Private college admissions planning is inaccessible to most American families.
Mapt is an intuitive mobile platform that provides the same value as a real college consultant.
Private college advisors cost over $200/hr. Mapt provides every American family with an accessible tool that empowers their child to change the world through post-secondary education.
ROLE
SKILLS
I took on the role of Founding Product Designer, and worked in a 5-person team alongside two other designers and two developers.
I led a complete redesign of the app's core features and aided in product development through user research, wireframes, and high-fidelity prototypes.
UX - User Research, User Flows, Information Architecture, Heuristic Evaluation, Copywriting
UI - Wireframing, UI Patterns, Visual Design, Prototyping, Interaction Design, Design Documentation
Understanding the Problem
Mapt's app design was inconsistent, visually unappealing, and lacking informational architecture that was engaging to the user. The user retention rate after 7 days was near 0%, which made it clear that Mapt was lacking an engaging user experience.
As a result, Mapt was unable to effectively achieve its goal of making college admissions planning accessible to the average American family.
Business Goals
Parent Subscriptions
Increase the amount of new parent subscribers and unique users
User Retention
Increase user rentention by inticing users with new features
Support Personal Growth
Make college planning accessible to students from all backgrounds
Solution
Rebrand
Formerly known as Undecided, we excuted an entire rebrand of Mapt as a company
User Experience & Accessibility
We priortized creating an inuitive experience following WCAG guidelines
Target Audience
We developed two unique experiences in order to cater to both parents and students
Onboarding User Flow
In order to improve user retention, I began by restructuring and redesigning Mapt's user onboarding experience. I created a user flow diagram to map out the structure of information and questions asked during the onboarding process.
After completing the user flow, I began creating wireframes in order to translate this flow into visual designs.
ONBOARDING
First Iteration
In the midst of our rebrand, I began experimenting with different colors and logos through more high fidelity versions of the wireframes. Because of the fast-paced nature of startups, I had to take a more unconventional approach to the design process. I also began to consider what the login experience would look like for returning users.
ONBOARDING
Live Version and A/B Testing
Working in real time with the company's developers, I produced a final version of this design that incorporated our new branding and illustration style to go live on the app.
We did some A/B testing to determine if the user should view our value propostions before answering onboarding questions. Ultimately, the data showed that leading users to view our value propositions first was negatively affecting user retention. We decided that this flow would be more appropriate for the parent onboarding experience.
PROBLEM
Users aren't engaging with educational content
Mapt offers a wide range of educational content for both students and parents, covering topics such as financial planning, career exploration, mental health, and more. This is where Mapt provides most of its value, so it is important that users can easily access and engage with this content. This content previously lived on the home screen of the app, so it was easy to overlook and difficult to find specific types of content.
SOLUTION
A new section of the app for discovery
In order to make educational content accessible for users, I created a new Discovery feature within the app's main navigation. This feature allows user to browse and interact with educational content in an organized manner. The user can browse by different types of content, or they can choose a topic of their interest.
Takeaways
Designing to make a real impact in peoples' lives is something that I am very passionate about. It was amazing to be a part of this project and know that it could potentially make a big difference for someone.
Because I worked on this project in a startup environment, I learned how to move quickly and incorporate feedback from multiple different sources. I'm now more confident in my ability to solve complex problems as a designer.
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