Product design for a mentoring platform

ExpertIn is a web app that connects students and experts online. The web app enables students to find an expert that can support their growth. The communication happens during video calls. The area of expertise includes mainly students and experts from a design field.

Problem

Many people, especially those starting new careers, don’t know anyone who could support their growth. What’s available online fail to meet their needs too.

User needs

I run a series of interviews and surveys to learn a little more about this problem space.

  • Some online forums ask people to share their work publicly to obtain feedback. Most (4 out of 7) people I interviewed did not like that. They felt too “exposed”.

  • 3 out of 7 interviewees said they liked getting feedback from their family and friends but knew it wasn’t representative as it had bias.

  • I spoke to 7 people. Four of them were in low-wage jobs and couldn’t afford to pay a lot (or anything) for career advice from a professional.

Solution

I designed a series of high-fidelity screens to meet the needs of both the mentees and mentors. The features included finding an expert, contacting them (inc. file upload), ability to select mentorship programs (in order to motivate the users) and more.

High-fidelity screens

Signup screen

Filled email signup screen

Experts screen

Smart search suggestion

Expert screen

File upload

Email signup screen

Loading screen

Search functionality

Filtered search results

Contacting the expert

Call booked

Learnings

Whilst working on this project, I was reassured of, yet again, the power of iterative processes in design. This project allowed me to iterate thanks to having access to my real potential audience throughout the three design iterations. Truly invaluable.