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Intro

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About:
Track is a comprehensive college and career planning app that helps students feel confident about taking control of their future. Whether you are just starting to explore your interests, thinking about what to study in college, or preparing to begin your career, Track is here to guide you through the process.
The app makes it easy to create a personalized plan tailored to your goals. You can research schools, compare programs, and get organized for applications, while also discovering internships, job opportunities, and career paths that match your strengths. Track gives you the tools to make smart choices and shows you how to take the steps needed to get where you want to go.
Track is different from many other education platforms because it grows with you. Your plans and goals may change over time, but Track is designed to support you through every step. Instead of feeling overwhelmed about the future, you can move forward with a clear path and newly built confidence. With Track, you are not just following a crafted plan: you are building your own future with guidance and support along the way.

Problem:
Planning for the future is one of the biggest challenges students and professionals face today. While many people have big goals, they often struggle with knowing how to take the proper steps to reach them. According to new survey data from the Strada Education Network, 52 percent of Americans say it is difficult to get a good job or that their opportunities to advance are limited. Forty-six percent say their employers do not provide training or education to help them grow. Another forty-four percent feel they do not have the right skills or credentials to advance at work, and 32 percent say they do not know where to begin.
These numbers reveal a larger problem. Too many people feel stuck and uncertain about their future. Without access to the right resources, it can feel overwhelming to make decisions about school, career paths, or long-term goals. Students may be unsure about which programs to study or how to connect their interests to real-world careers. For those already working, the lack of training and support makes it even harder to move forward.
Track was created to solve these challenges. The app provides direction and guidance through personalized planning and easy-to-use tools. It helps users explore interests, set goals, and connect education and training to career opportunities. By offering resources for both college planning and career development, Track gives users more than ideas: it gives them a roadmap.
The problem is clear. People need support to feel prepared and confident about the future. Track offers that support and empower users to move forward with clarity and purpose ​

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Design Process: 

For this project, we used the Goal Directed Design Project in order to understand and meet the user’s needs for the application. The Goal Directed Design process is a research based theory that was founded by Alan Cooper, focuses on the users goals as the core of the creation of the product. For Track, we followed the Research, Modeling, Requirements, Framework, and Refinement Stages.

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Research Phase​

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Literature Review:

In our literature review, we did a extensive amount of research on our product domain. This research included current views on our domain, user reviews of similar products, and anything that may shape our product domain. In this, we found that: Users are more likely to want to continue to use the application as long as it is not hidden behind a paywall, access to help must be easy to find or else Users are more likely to divert to a new application, and not every User will be coming from the same background, therefore, the application must provide different plans and resources to help Users reach their own personal goals.

 

Competitive Audit:

For our Competitive Audit, we compared the applications Career Cruising, Career Builder, and Handshake. I have listed our findings down below:​

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Persona Hypothesis:

We believe that a wide variety of people will use this product, but two main groups will stand out: those seeking a career path that does not require schooling and those pursuing a plan that does. Their needs and behaviors will vary depending on factors such as religion, gender, culture, relationships, financial standing, and community influences. To best serve them, it is important to consider a range of behaviors and environments, including how frequently they search for jobs or careers, their level of desire to find a suitable path, their motivation to stay committed to a plan, their financial needs, and the general demographics of individuals most likely to be interested in the app.

Interviews:

Over the course of five days, the team selected five interview participants, ranging in age from 18 to 65, reflecting our belief that Track should benefit users of all ages. The group represented a mix of genders and diverse goals related to college and career pathways. After securing participants, team members conducted individual interviews, focusing on what features they would like to see in an application designed to support their educational and career development. In order to collect and combine the information we acquired, we created an Affinity Map.


Affinity Map:

We chose to create an affinity map as a way to organize and synthesize the insights gathered during the interviews. By grouping similar ideas, challenges, and suggestions, the team was able to identify common themes and patterns across participants with varying ages, backgrounds, and goals. This method allowed us to move beyond individual responses and gain a clearer understanding of shared needs, priorities, and opportunities for improvement within Track, ultimately guiding us toward more user-centered design decisions.

 

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Modeling Phase

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Behavioral Variable:

Based on our observations of our user interviews we came up with 15 behavioral variables per each group. We split our groups into two: Those who want to pursue a career without required additional schooling, and those who will pursue a career that requires additional schooling. We created these two groups because a key point in our foundation is that Track was created in order to assist with goals for people who want to further their educated AND those who do not wish to.

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Our Findings:

Our findings highlighted two distinct groups of users: who want to pursue a career without required additional schooling, and those who will pursue a career that requires additional schooling.. Participants interested in careers without schooling emphasized entering the workforce quickly, gaining hands-on experience, and avoiding the financial or time costs associated with education. On the other hand, participants who preferred careers with schooling placed greater value on structured learning, credentials, and the long-term opportunities that education can provide. Recognizing these differences allows Track to design resources that support both groups: those seeking immediate employment opportunities and those navigating educational pathways toward career advancement.

 

Persona(s):
Below are the three personas we developed: Zara, Ethan, and Larissa. These personas were created to reflect a broad spectrum of potential users and their unique needs. Zara represents a young user who is eager to begin planning for her future early and is seeking access to resources that will help her prepare for college and her long-term career. Ethan represents a user with a GED who is not interested in pursuing higher education and instead wants to transition directly into a career after high school. Larissa represents a user who is focused on finding a job that will provide financial support as she works toward achieving her ultimate career goals.
 

 

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Requirements Phase

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Persona Expectations, Brainstorming, and Context Scenarios:

For the Requirements Phase, we created Persona Expectations, Brainstorming, and Context Scenarios, which I have attached below:

 

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Framework Phase

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Wireframing: 

In order to begin to create our prototype, the team began the wireframing process for what we wanted our application to look like and how we wanted it to function.

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Refinement Phase

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Logo Creation: 

We wanted the Track logo to embrace a joyful color scheme, so we chose our primary color to be yellow. The Track logo features the letter "T" which shows a path, symbolizing the path user will find upon using the application. 

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Original Design: 

The original design we came up with was meant to help people explore both college and career options. It included pages like a home page, a college page, a career page, a profile page, and a settings page, among others. We wanted the design to be simple and easy to use, but also clean and modern so it would look nice. The goal was to make everything really easy to find and understand, so students could figure out their options without getting overwhelmed. Overall, we tried to make it straightforward, approachable, and visually appealing so that it would actually be useful for anyone trying to plan their future.

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Redesign: 

After much consideration, we decided to change course from the original design. We believed that the original design came across as too outdated, too busy, and not super easy to navigate. Therefore, we created the Track 2.0 design, which hits the key points we wanted to hit more effectively. 

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TRACK FINAL DESIGN

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