UX Design - Figma
September 5 - October 12, 2022
According to the department of labor, 3.8% of Veterans are unemployed, and 5.8% of disabled veterans are unemployed. Most of employment gains were in leisure and hospitality, professional and business services, retail trade, and manufacturing.
"Veterans struggle to gain employment because of cultural gaps between civilian society, and military pasts, as well as lack of seamless integration amongst veteran care programs."
(https://ivmf.syracuse.edu/article/employment-situation-of-veterans-january-2022/)
Nancy Berglass and Dr. Margaret C. Harrell's research of veterans and the effects of military service states:
"Less than 1% of the American population serve in some military branch. General civilian society does not understand the needs and unique challenges posed to Vets."
https://news.va.gov/6603/why-can%E2%80%99t-veterans-get-jobs/
Design an app and website that allowed users to get matched with a mentor who would guide them through their situations, and connect them to resources that accommodate for their needs.
The research I conducted on veterans was through government sites and the department of labor. Because there was no in person connection, it was harder to get an empathetic view on their situations. To help with the app itself, I interviewed participants looking for work. A majority of them found interest in having someone guide them through the job search process, while others found interest in being matched with jobs based on their skills and education.
Persona 1: Tom Grant
Problem statement:
Tom is a disabled Veteran who needs an accessible career mentor to help him get a job based on his disabilities because he wants to help support his family
Persona 2: Rory Wilson
Problem statement:
Rory is an uneducated war veteran who needs An accessible career mentor to help him find jobs based on his education and skills because He wants to start making money to help his grandchildren through college
Wireframes:
I listed out the important aspects of the app, such as mentors, user profile, skills, preferences, messaging, education, and how to schedule and appointment. Some paper wireframes were used as inspiration for other pages, but my main focus was on the home page and what the user could do from there
It was around this time where I experienced a creativity burnout. While I had an idea of what I wanted, I was stuck as to how to structure the page. To combat this, I made a list of important parts of a page, and justified them by asking 'why should this be here?', and went back to my user research to clarify the answers.
The simple design helped me understand what parts should be on certain pages, and ultimately helped determine the changes I made for my high-fidelity prototype.
The main action is to schedule an appointment, so I tried to make all parts of the scheduling accessible. I added mentor’s profile because I felt that it was important for the scheduling page
The biggest issue was having a consistent design, and having the correct size between headings and paragraphs. While I thought that making everything accessible on one page would help with navigation, it caused frustration because everything was clustered and hard to find call to action buttons.
There was too much white space in some areas that made it confusing for users to navigate.
Mentor page
Mentor profile should be on its own page; it takes up too much space on the schedule and makes more sense on its own
Call to action
Call to action buttons blended in with the rest of the page so it was hard to see where to go next
Aspect ratio
Headings and paragraphs should be different; it was awkward for some pages
Mockups:
After the usability study, I made the splash page the scheduling page, and the rest of the features on a side menu. The user is always informed of where they are.
I used a similar idea from the 'scheduling page' for the 'job search page'. Information is immediately available for the user, rather than another menu page where the user has to search for what they want.
All the tabs are located at the top of the screen for ease of access
All the tabs are located at the top of the screen for ease of access
1. Clear call to action buttons to help users know where to go
2. Font size to ensure text is legible, and text color provides enough contrast with the background.
I tried to approach the website as I approached the mobile design, in that all parts of the website is available at the top navigation bar. The biggest issue I found while iterating on designing the website was approaching it too much like an app. I took inspiration from other sites - such as 'Better Help' - that carry similar services to help me outline the navigation.
The design for each screen included a mobile app, a tablet, and a website. The navigation was changed based on which device the user is using, and what would be easiest for them to access.
Impact:
The purpose of this product was to create an app and website that made it easier for veterans to find work after service and catered to their specific needs. Because each veteran has a different situation, they would have a mentor to guide them through their challenges and connect them to the resources they need.
What I learned:
The biggest problem I faced throughout this project were burnouts and creativity blocks. While taking breaks is ideal, I I wanted to face this problem as if there were a deadline -- mimicking a work situation. What helped me through this was making lists of the most important parts of the app, and using that as a guideline for what should go on what page.
When going through the design process, always thinking about the user should be the the main focus of how it is structured and what is accessible.
If you like what you see and want to work together, get in touch!
nicolenguyenx98@gmail.com