_{DISCOVERY & RESEARCH}

Overview

UpMentorship is a platform that provides tech professionals with AI-powered tools to manage mentorship programs efficiently. It focuses on seamless availability management, integrated calendar scheduling, video conferencing, and effortless payment handling. The platform also offers rich resources for mentors and personalized career guidance across various tech-related fields.

Product goals

Design process

Research time

To ensure the successful implementation of the Upmentorship platform, I maintained constant communication with the client, product manager, and product owner. This frequent communication was essential to fully understand the needs and expectations of all stakeholders involved in the project.


By keeping an open dialogue, I gained valuable insights into the challenges and opportunities of the mentorship platform, enabling me to develop a comprehensive and effective solution that meets the needs of all stakeholders.

The next step in the research phase was to look at major competitors of Ed-techs that are doing well in the market.
The Competitors researched are, Meet.com, Toptal, altschool, Calendly, Growth mentor, topmates among others.

These helped in getting an overview tho analogous; it helped to structure the UX of the product as the base shell so we can improve the design, UX, and overall value proposition of the platform.

Insights

Based on the briefings from the stakeholders and my research (As a professional designer, my goal is to align business goals and users’ needs together, so I went on ahead to have interviews and surveys to get the pain points from the user’s perspectives as well, and this helped to understand what to do from the user’s perspective as well) . Below is the insight board as to what features the stakeholders want the product to have while taking into account how the product will help the users as well. “Design is not just what it looks like and feels like. Design is how it works.”

^{“>STRUCTURE}

User flow

For users to be able navigate the platform with ease and discover the content or products that are most relevant to them, I crafted out the user flow;

^{“>CONSISTENCY IS UNIQUE}

Style Guide & Components

To ensure a consistent design throughout the No Wayo product, I developed a comprehensive style guide along with various visual components. This approach streamlined my workflow and enhanced my productivity by 10X.

The style guide and components I created included elements such as buttons, color schemes, input fields, shadow effects, icons, notifications (toasts), tooltips, selection controls (checkboxes, radio buttons, and toggles), dropdown menus, navigation elements, tags, and labels.

^{“>EXPERIENCE THE PRODUCT}

Registration

To enhance the onboarding experience for new users, the design team had to find a balance between gathering crucial information and preventing users from feeling overwhelmed with too many steps during the sign-up process.


To achieve this, certain key parameters were prioritized and made mandatory for the initial sign-up, while the remaining information was collected through an optional onboarding process that took place after the user had already signed up. This approach allowed new users to get a feel for the app before being asked to provide additional details, potentially reducing the likelihood of users abandoning the onboarding process.

Onboarding (Setting up)

The onboarding process is aimed to collect all data necessary for the account such as personal informations, area of expertise, availability and profile details

Session

This page allows users to view and manage their mentorship sessions, including upcoming, ongoing, and past sessions and also view the details of the session.

I focused on creating a clear layout where users can easily track session schedules, view details, and access relevant materials. Users can click on any session to view specifics such as the agenda, mentor/mentee information, and resources, ensuring they are fully prepared for each session.

Program

The program page provides an overview of the mentorship programs available and the one created by them, with details on what each program offers.

I organized the program page with filters and categories to help users easily find programs that match their interests and goals. Users can browse through various programs, click to view detailed descriptions, outcomes, mentor profiles, and apply or enroll in the program that best suits their needs.

Program details explained

Below is the details of each asset on the product details page;

Availability

The availability page lets mentors and mentees set and manage their available times for sessions.

I designed a simple calendar interface where users can quickly input their availability, adjust it as needed, and sync with their personal calendars. Users select time slots that work for them, which are then visible to their counterpart, facilitating easy scheduling without back-and-forth communication and they can also put the details of the times they are not available.

Creating a program

This feature allows mentors to design and launch new mentorship programs tailored to specific skills or industries, they can create a one-on-one program or a full mentorship program.

I created an intuitive program builder with step-by-step prompts, including setting objectives, adding modules, and defining schedules. Mentors can easily create a structured program by following the guided process, ensuring that their program is comprehensive and engaging for participants.

Requests

The requests feature enables mentees to send session requests to mentors and vice versa.

I designed a streamlined request system where users can propose session times, topics, and formats in a few clicks. Users submit requests for sessions or specific topics they wish to cover, with the system notifying the counterpart for approval or rescheduling, making coordination efficient and transparent.

Search

The search function allows users to find mentors, programs, sessions, or specific topics within the platform, they can also filter down based on what industry or type of mentor they’re looking for. Also, they can ask the Powered AI to match them to a mentor that fits their interest.

I implemented a robust search engine with filters to help users quickly locate the most relevant information or contacts. Users can type in keywords and use filters such as industry, expertise, or availability to refine results, enabling them to find exactly what they need quickly.

Recordings

This feature enables users to see the records made on each mentorship sessions for future reference when they go into the details of a session or a program and they can also take notes while going through the recording. Users can transcribe the recording with a timeline allocated to each words said for easy read.

Other designs

Below are other designs in the app like the Landing page and other mobile pages that wasn’t fully discussed but help make the product usable for the users.

^{“>CONCLUSION}

Learning & Take aways

Working on Upmentorship taught me the importance of designing for both flexibility and structure. Balancing the needs of diverse users—mentors and mentees—required creating intuitive, adaptable features that catered to various learning and mentoring styles. I learned the value of clear, streamlined workflows in scheduling and program management to minimize friction in user interactions.

Additionally, I realized the significance of robust search and recording functionalities in enhancing the overall user experience, making mentorship more accessible and efficient for all participants.

Key metrics