MyKodi

Your personal companion to walk you through the college admissions' journey.

ROLE

Product Designer

TIMELINE

August - December 2024

PROJECT TYPE

Personal Passion Project

TOOLS AND SKILLS

Figma, User Research, Affinity Mapping, Personas, Prototyping

CONTEXT

Drawing inspiration from the world around me

I got inspired to pursue this personal project after watching the show Sky Castle, which touches on the immense challenges that high schoolers face during the college application process. At the time I started this project, many of my friends were going through their own college admissions’ journey. Throughout this period, I was also reminded of my own hardships through this process.

I wanted to see if I could develop a tool that assists students navigate this tough and stressful period of their academic lives.

PROBLEM

Lack of college admissions readiness

Many high schoolers feel overwhelmed and anxious due to the obscurity and lack of resources, knowledge, and guidance during their college application process. This era of their life is a very pivotal moment in their academic journey, accompanied by the pressure to do well and the uncertainty of their future. Balancing this application process with their other responsibilities and commitments can become quite demanding, stressful, and emotionally taxing, especially without proper support.

SOLUTION

Streamlining the admissions journey with MyKodi

MyKodi is a mobile application that guides students during this stressful period of their life by helping them stay organized, connect and communicate with a social network for personalized mentorship, and inform them on the various opportunities out there for them.

Organization system to ensure your tasks keep you on track.

Staying organized and managing time wisely helps users not get overwhelmed or miss important deadlines. Having their to-dos and due dates in one place ensures a smooth system.

One-on-one mentorship with students once in your shoes

A direct messaging system can facilitate personal interactions and guidance between users and other students who have gone through this process to uncover more insider info.

An AI chatbot, Kodiya, to guarantee efficiency and quick learning

Quick learning with MyKodi’s chatbot, Kodiya, helps users get inquiries answered in a convenient manner to save time on research. It provides instant, tailored assistance to users’ questions in real-time.

Informational guidebook for the ins and outs of the process

Numerous resources for each sector of the college application can educate users on useful tips and tricks by providing access to essential information in one centralized location for users to browse through.

PROBLEM DISCOVERY

White paper research

I began with white paper research to get some background information into the mental effects and stressors of the college application process. Doing this research also helped me brainstorm a framework of questions to be used in the interviews later on.

Competitive analysis

I conducted a competitive analysis to see which college readiness products are currently on the market. The analysis was done using the SWOT framework for the platforms Naviance, Niche, Scoir, and BigFuture Schools. Performing this analysis allowed me to explore different opportunities for developing MyKodi.

User interviews

I conducted 5 semi-structured user interviews and launched an open-ended questionnaire of the interview questions that was completed by 10 more participants. With the qualitative insights from 15 participants, (70% who were going through the college application process + 30% who have gone through the whole process), I was able to identify major pain points and themes from the data.

Following the data collection, I organized the information through coding the important input from each of the questions and by creating a few affinity maps of the data.

INSIGHTS AND PAIN POINTS

1.) Many students feel that they do not have the proper guidance or instruction on how to get started and go through the application process.

2.) Students do not have adequate information about each college and have a hard time identifying the different opportunities for them.

3.) It is difficult to stand out in their overall application, especially with more personal things like their essays.

4.) Students have a hard time managing applications with the other responsibilities in their life.

CREATING A DIRECTION

How might MyKodi provide…

1.) More guidance and counsel throughout the whole college admissions process from start to finish?

→

Direct mentorship support system with profile cards that showcase mentor's experience and application image

2.) Knowledge and information about the various programs and paths available to the students?

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Quick learning tool tailored to users' specific needs through AI chatbot

3.) Tips and tricks on how to craft a unique, distinctive application?

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Information center for learning at user's own pace regarding different aspects of their application

4.) Ways to stay organized and manage time?

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All in one spot for task creation and calendar dates to stay notified with all the moving pieces of the application

IDEATION

Translating my ideas into sketches

To implement the elements to fit the objectives of the application, I ideated different designs of how the prototype could look. By roughly sketching various compositions, I narrowed down the best and most intuitive and created lo-fi wireframes.

ORGANIZING INFORMATION

User flows and information architecture

Creating user flows for the various use cases of the personas and structuring the information architecture in a logical way ensured that the interactions between screens were smooth and clear. The organization of the information architecture assisted me in the visual design process by incorporation visual hierarchy into the mockups.

EXPLORATIONS

Profile cards

Swiping feature is unclear, too much screen to screen friction and navigation

Much simpler interaction by having profile card pop up on the original screen, includes intuitive flip card icon

Profile layout

Profile image too large, doesn't follow typical design convention of being separated from the profile space, two column layout is hard to read

One column layout is much simpler and easier to scroll through, content is emphasized rather than image

USER TESTING

Usability tests were done with 4 participants

The results raised important considerations for the design and layout of the prototype. Some changes made to the application after these tests are…

1

Adding additional resources to the info center such as adding a news/update header to inform policy updates or important announcements to the user.

2

Making the whole folder on the dashboards clickable rather than the top header as just having the header clickable was a poor touch target.

3

Allowing a specific date’s note to display from clicking on the number without having to make a bunch of clicks to access that information.

STYLE GUIDE AND BRANDING

Where does the name "MyKodi" come from?

Well... "Kodi" (코디) is short for the word coordinator (코디네이터) in Korean. These people help students through the college application process. "MyKodi" essentially means "my coordinator"... users' companion and assistant to support them in their admissions journey.

FINAL PROTOTYPE

Presenting MyKodi…

REFLECTION

My first solo project was inspired by the world around me, and looking back, I’ve learned so much and would do many things differently.

Lessons I learned…

1.) Importance of self-accountability. Since this was a personal project without strict deadlines, it often became difficult for me to push myself to finish everything and work in detail. After setting a deadline for myself, I was able to finalize everything. In the future, I would find ways to keep myself on track.

2.) Take a step back. At times, I found myself getting hyper fixated on a minor detail or choice that may not have been even that relevant in the bigger picture. I learned the importance of taking breaks in between your workflow so you don’t become too attached to one idea or waste time on unnecessary elements.

For the future, I'd like to…

1.) Implement an accountability aspect within MyKodi. Usability testing highlighted the need for better task accountability, so I’d add a mentor feature, enhanced notifications, and a home screen widget to improve task management.

2.) Seek feedback from others. I’d seek feedback from other professionals in similar fields, such as product designers, researchers, product managers, etc, to gain more targeted insights and fresh perspectives when facing design decisions.

sso9@njit.edu

Created by Sharon Oh