Ustaadlog
An on-demand mentoring platform
Reimagined peer mentoring through problem-solving focused design, doubling appointment completion rates. Transformed traditional mentorship matching into an interest-based problem-solving platform, significantly increasing mentor signups through intuitive categorization and frictionless scheduling.
Reimagined peer mentoring through problem-solving focused design, doubling appointment completion rates. Transformed traditional mentorship matching into an interest-based problem-solving platform, significantly increasing mentor signups through intuitive categorization and frictionless scheduling.
Reimagined peer mentoring through problem-solving focused design, doubling appointment completion rates. Transformed traditional mentorship matching into an interest-based problem-solving platform, significantly increasing mentor signups through intuitive categorization and frictionless scheduling.
Project
Agenc-K
Role
UX Designer
Context
Brief
UstaadLog works as an on demand, peer-to-peer mentoring platform. As part of their goals, they wanted to create an experience that went beyond just “hiring mentors to learn to live a better life”. We discovered from a previous version that many mentors and potential mentees were not interested in an exchange as a learning experience, but rather expected a problem-solving experience.
Role
I was responsible for the entire UI process: research, wireframing, prototyping, user testing and helping rebrand the experience. I was the sole designer for the project, creating responsive designs for mobile and desktop, as well as creation of style guides, branding and other assets for the developers.
Outcome
We designed a solution that included a peer mentoring platform focused on specific problem solving based on the category of problems grouped around interests. This method elicited a clear increase in mentor signups and setup clear expectations for mentees who were seeking specific solutions for problems they were facing. We also developed a frictionless scheduling system that allowed flexibility and wiggle room for both parties to set up appointments, doubling the completion rate.
Brief
UstaadLog works as an on demand, peer-to-peer mentoring platform. As part of their goals, they wanted to create an experience that went beyond just “hiring mentors to learn to live a better life”. We discovered from a previous version that many mentors and potential mentees were not interested in an exchange as a learning experience, but rather expected a problem-solving experience.
Role
I was responsible for the entire UI process: research, wireframing, prototyping, user testing and helping rebrand the experience. I was the sole designer for the project, creating responsive designs for mobile and desktop, as well as creation of style guides, branding and other assets for the developers.
Outcome
We designed a solution that included a peer mentoring platform focused on specific problem solving based on the category of problems grouped around interests. This method elicited a clear increase in mentor signups and setup clear expectations for mentees who were seeking specific solutions for problems they were facing. We also developed a frictionless scheduling system that allowed flexibility and wiggle room for both parties to set up appointments, doubling the completion rate.
Brief
UstaadLog works as an on demand, peer-to-peer mentoring platform. As part of their goals, they wanted to create an experience that went beyond just “hiring mentors to learn to live a better life”. We discovered from a previous version that many mentors and potential mentees were not interested in an exchange as a learning experience, but rather expected a problem-solving experience.
Role
I was responsible for the entire UI process: research, wireframing, prototyping, user testing and helping rebrand the experience. I was the sole designer for the project, creating responsive designs for mobile and desktop, as well as creation of style guides, branding and other assets for the developers.
Outcome
We designed a solution that included a peer mentoring platform focused on specific problem solving based on the category of problems grouped around interests. This method elicited a clear increase in mentor signups and setup clear expectations for mentees who were seeking specific solutions for problems they were facing. We also developed a frictionless scheduling system that allowed flexibility and wiggle room for both parties to set up appointments, doubling the completion rate.
Learning from the source
UstaadLog is a one-one-one mentoring platform that allows people to connect with mentors from the real world. The platform was designed as a social enterprise with a donation based system. Businesses could invest into buying learning tokens for mentees and the platform would distribute it directly to the Ustaads (mentors) for their time spent on mentoring. That meant discounted hours for the mentees and full payout for mentors.
The system allowed people to schedule a meeting with a mentor of choice once tokens were purchased from the platform.
The challenge
I was the only designer working on the project alongside a developer. I developed the branding, UX/UI along with the rest of the presentational experience.
Responsible for research, concepting, designing, prototyping and testing.
(UX Thinking, UX Process, Personas, XD, Information Architecture (IA), User Flows, Wireframing, UX Design, Web Design optimization, User Experience (UX), Digital Strategy, Mobile UI, UX Strategy, User Research, User Personas)
The product had a clear value proposition; it was a market place of mentors from different professions with different skills. Any one could become a member and schedule meetings with them or learn through structured courses which were called sessions.Although we had a good base to work with, there were three challenges to overcome:1. How could we make mentorship accessible to a younger demographic?2. How could we ensure the mentors onboarded with serious intentions and would honor commitments?3. How could we design a seamless scheduling system for a country without a prevalent scheduling culture?
