Intro
Helping professionals solve workplace & career related problems with a speed mentorship service
NEST is a mobile app that enables professionals and new grads to receive speed mentorship by connecting users to relevant mentors at anytime. The app helps professionals overcome communication & soft-skills related challenges at their workplace by providing a safe, anonymous platform for users to share their concerns and seek guidance.
As the lead designer and researcher, I defined the product vision & strategy for NEST, conducted and analyzed user research through interviews, surveys and secondary research, developed the brand and crafted the high-fidelity prototype in Figma.
Role
Product Strategy
User Research
Product Design
PROJECT TYPE
0-1 Innovative Product Development, Visual Design, Mobile App
Timeline
10 Weeks
THE PROBLEM
Early and mid-career professionals seek more personalized advice and mentorship due to rapidly changing job market and workplace cultures, but hesitate to speak openly, fearing career repercussions for saying the wrong thing.
THE SOLUTION
I framed our product value statement based on insights from user research. The statement helped the team to begin ideating on the product concept and strategy and prioritize key features that addressed user pain points while also providing business value through unique market differentiating features resulting in:
A speed mentorship mobile app that allows users to quickly connect with relevant peers in their industry and anonymously discuss workplace related challenges in a safe, judgement-free space. Unlike traditional approaches to soft-skills development such as time-consuming courses, NEST offers quick, personalized guidance from a community of like-minded professionals.
the product
Anonymous real-time chat: a safe space for users to discuss any workplace related issues without judgement or repercussions.
Real-time chat allows users to anonymously share workplace-related queries and recieve instant guidance from a suitable profes Users sought a safe and authentic space to seek timely feedback about workplace concerns that they might not be able to openly discuss with peers due to fear of judgment and career-related repercussions. Users are matched with the best suited respondents based on the users profile and queries through AI-enabled filtering.
A community of credible, like-minded professionals
NEST vets its users for credibility by confirming their identity with an official work/university email-addresses for signing up. The use of Zero Knowledge Proof encryption only uses sensitive work/university email identification for verification without storing the information in its databases. (Similar technology as apps like Blind, Fishbowl, etc). NEST also offers a community content forum for discussions and Q&A that do not require urgent resolutions. Users can stay up-to-date with opinions and information shared by like minded peers and across multi-generations professionals of varied experiences.
The competitive landscape
The current skills-development platforms landscape is saturated with B2B/B2C solutions focused on hard skills development delivered via a one-directional format.
I differentiated from our competitors by eliminating enterprise offerings, focusing on soft-skills development instead of hard-skills and enabling mutual exchange of skills through mentorship.
IDEATION
Task flows for key user activities like onboarding, asking questions anonymously and in communities viewing other service offerings like skills dashboard, skill based games and learning activities were planned by ideating on paper.
Before building the wireframes, I reviewed popular apps that have similar functions to analyze best practices and user flows. I looked at apps like Facebook Messenger and Reddit that have chat functions, Glassdoor and Fishbowl for their professional community discussion feature, Blind for their anonymous professional community space and Duolingo for their gamified learning features.
impact in their words
"It's such a helpful idea, especially for mid-career professionals who are reluctant to ask for help."
Mid-career user after concept testing
"I can see myself using this app to understand other perspectives."
Mid-career user after concept testing
"Really impressed with the project, the problem is super relevant."
Gabriella Lanning, Staff UX Researcher at Google, after the pitch presentation
Intro
Intro
NEST
NEST is a mobile app that enables professionals and new grads to receive speed mentorship by connecting users to relevant mentors at anytime. The app helps professionals overcome communication & soft-skills related challenges at their workplace by providing a safe, anonymous platform for users to share their concerns and seek guidance.
As the lead designer and researcher, I defined the product vision & strategy for NEST, conducted and analyzed user research through interviews, surveys and secondary research, developed the brand and crafted the high-fidelity prototype in Figma.
Role
Product Strategy
User Research
Product Design
PROJECT TYPE
0-1 Innovative Product Development, Visual Design, Mobile App
Timeline
10 Weeks
THE PROBLEM
THE PROBLEM
Early and mid-career professionals seek more personalized advice and mentorship due to rapidly changing job market and workplace cultures, but hesitate to speak openly, fearing career repercussions for saying the wrong thing.
THE SOLUTION
THE SOLUTION
I framed our product value statement based on insights from user research. The statement helped the team to begin ideating on the product concept and strategy and prioritize key features that addressed user pain points while also providing business value through unique market differentiating features.
Designed a speed mentorship mobile app that allows users to quickly connect with relevant peers in their industry and anonymously discuss workplace related challenges in a safe, judgement-free space. Unlike traditional approaches to soft-skills development such as time-consuming courses, NEST offers quick, personalized guidance from a community of like-minded professionals.
the product
the product
Anonymous real-time chat: a safe space for users to discuss any workplace related issues without judgement or repercussions.
Real-time chat allows users to anonymously share workplace-related queries and recieve instant guidance from a suitable profes Users sought a safe and authentic space to seek timely feedback about workplace concerns that they might not be able to openly discuss with peers due to fear of judgment and career-related repercussions. Users are matched with the best suited respondents based on the users profile and queries through AI-enabled filtering.
