WhichWay: MVP

ECMC Innovation Lab UX Team: Mandy Rotella, Theresa Winters, Lauren Hong, and Chris Kovel. My role was as Product Owner, UI Designer, Information Architect, and UX Researcher.

Proprietary material of ECMC Group.  Used with permission.  No further use authorized.

The Problem Statement

Potential students need a way to navigate the career decision-making process because personalized guidance is not readily available.

The Research

For the MVP build, we updated the competitive analysis, did three rounds of usability testing, and dove into the secondary research available to prove the concept.

Key Findings: Usability Testing

Key Findings: Secondary Research

Only one in three students choose a major that fits their interests…those who do graduate are less likely to be satisfied or successful in their career. -- ACT College Choice Report

Decisions about going to college (which one and whether to go) are the most frequently identified life regret by Americans. -- Journal of Social Sciences & Humanities

65% of high school juniors & seniors didn’t leverage counseling when planning for their future career. -- American Institutes for Research, College & Career Readiness & Success Center

The Solution

Working closely with our backend developer and business analyst, WhichWay leverages several public data sources (including O*Net, CareerOneStop, and BLS). The complex algorithm also required the creation of our own API to manage the results.

After the three rounds of usability testing, the UI remained similar to the original concept. Only a couple critical errors were discovered, which required better messaging and improved wayfinding throughout the tool.

The Results

Unfortunately, the ECMC Innovation Lab was closed prior to the summer 2018 launch of the MVP. Our next step would have been alpha testing with recent college graduates and then a longer-term beta test with high school students.