I was the only designer working on the project alongside a developer. I developed the branding, UX/UI along with the rest of the presentational experience.
Responsible for research, concepting, designing, prototyping and testing.
(UX Thinking, UX Process, Personas, XD, Information Architecture (IA), User Flows, Wireframing, UX Design, Web Design optimization, User Experience (UX), Digital Strategy, Mobile UI, UX Strategy, User Research, User Personas)
The product had a clear value proposition; it was a market place of mentors from different professions with different skills. Any one could become a member and schedule meetings with them or learn through structured courses which were called sessions.Although we had a good base to work with, there were three challenges to overcome:1. How could we make mentorship accessible to a younger demographic?2. How could we ensure the mentors onboarded with serious intentions and would honor commitments?3. How could we design a seamless scheduling system for a country without a prevalent scheduling culture?
I was the only designer working on the project alongside a developer. I developed the branding, UX/UI along with the rest of the presentational experience.
Responsible for research, concepting, designing, prototyping and testing.
(UX Thinking, UX Process, Personas, XD, Information Architecture (IA), User Flows, Wireframing, UX Design, Web Design optimization, User Experience (UX), Digital Strategy, Mobile UI, UX Strategy, User Research, User Personas)
The product had a clear value proposition; it was a market place of mentors from different professions with different skills. Any one could become a member and schedule meetings with them or learn through structured courses which were called sessions.Although we had a good base to work with, there were three challenges to overcome:1. How could we make mentorship accessible to a younger demographic?2. How could we ensure the mentors onboarded with serious intentions and would honor commitments?3. How could we design a seamless scheduling system for a country without a prevalent scheduling culture?
Early insights from the field
The mentor-mentee bridge
As a two sided marketplace, it was important to onboard mentors before getting the mentees involved. That was done in a closed beta through typeforms and landing pages. We had more than a 100 signups in less than two hours. We had a big enough mentor pool to tweak the product accordingly. I designed a questionnaire for the mentors to see how they reacted to schedules and information sharing.
But it was the other side we were more worried about.
Since the user profile of the mentees was much different from the mentors, it was important to run tests to see how they would perceive the platform.
I designed user testing focus groups to understand what questions the mentees had how they perceived one to one mentoring rather than watching videos online for learning.
The mentor-mentee bridge
As a two sided marketplace, it was important to onboard mentors before getting the mentees involved. That was done in a closed beta through typeforms and landing pages. We had more than a 100 signups in less than two hours. We had a big enough mentor pool to tweak the product accordingly. I designed a questionnaire for the mentors to see how they reacted to schedules and information sharing.
But it was the other side we were more worried about.
Since the user profile of the mentees was much different from the mentors, it was important to run tests to see how they would perceive the platform.
I designed user testing focus groups to understand what questions the mentees had how they perceived one to one mentoring rather than watching videos online for learning.
The mentor-mentee bridge
As a two sided marketplace, it was important to onboard mentors before getting the mentees involved. That was done in a closed beta through typeforms and landing pages. We had more than a 100 signups in less than two hours. We had a big enough mentor pool to tweak the product accordingly. I designed a questionnaire for the mentors to see how they reacted to schedules and information sharing.
But it was the other side we were more worried about.
Since the user profile of the mentees was much different from the mentors, it was important to run tests to see how they would perceive the platform.
I designed user testing focus groups to understand what questions the mentees had how they perceived one to one mentoring rather than watching videos online for learning.
Our assumptions were correct when it came to the expectations the mentees had in terms of common concerns and expectations.
The users found the layouts too dark and ominous, comparing it to a classroom environment. They also had far too many question before being onboarded.
My goal was to understand what was to find out what their concerns were and how could we address them through UX/UI.
The mentors on the other hand were more concerned with how their information was being presented and whether the scheduling would be a pain to pull off.
The discovery
To me it was clear that we were not successful in translating our value proposition successfully.
"Designers didn´t want an over designed platform."
"Designers didn´t want an over designed platform."
How might we create a platform where experienced mentors could help solve real world problems people are facing in their domains? (wihtout it looking like a learning/teaching platform)
Our solution was simple: by creating a problem solving platform of experts: where (1) expert problem solving mentors, can be (2) booked for a one-on-one session, (3) by people seeking their expert problem solving advice, (4) for the problems they are facing in life.
