying to solve was a big one, diligently going through each step of the design process and aligning with specific user needs helped me come up with solutions that were both feasible and useful.
Next Step
Conduct other usability to uncover the unmet need.
Conduct research on how successful the app is in reaching the goal to help veteran to match the coaching service.
Add more educational resources for users to learn about career transition and “industry practice”.
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