Conquer Career Anxiety,
and Thrive
I can't remember how many mornings anxiety woke me up. My heart races and my mind swirls with stress, feeling like I haven't met my career expectations. As this uncomfortable feeling often accompanies me, I talk to my friends and realize they share the same struggles.
The
Problem
People who have career development anxiety often have hard time finding someone to talk to or finding guidance for career advancement.
The
Solution
Create a mobile app for people who share career development anxiety issues to connect with like-minded peers and mentors, fostering a supportive community for collective learning and career development.
Initial
problem discovery
I felt a little embarrassed to talk about this with my colleagues, so I turned to some of my friends and got feedback from 2 perspectives.
Scenario A
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She doesn't fully grasp my job
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Talking relieves my anxiety anyway
Scenario B
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He shares the ways he dealt with career anxiety
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He expresses the desire to be a mentor
Discovery from Scenario A
From Scenario A, I realized that feeling anxious, whether currently experiencing it or having experienced it in the past, is a very natural thing in today's society.
But what is causing all these uncomfortable mental issues? It can be attributed to several main factors.
work & career
Financial concerns
Health issues
Relationships
Uncertainty & change
Trauma
We can clearly tell that work and career related factors, as one of the top 2 causes for stress and anxiety, are crucial to consider and address.
Discovery from Scenario A
From the research I also found out that particularly among younger generations, including millennials and Gen Z, there is a noteworthy prevalence of elevated levels of stress and anxiety linked to their careers.
Younger generations are worrying about ...
From the research we can tell that top 2 and 6/9 of those concerns are about career development, which is an absolutely indispensable factor causing their stress and anxiety.
Discovery from Scenario B
From Scenario B, I found out there’s this type of people, who has gone through career development anxiety, for many reasons, are eager to pass the experience and knowledge to others.
desire to give back
Sense of fulfillment
professional growth
&continued learning
network & connection
However, they have their own challenges - building connections with ones who is currently experiencing career development anxiety.
Conclusion
I sum up the discoveries above and camp up with the conclusion to guide next steps.
Scope - career development related stress and anxiety
Target audience - younger generations + people want to be mentors
User interview
I conducted user interviews, from peer perspective and mentor perspective, among 9 people of this age phase ( 26 ~ 35 ) and asked them following questions. See full reports here.
Let's use a fun illustration to sum up what the interviewees want.
Competitive analysis
Based on insights, I realized the app could focus more on career growth, so I looked into platforms that's prevailing in this field and make comparation.
The most popular features:
Functions seem in demand from user interview but none or very few websites have:
Building the persona
Subject the app to be built for and to be influenced
peer
mentor
Mapping the goals
Outcome to achieve
Now that I have gained a deep understanding of user pain points and potential market demand , I started to use these as the starting point and foundation to align user needs with product goals.
Workflow
Once I have key features in mind, I start to think about the overall app structre and hierarchy in functions.
To make full use of all materials, I built connections across the main functions.
A.
B.
C.
D.
E.
Shared resource link attached to posts in ‘Journaling’ session
Mentor featured topics and courses shown on mentor’s detail page
Resources recommended by mentor based on user’s needs
Tools like resume/goal-setting/presentation template be copied to ‘Me’ session and edit
When setting a goal, use a template and add suggested goals for your milestone plan
Wireframe sketch
Catering towards 5 main flows
I start to sort out the 5 main flows and test design ideas towards each of them.
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Personalization
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How are you/ How’s the community?
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Journaling ( peers release anxiety, mentors share experience and discover demands )
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Resources ( peers utilize, mentors contribute )
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Goal-setting
Testing the ideas out
Two major improvements during iteration
Hierarchical relationship
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separate "Journaling" into its own independent section, better aligning with user pains hierarchy and not making this page’s content overcrowded
Navigation bar
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Relocate "Saved/Liked" and "Notification" under "Me." Add "Emotion" and "Journaling" as primary tabs alongside "Resource" and "Me.
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add ‘ Emotion’ to navi bar for user to change ‘how are they feeling’ anytime
Final solutions and design
Click here to try the prototype.
1. Emotions
- How are you today?
How is the community?
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All emotions are valued here—embrace them freely.
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Explore live posts to feel understood and connected.
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Join the community to share and bond with those who empathize with you.
2. Journaling - share your experience
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Explore others' journeys and helpful resources—empathize while finding support.
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Connect with mentors who share similar experiences, stress-free.
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Write posts to share feelings and lessons, or keep journals private.
3. Resources - grow together
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Users can explore teachers with shared experiences in the Community session. They can join experience-sharing courses to learn in empathetic settings or engage in popular courses for broader insights.
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Users can connect with empathetic mentors whose professional experiences align with their needs. Engage in casual, stress-free conversations to discuss experiences, solutions, and helpful resources.
4. Goal-setting - what's your plan?
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Break long-term goals into actionable daily tasks and stick to the plan.
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Track daily progress visually with detailed accuracy.
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Use backward reasoning to quantify long-term goals and ensure each task is clear and measurable.
Design system and style guide
I chose a range of blue hues as the primary theme color for this app because blue tends to have a calming effect on people psychologically. Additionally, I incorporated bright colors such as pink, yellow, and green as secondary colors to infuse the app with a lively and cheerful atmosphere.
I selected Nunito as the main font for its rounded edges, which create a soothing atmosphere.
Designing this app has been an incredible experience. However, I feel there's room for improvement. For instance, I aim to conduct more thorough testing and elaborate further on solutions for certain workflows. Additionally, I'm committed to better adhering to WCAG standards.
Thank you for reading!
( FYI - The amazing 2D illustrations in this style are from Storyset, go check out this amazing website and enjoy! )
