TERRApin Connect
Feb 2020 - March 2020
Terrapin connect is a mobile application to connect mentors and mentees at the University of Maryland.
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My Role: Research, creating UI concepts and prototype
Skills: UX Design, User Research, Problem Solving
PROBlem SPace
Everyone needs a support system in their life. Especially for students who are constantly looking for career advice and ways to navigate college life. But do we know what it takes to build a meaningful mentor-mentee relationship?
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With this personal project, I decided to try just that - Understand what a mentee or mentor truly needs and strengthen their relationship.
Research
What constitutes a meaningful mentor-mentee relationship?
I reached out to mentors and mentees at my school to understand their roles and responsibilities. Although there are obvious traits of a good relationship such as being responsible, being available when required, having similar interests and career goals, etc., it was imperative to understand the nuances of a meaningful relationship such as:
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1. Traits that a mentee looks for in a mentor and vice versa.
2. Situations that make or break a healthy relationship.
3. Pains, goals, moments of delight in being a mentor or mentee.
user interviews
University students who have been mentors or are looking for mentors.
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2 experienced mentors
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3 mentees
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21-29 age
Findings from mentors
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Mentoring can be isolating for mentors.
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A solid mentor-mentee relationship depends upon each of them meeting their goals.
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Maintaining healthy emotional boundaries can be challenging.
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Understanding the needs of a mentee helps in defining a clear goal.
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Consistency, mutual respect, and trust are the essential traits valued by mentors.
Findings from mentees
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Lack of support when mentees face setbacks.
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One bitter truth is that sometimes mentors take advantage of mentees' vulnerability, such as any weird sexual advances or crossing boundaries, which eventually jeopardizes the relationship.
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The fact that mentees have to share phone numbers made them vulnerable.
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Mentors fail to follow up either due to lack of time or interest.
ideation
Where do the challenges stem in the user journey?
I built a user journey to identify the critical points while using the application.
EARLY UI CONCEPTS
I explored different concepts and interaction flow. Earlier iterations had a behavioral assessment phase to decide if the mentor is indeed ready for a mentorship program. However, it didn't seem like a viable approach as a personality test cannot predict future behavior. Also, there are no perfect candidates for mentorship. It's a relationship that is nurtured throughout the program.
introducing terrapin connect
Designing for trust
I opted for readable typography — choosing colors that represent the University of Maryland. The design is uncluttered, clean, large, and well-spaced. All my design decisions help to exude a sense of trust and collaboration in the design.
Onboarding
The login screen shows the use of email instead of a phone number to sign in. My research suggests that users prefer not using phone numbers as it might lead to stalking.
Profile view
Matching interests and career aspirations are key to finding the right mentor.
Finding a mentor
I took inspiration from dating apps such as Tinder and Bumblebee to design a workflow to find a mentor. The filter options were informed by interviews with mentors and mentees.
Set up a meeting with a mentor
Mentees can set up regular meetups with the mentors they have connected to engage in conversation and determine what's working and what's not working.
Setting goals and keeping track of the goals is important in building consistency and trust
To improve the content of meetings, mentees can set goals with specific agendas. The goals are also shared with their mentors. Further, by having goals separated under "current" and "completed", it is easy to quantify and measure progress.
Mentors Connect allows mentors to share their experience with other mentors
Testing
I tested the app with three users (two mentors and one mentor) using the Think-Aloud protocol. The test tasks were as follows:
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1. Sign-in
2. Find your mentor
3. Set goals and mark a few as complete
4. Connect with other mentors in the network
Findings
1. Participants expected a text field to type in the place of meeting along with time.
2. Participants noticed the absence of a "due date" while viewing the current goals
3. Some participants mentioned they should be allowed to have a flexible deadline for meeting and goals since having a strict deadline is unrealistic.
What I learned
There are three big learnings from the entire process:
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Overcoming cultural stereotypes: It is important not to let the cultural stereotypes and communication styles overshadow the potential compatibility between mentors and mentees. Applications should be designed with the assumption that most users find it hard to connect with someone from a different culture.
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Addressing Informality: One of the findings from the study showed that some mentees prefer their mentors to be friendly and candid. However, the more casual a mentor becomes, the harder it is to encourage the mentee to take more concrete steps towards his/her/their goals. Setting the right ground rules is very important.
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The optimum number of mentees: While mentees can have as many mentors as they want to, the key, however, is to understand the optimum number of mentees mentors can accommodate without jeopardizing the relationship or their professional career.