Team Project
Project Duration: January-March 2018
My Role: Team Leader, UX Researcher, UX Designer
Project Scope:
MyCO is the primary creative career building platform for all SCAD students and helps all the students to achieve prominent career goals. Through MyCO, each SCAD student will have a clear view of what they could do step by step to build a successful career. Also, different types of information like recruiting information and professional field events will delivery to targeted students based on what they need in order to motivate them to be initiative. This platform demonstrate the cohesive power of SCAD and creates more and more creative career opportunities for students.
SCAD as a creative career university which combined by 100 design and art programs. A huge amount of information published from school side. It's hard for student to find useful information all the time through existing media. We decided to do marketing analysis to figure out the improvement space of the SCAD platform. And divided into user research to observe customer behavior, find user needs.
Since the most differentiate characteristic of SCAD is practical.
Generally, MyCO competitors include portfolio websites, recruiting websites and social networks websites and applications.
All of these elements would be ranged basis on the horizontal axis, from all career industries to creative career industry, and the vertical axis, from high sociability to low sociability, the two directions.
High sociability social platform for creative career industry (SCAD).
From previous competitor analysis, it shown Myco doesn’t have a direct competitor, because target users are different with some potential competitors. SCAD student is MyCO specific target user. Myco pay more attention on the processof student career building, self-building, and also show the cohesion of SCAD. Myco main purpose is serving SCAD students, not profit-marketing.
Create
Cohesion of SCAD
Targeted information delivery
Students’ initiative
Alumni and students network
Reduce
Quantity of information
Raise
Network sharing
Information exchanging
SCAD brand perception
Portfolio expressive force
Eliminate
User sources diversity
Contextual inquiries became the 1st part of user research. Attended career related events to observe how students behave and what SCAD is offering for students to explore their creative career. Several different types of events such as school annual Career Fair and panel which organized by student club like IDSA(Industrial Design Association) and Flux.
SCENARIO 1
Career Fair 2018
SCENARIO 2
Career Fair 2018 - Facebook
SCENARIO 3
SCAD CLC Unveiling
Career Fair is a annual school events which invites creative company to have in-person interview at Savannah. It’s one of the most important Career events for SCAD students and almost all students prepares long time for this opportunity. We observed how students and recruiters behave on Career Fair and also talked to students to know their feelings and thought about their career building.
CLC is a program where students collaborate directly with companies. Lots of student receive job offers by having CLC courses.
SCENARIO 4
Uber UX Designer Panel Discussion
SCENARIO 5
Alumni Experience Sharing Workshop
An UX students’ club named FLUX invited the Designer of Uber by the helping of the professor to have panel discussion before the Career Fair. The Uber designers are also the recruiters on Career Fair. They shared tips and suggestions for students who want to apply for Uber.
Alumni always have speeches, panels and workshops when they have a chance back to SCAD. They shares their experience with students. Some of them also review students’ resume and portfolios to guiding students have a better career. Their network is also a important resource for students. Many students come to these events to connect to alumni.
Get quantitative information from 100 pieces both of online and offline survey. User shared their really wants from our platform. Huge quantity of data shown some general trends about how MyCO should re-frame and improve.
7 interviews be conducted in total. They included 4 kinds of stakeholder of MyCO :
Professors shared what are the problems or pains students have and what they think SCAD is most good at and how can these resources helps students.
Alumni provided a whole process of career developing, her experience and suggestions helps a lot for students.
Students shared their current situation on career developing process and what is their difficulties. They also expressed which part they looking forward SCAD can provide more for them to meet their needs.
Career advisor is who know the SCAD career services deeply. They also solves students career questions and problems everyday. They know exactly what the pains are. Her shared what resources SCAD already have and how different departments of SCAD share these resources.
Prof. Jr Neville Songwe
Industrial design professor
P1
Prof. Eunki Chung
User experience design professor
P2
Keyue Qi
Interactive Design Alumni
A1
Rita
Illustration student
S1
Niduan
Interactive Design student
S2
Jingxian
Interior Design student
S3
Liz Kelley
Career Advisor
F1
After data collection, we wrote down all data points on the stick-notes, code by research method. Sorted them by thesis.
According to the results of competitor analysis, users research and when user using products or services from our competitors and interviews with people involved, we analyzed and summarized the results of all above information by using the value proposition model.
