Intrigz
Explore the diverse world of professions.
Project Overview
College is a popular route for students to further their education and build skills for a successful life. However, when it comes to choosing their major, students often struggle with discovering their career interests, and thus have a hard time finding the right major to pursue.
Problem
Choosing a college major may be one of the biggest commitments a high school student has to make. But oftentimes, students struggle in selecting a major for various reasons, including not knowing their true interests. Students need more opportunities to explore all the different professions out in the world and discover the path that interests them the most.
Solution
I created Intrigz - an explorative tool that uses real-life scenarios to help students find the right major for college.
Process
User Research
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Ideation
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UI Design & Prototype
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Usability Test & Synthesize
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Redesign
Role
Sole UX/UI Designer
Tools
Figma
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Procreate
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Wix
User
Research
Ideation
UI Design
Prototyping & Usability Testing
Retrospect
Secondary Research
I conducted secondary research to gather data on
According to a 2019 survey of 1,000 students conducted by Ellucian, the world’s leading provider of software and services built to power higher education:
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49% are confident in their career path when they enroll in college
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2/3 of students feel overwhelmed by the process of selecting a major
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1 in 3 students is unsure which major aligns with his/her chosen career path
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18% said their schools were less than helpful in providing guidance on majors
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51% change their major at least once
Survey
I conducted ​a survey to discover key factors to why students struggle to find the right major and career path.
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Key Questions:
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how confident they were in their chosen major
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rate the helpfulness of current major/career finder tests
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rate the accuracy of current major/career finder tests
Participant Characteristics
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Rising college freshmen who have already gone through the college application process
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Rising seniors who are currently applying for college
Survey Findings
Why Students Struggle to Find the Right Major and Career Path
Current Career Tests:​
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Focus more on personality rather than interests
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Use stereotypical traits of a person to categorize careers
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Use random questions that students don’t know the answers to, often skewing results
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Test questions are constricting (black/white answers)
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Given very technical terms as careers, which students sometimes do not understand
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Assumes you'll be interested in and good at a career that aligns with your hobbies
Not Confident/ Helpful/ Accurate
Average ACCURACY
Very Confident/ Helpful/ Accurate
1
10
Average HELPFULNESS
Average CONFIDENCE
Current Career Tests
Current Career Tests
In Their Chosen Major
2.8
4.9
6.95
Empathy Mapping & Personas
I then created an empathy map and two personas to identify my target users.
Problem Statements
For the problem statements, I focused on four main issues in current career tests I discovered through my user research and then proposed questions that addressed these issues.
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How might we help students find the right major and career path without:
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using stereotypical traits to match a person with a career?
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having them answer numerous constricting personality test questions?
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How might we help students easily understand the main roles in each profession?
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How might we balance a student's interest, personality, type of work environment, and financial preferences in finding the right career and major?
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User
Research
Ideation
UI Design
Prototyping & Usability Testing
Retrospect
Ideation
For the ideation phase, my main focus was creating an app that allows users to easily find career interests and majors without having to answer too many questions. I wanted to give users the opportunity to imagine themselves in various roles within a real-life scenario. Initially, I chose three scenarios that I thought were fun but also covered a diverse set of majors:
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Ice Cream Business
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Cell Phone Factory
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Medical Clinic
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After choosing a scenario to explore, users will be taken to top-level choices, such as "make the ice cream" or "sell the cell phone." Once a choice is made, more specific roles, such as "build the machine" would appear. Each role then takes users to the major that is related to that profession.
Sitemap
I created a sitemap and flowchart with the purpose of organizing the content in my app. I used a color-coding system to organize all the college majors, with each color representing a different major category. For instance, the business roles are yellow, while tech roles are blue. Both lead to different majors in my app that allows for clarity when color coded.
User Flow
KEY:
Action
Screen
Open
Website
Homepage
Choose Scenario
Top-Level
Role Choices
Suggested Major
Choose Role
Second-Level Role Choices
Choose Role
Sketches
I created 4 sketches to outline the different screens users would be able to see when using the site. These screens display the path of the main functions of the site.
