Background
The goal of this project was to identify a common problem that can be addressed with a digital solution and design a mobile app solution to address the problem following a human-centred design process.
For my UX bootcamp capstone project, I thought about the career path that brought me here and the problems that came up along the way. I was reminded of my career growth and in particular, the experiences of trying to increase my salary.
Problem
Making sure you're getting paid what you're worth is a daunting task. I mean, I was 5 years into my own career before I even attempted to negotiate my own salary. I started wondering: "Do other people feel the same way?"
Looking at secondary research, it turns out they do.
The impetus for my design solution, handshake, came from the fact that many workers are unhappy with what they're being paid. Among job seekers, there seems to be a disconnect between employee and employer behaviours.
Primary Research
But I wanted to know what the underlying cause of the low rates of negotiation could be, so I conducted user interviews with a few young professionals who have never done it before.
I developed a list of open-ended questions to ask the participants about their experiences related to negotiating salary and recorded their responses. Afterwards, I transcribed them into notes and sorted them into three categories.
After sorting out the notes into categories, I created an affinity map that grouped the notes together based on common themes so that I could identify large underlying issues with their experiences.
Insights
Based on the initial statistics I found, my hypothesis was that most job seekers are uncomfortable with asking for more money.
But I was wrong.
After grouping the interview notes into common groups, a few key themes emerged.
The user interviews revealed that a more pressing concern for candidates was how prepared they were for an upcoming job interview.
In fact, there was a positive correlation between how prepared a candidate was for an interview and how likely they were to negotiate for a higher salary.
Basically, the more prepared a candidate was for their interview, the more likely they were to negotiate salary.
Knowing this, I approached the problem with a different question:
How might we help job seekers prepare for their interviews, so that they are more confident to negotiate higher salaries?
Persona
I got tons of great insights from my participants, but I needed to organize them to make sense of the type of person I'm going to be designing for. Consolidating them into a profile of my typical user's goals and needs would help guide my future design decisions.
Key Features
What sorts of features would Jacob want in an app to help him prepare for his interview?
For that, I pulled his needs and pain points to create user stories. User stories imagine what actions the user would take in order to achieve their goals.
The various user stories shared themes such as
What kind of things would Jacob do in order to reach his goals? Creating user stories to answer this question will allow me to identify and prioritize important features of the app to solve his problem.
From the user stories, I narrowed down a few key features, and chose to go with a preparation checklist and way to assess readiness.
While it's all good and well to have a question bank, including a progress meter and a way to signal interview preparedness directly addresses Jacob's previous pain points in a way that answers our HMW question.
I created a task flow diagram to show what steps Jacob would follow in order to complete a checklist and confirm he is ready for his interview.
Sketches
Sketching out variations of the different screens I planned to include helped me consider other ways of presenting the information that would help users.
Wireframes
After narrowing the sketches down to the screens that I thought would make the most sense for the user, I then translated them into interactive wireframes using Figma.
User Testing
Having people interact with my prototype works out the kinks before I invest too much effort into the visual design of my solution.
Visual Identity
To start off branding, I created a moodboard in order to develop a colour palette that would match the emotions I wanted to convey with my app. I got inspiration from banks like Simplii Financial and EQ Bank, whose brands add bright colours in an otherwise traditional industry.
I wanted the app to feel approachable and dependable while being energizing.
I chose to go with the name "handshake" because of its connotations with friendliness, trust, and confidence, especially as it relates to the context of job interviews.
High Fidelity Prototype
Figma Prototype goes here
Design Impact
With this treasure I summon a solution that will empower more job seekers to prepare for their interviews and gain more confidence to negotiate higher salaries for themselves.
✅ Preparation plan for job seekers
✅ Measurable progress for readiness
✅ Lower reported anxiety after user tests
Key Learnings
Through this project, I was able to immerse myself in an end-to-end design process and build a strong foundation for my UX design skills.
Aside from research, wireframing, prototyping, and UI Design, I also learned to adjust my approach when new information and evidence is presented - which allowed me to action on feedback well.
A really important lesson I learned is to ask the right questions at each stage of the process - not just research.
Additionally, I was able to learn proper workflows and how to create design systems which will be massively helpful for all of my future UX projects.
Future Thinking
Looking ahead to the future, further improvements would include more community features to help job seekers get relevant assistance, and more tailored tasks.
Exploration into different app views for interview coaches and businesses who want to track their applicants' performance and career growth.
