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igor leygerman

PeopleGrove: Alumni Connections - Directory and Conversations

Project Overview

To design and launch a new, intuitive, and engaging alumni directory listing UI for both web and mobile experiences. This feature is to empower students and mentees to effectively search, discover, and connect with alumni, ultimately fostering mentorship opportunities and providing valuable guidance for their post-graduation success.

Problem Framing

The existing experience for mobile and desktop did not allow members to properly search, discover, connect and engage with classmates, mentors, mentees, advisors, staff, and alumni. There was no mobile experience at all and the desktop did not have any advanced filter capabilities or messaging functionality.

Visual Designs - Alumni Directory, Profiles and Messaging

Challenges

No Mobile UI Design

The original PeopleGrove application was designed a super long time ago and had no mobile user interface or components to use.

No In-App Messaging

The existing platform did not have in-app messaging functionality which forced users to exit the app to communicate.

No Filter Capabilities

Existing interface only allowed users to search by name, location and school... thats it. There was no other search features.

Low Member Engagement

Because of the broken and disconnected mobile and web experience many users stopped using this part of the platform and engaged on apps like Google Mail instead.

Quick Insights

Member Engagement

Up 24%

New Connections

+193%

New Sign-Ups

+37%

Messages Sent

+900%

Process

My process included market research, user testing, interviews and prototypes. I worked super close with leadership, product and engineers to visit college campus’s around the US and user test + interview our users: college students, staff, alumni, etc...

Research and Discovery

Conducted user interviews, market research and user testing to identify user pain points, missing functionality and usability issues.

Wireframes and Prototypes

Created mockups, wireframes and clickable prototypes to help test the user flows, user interactions and user experience accessibility.

User Testing

In collaboration product, we conducted user testing on our existing enterprise beta clients and power users.

Final Designs and Deliverables

In collaboration with engineering, I delivered fully annotated final visual designs and prototypes to help engineering teams to implement the new UI.

Process - Wire Frames

Learning and Take Aways

Improving Bad Design

With the release of this feature, we learned that the main reason users weren’t using the mobile experience was because it had “bad design”..

Understanding Students, Mentors, Alumni, Mentees

Students are pretty much always on the go and are constantly engaging with their mobile devices; I learned most students want a similar easy experience like “swipe left and swipe right” to find a mentor.

Adoption Rate

Over half of the students that were not signed up for our platform ended up signing up, finding a mentor and making a connection.

Business Impact

Universities were extremely happy and engaged with the new functionality and features. More faculty and staff signed up to engage with mentees.

Visual Designs - More Alumni Directories, Profiles, Filter Searches for Desktop and Mobile