It shown customer jobs, their pains and what they want to gain. It also led we analyze corresponding things, product value, like what product/service and features MyCO should provide, pain reliever and gain creator.
The priority of value proposition gives clue about what features MyCO must have and what features are relatively insignificant.
Portfolio display
Student need a place or a platform to put and display their digital portfolios for easily showing to other people, like other students, others in creative industry and companies that you want to apply. On the other hand, people also need to browse others displayed portfolios to get some inspiration.
Targeted recruiting
information delivery There are many recruiting websites can provide recruiting information, but people have to filter all of relevant information on these websites by themselves. The more convenient and efficient way for people is receiving the recruiting information directly, which has specially selected for their own needs.
Field information
update 24 hours a day, seven days a week, people can continuously get your field related updates, which include latest news, technologies, conferences, articles and competitions. You can check them every time you want, and know what’s happening in the world now.
Career network building
One of the most important thing for your career, is to build up your own career network that can help you working, changing job and even finding a new job more smoothly and easily. However, many people don’t have an appropriate occasion or chance to meet many different people.
Minimal apply process
To be honestly, existed apply process is complex and multiple. There are many different things that need to be submitted for appliers when they want to apply for a job. Even some of portfolio website or recruiting websites can handle some of your document, but you still have to package them by yourself, so they are trying to simplify this process for users. Nevertheless, if people can apply for jobs just by clicking a button, it will be very convenient and efficient.
On campus event
For many successful websites, them have many useful information and amazing functions, but lack of the off-line part. The most direct and efficient way for people to communicate, is still face to face talking with each other. So, for students, if there is some on campus activities combined with the online things, it will be better, like student’s clubs, workshop, panel discussion, alumni on campus speech, etc.
Profile
Many students don’t know the style and correct structure of a formal profile. It is very important to provide some templet for them or assist them to deal with the profile, and you also may see some others’ profiles if people setting the limit of authority is public. The profile can include not only things you uploaded, but some further information from system recording and history.
Action plan
Sometimes, students are not quite clear what should they do about their career at different periods of time. The action plan can help them to deal with these problems. Each group of student has their own plan, because at varying time, it is very differently that things should be emphasized and viewed about career preparing. If students can work it out pretty well, it will be very helpful.
Comment
People love to exchange information or opinions with others, so if there is a platform showing others’ projects, people will like to post comments under it, which is a way to communicate with author. Except the comments, people also want to know how many people like your project.
Skill set
display When you seeking a job, you should let the employer know what skills you have. In some cases, students don’t know how to show skills they have. At here, students can display their skills and connect these with their own project that they used. Students also can upload their processing photos to show their skills.
From all the researches and analysis, what services and features MyCO should provide on the platform be clarified. This infographic illustrates MyCO structure and shows the level of information. This step helps to better organized the data and information into delivery and also lead to the next step: wire-frame design.
MyCO, Meet Your Career Opportunity.
Depends on information architecture to translate feature and function into website structure.
Based on the color scheme and the slogan, a series of logo be created. Here is the final version. Target user are SCAD students who are young, energetic and creative.
Tried to create a playful brand, since doing playful is an important part of innovation.
Based on the color scheme and the slogan, a series of logo be created. Here is the final version. Target user are SCAD students who are young, energetic and creative.
Tried to create a playful brand, since doing playful is an important part of innovation.
To test whether the brand identity that we trying to express is consistent with the image that users received, we showed the information architecture, interface and logo of our platform to users without any explanation. We let them to describe what they think about the functions, mission, target users and operator of our platform, completely according to their own understanding.
The test result really makes us pleasantly surprised, because a great amount of test participants can understand that this is a school affiliated website and is for school offering extra things to students. Besides, none of subjects couldn’t recognize that this platform can assist students to find jobs or internships, and help them self–building.
“It’s like Job Portal or LinkedIn.”
“It’s a platform for students to seek for job and also self-building.”
“I think this is for students.”
“The color style is for millennial.”
“This might be for some green hands, because if you don’t know what need to do, it can help you.”
“Your logo is looking like designed for designers.”
👋🏻 Contact me at
Willowsheng666@gmail.com
or Find me on LinkedIn, Medium.