A community of credible, like-minded professionals
NEST vets its users for credibility by confirming their identity with an official work/university email-addresses for signing up. The use of Zero Knowledge Proof encryption only uses sensitive work/university email identification for verification without storing the information in its databases. (Similar technology as apps like Blind, Fishbowl, etc). NEST also offers a community content forum for discussions and Q&A that do not require urgent resolutions. Users can stay up-to-date with opinions and information shared by like minded peers and across multi-generations professionals of varied experiences.
The competitive landscape
The competitive landscape
The current skills-development platforms landscape is saturated with B2B/B2C solutions focused on hard skills development delivered via a one-directional format.
I differentiated from our competitors by eliminating enterprise offerings, focusing on soft-skills development instead of hard-skills and enabling mutual exchange of skills through mentorship.
IDEATION
IDEATION
Task flows for key user activities like onboarding, asking questions anonymously and in communities viewing other service offerings like skills dashboard, skill based games and learning activities were planned by ideating on paper.
Before building the wireframes, I reviewed popular apps that have similar functions to analyze best practices and user flows. I looked at apps like Facebook Messenger and Reddit that have chat functions, Glassdoor and Fishbowl for their professional community discussion feature, Blind for their anonymous professional community space and Duolingo for their gamified learning features.
impact in their words
impact in their words
"It's such a helpful idea, especially for mid-career professionals who are reluctant to ask for help"
Mid-career user after concept testing
"I can see myself using this app to understand other perspectives"
Mid-career user after concept testing
"Really impressed with the project, NEST really turned it around"
Gabriella Lanning, Staff UX Researcher at Google, after the pitch presentation.
Intro
Intro
NEST
NEST is a mobile app that enables professionals and new grads to receive speed mentorship by connecting users to relevant mentors at anytime. The app helps professionals overcome communication & soft-skills related challenges at their workplace by providing a safe, anonymous platform for users to share their concerns and seek guidance.
As the lead designer and researcher, I defined the product vision & strategy for NEST, conducted and analyzed user research through interviews, surveys and secondary research, developed the brand and crafted the high-fidelity prototype in Figma.
Role
Product Strategy
User Research
Product Design
PROJECT TYPE
0-1 Innovative Product Development, Visual Design, Mobile App
Timeline
10 Weeks
THE PROBLEM
THE PROBLEM
Early and mid-career professionals seek more personalized advice and mentorship due to rapidly changing job market and workplace cultures, but hesitate to speak openly, fearing career repercussions for saying the wrong thing.
THE SOLUTION
THE SOLUTION
I framed our product value statement based on insights from user research. The statement helped the team to begin ideating on the product concept and strategy and prioritize key features that addressed user pain points while also providing business value through unique market differentiating features.
Designed a speed mentorship mobile app that allows users to quickly connect with relevant peers in their industry and anonymously discuss workplace related challenges in a safe, judgement-free space. Unlike traditional approaches to soft-skills development such as time-consuming courses, NEST offers quick, personalized guidance from a community of like-minded professionals.
the product
the product
Anonymous real-time chat: a safe space for users to discuss any workplace related issues without judgement or repercussions.
Real-time chat allows users to anonymously share workplace-related queries and recieve instant guidance from a suitable profes Users sought a safe and authentic space to seek timely feedback about workplace concerns that they might not be able to openly discuss with peers due to fear of judgment and career-related repercussions. Users are matched with the best suited respondents based on the users profile and queries through AI-enabled filtering.
A community of credible, like-minded professionals
NEST vets its users for credibility by confirming their identity with an official work/university email-addresses for signing up. The use of Zero Knowledge Proof encryption only uses sensitive work/university email identification for verification without storing the information in its databases. (Similar technology as apps like Blind, Fishbowl, etc). NEST also offers a community content forum for discussions and Q&A that do not require urgent resolutions. Users can stay up-to-date with opinions and information shared by like minded peers and across multi-generations professionals of varied experiences.
The competitive landscape
The competitive landscape
The current skills-development platforms landscape is saturated with B2B/B2C solutions focused on hard skills development delivered via a one-directional format.
I differentiated from our competitors by eliminating enterprise offerings, focusing on soft-skills development instead of hard-skills and enabling mutual exchange of skills through mentorship.
IDEATION
IDEATION
Task flows for key user activities like onboarding, asking questions anonymously and in communities viewing other service offerings like skills dashboard, skill based games and learning activities were planned by ideating on paper.
Before building the wireframes, I reviewed popular apps that have similar functions to analyze best practices and user flows. I looked at apps like Facebook Messenger and Reddit that have chat functions, Glassdoor and Fishbowl for their professional community discussion feature, Blind for their anonymous professional community space and Duolingo for their gamified learning features.
impact in their words
impact in their words
"It's such a helpful idea, especially for mid-career professionals who are reluctant to ask for help."
Mid-career user after concept testing
"I can see myself using this app to understand other perspectives."
Mid-career user after concept testing
"Really impressed with the project, the problem is super relevant."
Gabriella Lanning, Staff UX Researcher at Google, after the pitch presentation