Pathways
Responsive website design
Websites that offer help with career alignment usually have a clinical, dull appearance that left users feeling uninspired.
My team incorporated an approachable, friendly visual theme to make Pathways friendly and approachable.
BRANDING
ILLUSTRATION
To further enhance the bright, cheery palette I created a vocabulary of illustrations to capture the user's attention and imagination.
Creating this visual language allowed us to craft a product that stood out amongst the competition.
The response to the visual aesthetic in usability tests was overwhelmingly positive, with users eager to discover more.
LOGO
After several rounds of designing, we settled on an emblem that incorporated the weaving line or 'path'.
We also utilized a diamond shape to evoke thoughts of navigation and cardinal direction.
THE CHALLENGE
How might we provide young adults and mid-skilled workers with an encouraging, goal-oriented experience that guides them towards a successful career path?
CREATING A VISUAL LANGUAGE
By designing delightful, fun visuals I had the opportunity to alleviate the user's anxiety of finding a career path.
INTEGRATION OF FEATURES
All of Pathway's features were directly leveraged from the insights gathered from research. Each became a building block to create Pathways.
MAP
BADGES
SETTING GOALS
The map allows users to gain perspective as they navigate through their journey of self discovery. Doing so offers a chance to feel satisfaction of accomplishments and evaluate the scope of the journey.
I designed and illustrated the entirety of the map with the help of recommendations and suggestions from my team. Being able to pull from my background in illustration was a huge benefit for this project.
Through our research we discovered that users need to be able to set objectives to meet their goals. On the Profile Page, my team designed a calendar where users set reminders and goals.
Users are also able to view their activity graph to see hours they’ve logged to reach their goals.
Badges are earned in a variety of ways. The most important way they collect these bright icons is through the completion of exercises. Exercises are made up of unique experiences of self discovery.
MOBILE VERSION
A substantial takeaway from usability testing was that users believed the product (due to it's game-like nature) seemed like something they would expect to find on a mobile device. Due to the abundance of unprompted feedback enquiring about mobile options, we found that the design of a responsive website would be essential.
In one round of testing (and without being asked their opinion on a mobile alternative) three out of five participants voiced that being able to access Pathways on a phone would be preferential.
I worked on a team of three other UX Designers on this project. We conducted research through a series of interviews with the target audience. We synthesized our findings into actionably insights that informed our design process.
My role was largely design-oriented, though I was also involved through the entirety of the research process.
Pathways is designed to make self discovery and goal setting fun and engaging for young adults in transitional periods of their lives.
Through the use of gamification elements, users uncover their strengths and career path through a journey of personal introspection.
Gamified Self-discovery
They need a sense of encouragement to prevent them from giving up
They often feel stressed while discovering their purpose in life
They need to be able to set objectives to meet their goals
They need perspective of the progress they've made
