Designing a 0–1 MVP that bridges learning through personalized guidance
I joined Outlearn, an early-stage EdTech startup under (now) MoveForward AI. From 0–1, I owned the design direction, roadmap, and handoffs, helping shape and launch the MVP, a platform that bridges the gap between abundant content and the personalized guidance learners need to turn learning into real growth.
Roles
UX Research, UX Design, Design System
Timeline
6 Months Contract
Project Deliverables
Mobile and Webapp Interface
Stakeholders
Dev Team, CEO, Product Team
Customer Impact
V2
28%
Rise in onboarding success
1,200+
Users onboarded post-launch
Launched after successful MVP
How might we design a structured and inclusive support system that meets the diverse needs of students, enabling them to navigate the complexities of career decisions seamlessly and make timely, informed choices?
How Might We...
Solution Sneak Peak
Career growth means knowing when to pivot, evolve, and align with purpose.
The Adaptive Career Ladder
An adaptive Career Ladder that visualizes your current professional stage and dynamically personalizes learning paths, mentorships, and growth opportunities
The Personalized Dashboard
The Personalized Dashboard intelligently tracks and visualizes your growth journey, adapting to your evolving goals to keep you informed, motivated, and deeply engaged in your professional development
The Accountability Hub
The Community feature connects users with accountability partners and mentors, creating a supportive environment that drives consistency, shared motivation, and meaningful progress toward career goals.
User Research Uncovered...
95% of respondents felt lost without a career guide, revealing a strong need for direction and mentorship.
This survey visualizes what young people wish they had more guidance on while navigating major life choices. From college decisions to job openings, the data reveals
Analyzing data and Design Ideation
Through card sorting and affinity mapping, I identified that students seek clarity, mentorship, and curated learning resources to build confidence and direction. While early-career professionals aim for growth, peer insight, and industry alignment to make better career decisions.
By merging the goals of both key user groups, I distilled the research insights into three main themes and presented them to the team to align understanding before beginning empathy and journey mapping
Creating a journey map, I captured how both college students and early-career professionals begin their career exploration with excitement, but quickly spiral into confusion and pressure as endless options and uncertainty make decision-making overwhelming.
I led brainstorming sessions with the founders and product team, driving idea generation and aligning on key features and product direction
I then rapid wireframes to quickly iterate design concepts, validate user flows, and refine interaction patterns based on early feedback
I designed the site map to organize complex content into a clear, goal-oriented flow. It helped identify navigation gaps early and align team understanding
User Testing
User testing led to a faster, more intuitive experience by replacing slow interactions with guided flows and reorganizing navigation for better clarity, engagement, and feature discoverability.
Usability Testing
We first introduced a chatbot for onboarding, but testing showed it slowed users down, so we replaced it with a guided flow that made onboarding quick and engaging
Drop-down menus slowed exploration, so we shifted to a vertical scroll that displayed information upfront and kept users more engaged
We refined navigation by prioritizing key features in the bottom bar and moving secondary options to a hamburger menu, creating a cleaner layout and smoother user flow.
The Final Design Snippets
User profile
New User Onboarding
What I'd do differently
I would introduce usability testing earlier to validate assumptions and reduce iteration loops during development. I’d also looking ahead define clearer design success metrics from the start to better measure product impact
Learnings
Working in a fast-paced 0–1 environment taught me how to align design, product, and engineering decisions to deliver meaningful value under tight timelines