Under each screen, I described the functions and components of each page. For example, on the top-level choices page, I included breadcrumbs to allow users to return to the previous page. In addition, I created icon buttons with interactivity, such as hovering to see a short description of the role and clicking to see the next level choices.
Wireframes
Using figma, I recreated my sketches. My wireframes use a simple grayscale color palette that allows me to focus on the content structure without any color or designs that would distract the user from the main functions of my app. I used simple shapes and icons to ensure that the interactions are visible and are able to be recognized immediately by users. Finally, I also kept the button and text field the same size in all my screens to ensure consistency.
User
Research
Ideation
UI Design
Prototyping & Usability Testing
Retrospect
Brand Platform
For the brand, I chose the name “Intrigz” because I wanted to reflect how this tool gives a sense of curiosity and interest in exploring the diverse world of professions out there. The "z" at the end of the name adds a modern and edgy feel, appealing to the target audience of students.
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Mission Statement ~ Intrigz is an explorative tool that allows students to imagine themselves in a multitude of professions. Intrigz uses real-life scenarios to help students find the right career path and major for college.
Mood Board
Brand Attributes
Style Guide
Hi-Fi Screens
Using the same colors, typography, and buttons in my style guide, I then created Hi-Fi screens for Intrigz.
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*Old Version
User
Research
Ideation
UI Design
Prototyping & Usability Testing
Retrospect
Prototyping & Usability Testing
I first created a simple prototype using Figma to test out the user experience and flow of the site.
I sent the prototype to potential users and found that they preferred filled buttons in the pressed state and outlined buttons in the normal state.
I also found that users preferred the colors of the icons to match the major. For example, all business-related majors (business, finance, marketing, etc.) to be yellow.
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After conducting a usability test using my prototype on Figma, I then created a more functional site using Wix.
Rapid Prototyping & Beta Testing
While developing my prototype on Wix, I soon moved beyond just the three real-life scenarios (ice cream business, cell phone factory, medical clinic). I began expanding my site by adding other scenarios, such as a pharmaceutical company and venture capital firm. At the same time, I also had my prototype beta tested by high school students.
From beta testing, I realized that while the overall user interface and experience is excellent, the additional scenarios had also created an overwhelming feeling for users on the landing page.
To redesign my site so that it wouldn't overwhelm users, I first decided to group the scenarios into subject categories: humanities, STEM, business, and sports, so that users could explore based on their subject interests. And for students who have no favorite subject or any interests, I give them a starting point by providing them with the three original scenarios to explore. Furthermore, instead of having an "explore other majors" button on the bottom, I redesigned my site so that users could view all scenarios using the "plus more!!" button.
Redesigned User Flow
2) Choose Scenario
1) Choose Favorite Subject
Beta Testing Results (65 Students)
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User
Research
Ideation
UI Design
Prototyping & Usability Testing
Retrospect
Retrospect
I first started this project in June 2023 after seeing many of my friends struggle to choose a major during the college application process. I realized that one of the problems was the limited exposure to the different majors and careers in the world. As high schoolers, we were only exposed to the traditional subjects in school - math, science, English, history, art, music, and technology. However, there are infinite more fields that most students are not aware of. So over the summer, after graduating from high school, I sought to create something new, something unique that doesn't already exist to help students explore the different career paths out there. I wanted to create a platform that was simple and easy to use and didn't involve answering a million questions to get to the result. I wanted to design a tool that made the oftentimes cumbersome task of choosing your major to be a fun and exciting adventure.
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Therefore, after a couple of months of researching, designing, and consulting with career experts, Intrigz was created! I realized what was missing was a tool that enables students to imagine themselves in real-life jobs and scenarios. By August 2023, I created an MVP for Intrigz that included three real-life scenarios, an ice cream business, a cell phone factory, and a medical clinic, covering over 50 college majors. Immediately after creating a prototype, I started sending the link to all my incoming-college friends for a proof of concept. The response was overwhelmingly positive, with many calling my site a "much-needed" tool. With the encouragement of my friends and former high school teacher, I then decided to keep expanding my site and have more people test it.
Ultimately, what started out as just a summer design project has quickly evolved into a potential startup. As I continue to work on this site and have more people beta-test my product, I'm excited to see where this could take me!
© 2023 by Jasmin Duong