How might we create a platform where experienced mentors could help solve real world problems people are facing in their domains? (wihtout it looking like a learning/teaching platform)
Our solution was simple: by creating a problem solving platform of experts: where (1) expert problem solving mentors, can be (2) booked for a one-on-one session, (3) by people seeking their expert problem solving advice, (4) for the problems they are facing in life.
How might we create a platform where experienced mentors could help solve real world problems people are facing in their domains? (wihtout it looking like a learning/teaching platform)
Our solution was simple: by creating a problem solving platform of experts: where (1) expert problem solving mentors, can be (2) booked for a one-on-one session, (3) by people seeking their expert problem solving advice, (4) for the problems they are facing in life.
We solved their problems:
Three primary questions informed our design and UX strategy:
1- How could I make the mentors feel as if they were joining an elite platform?
2- How could I have a clear call to action with a focus on problem solving?
3- How could we build a robust scheduling system that would allow flexibility?
We solved their problems:
Three primary questions informed our design and UX strategy:
1- How could I make the mentors feel as if they were joining an elite platform?
2- How could I have a clear call to action with a focus on problem solving?
3- How could we build a robust scheduling system that would allow flexibility?
We solved their problems:
Three primary questions informed our design and UX strategy:
1- How could I make the mentors feel as if they were joining an elite platform?
2- How could I have a clear call to action with a focus on problem solving?
3- How could we build a robust scheduling system that would allow flexibility?
Flexible yet easy scheduling
Since the platform is based in Pakistan and culturally there existed a different approach towards scheduling meetings, It was important to create a system that was seamless yet flexible. Traffic concerns, long travel distances and meeting backlogs meant that usually people would run late on some of their commitments. We had to make sure that was taken care of in the scheduling system. We did that by creating 4 hour clusters that could be chosen as a meeting slot. Once the slot was finalized, the exact time could be fixed at a later point. This allowed the mentors and the mentees to make easier commitments.
Flexible yet easy scheduling
Since the platform is based in Pakistan and culturally there existed a different approach towards scheduling meetings, It was important to create a system that was seamless yet flexible. Traffic concerns, long travel distances and meeting backlogs meant that usually people would run late on some of their commitments. We had to make sure that was taken care of in the scheduling system. We did that by creating 4 hour clusters that could be chosen as a meeting slot. Once the slot was finalized, the exact time could be fixed at a later point. This allowed the mentors and the mentees to make easier commitments.
Flexible yet easy scheduling
Since the platform is based in Pakistan and culturally there existed a different approach towards scheduling meetings, It was important to create a system that was seamless yet flexible. Traffic concerns, long travel distances and meeting backlogs meant that usually people would run late on some of their commitments. We had to make sure that was taken care of in the scheduling system. We did that by creating 4 hour clusters that could be chosen as a meeting slot. Once the slot was finalized, the exact time could be fixed at a later point. This allowed the mentors and the mentees to make easier commitments.
Content focus means mentor focus
I created curated galleries of videos, sessions and other interesting bits of problem-solving related content. Almost like a discoverable home feed, the galleries would eventually lead to scheduling a call with the mentor, which was the ultimate objective of the platform.
Content focus means mentor focus
I created curated galleries of videos, sessions and other interesting bits of problem-solving related content. Almost like a discoverable home feed, the galleries would eventually lead to scheduling a call with the mentor, which was the ultimate objective of the platform.
Content focus means mentor focus
I created curated galleries of videos, sessions and other interesting bits of problem-solving related content. Almost like a discoverable home feed, the galleries would eventually lead to scheduling a call with the mentor, which was the ultimate objective of the platform.
The impact
The redesign helped the platform achieve it`s goal of creating a social enterprise-based platform focused on mentorship, even though mentorship seemed like a difficult concept to sell.
We were able to convey a clear value proportion to all user types (mentors, mentees and donation partners) and the platform is ready to be launched out of a closed Beta in January 2021 with more than 150 top mentors from Pakistan ready to solve big problems
The redesign helped the platform achieve it`s goal of creating a social enterprise-based platform focused on mentorship, even though mentorship seemed like a difficult concept to sell.
We were able to convey a clear value proportion to all user types (mentors, mentees and donation partners) and the platform is ready to be launched out of a closed Beta in January 2021 with more than 150 top mentors from Pakistan ready to solve big problems
The redesign helped the platform achieve it`s goal of creating a social enterprise-based platform focused on mentorship, even though mentorship seemed like a difficult concept to sell.
We were able to convey a clear value proportion to all user types (mentors, mentees and donation partners) and the platform is ready to be launched out of a closed Beta in January 2021 with more than 150 top mentors from Pakistan ready to solve big problems