Job Search Service
The objective of this project is to design a job search service app with an accompanying website for fresh grads.
Tools used: Adobe XD
My role: UX Designer designing an app and responsive website for JobRanch from conception to delivery.
Introduction
JobRanch is a Job Search Service targeting new graduates who are looking for a way to easily find jobs. JobRanch focuses on delivering intuitive navigation, comprehensive search filters, and personalized job recommendations, users can be confident that they are getting the best possible start to their career.
Goal
Design an app with an accompanying responsive website for JobRanch that allows users to easily search for jobs and kickstart their careers.
Target Audience
The target audience for this job search service website are fresh graduates, who have recently completed their undergraduate or postgraduate studies and are now looking to start their careers. This could include individuals who are seeking their first job, or those who are exploring different career paths and industries. The platform is designed to cater to the needs and goals of this demographic, offering a range of job opportunities, helpful resources, and personalized support to help them achieve their professional aspirations.
Key Challenges
My key challenges during this project is lack of adequate funds and budget constraints. Anther challenge I faced is working without a team who can bring ideas with a common goal.
Research
User Journey Map
In order to understand the pain points of the users, and the opportunities for addressing users needs, I created a user journey from my observational and secondary research. This helped me understand the steps customers took to accomplish tasks and identify how to make this journey easier for users to meet their goals.
User Persona
Journey Map
Findings
The exisiting websites designs are often not friendly towards users who have no experience whether in career or job search. Most don't also offer tools to get jobs specific to interest and the local communities
Competitive Audit
I conducted a competitive audit of other products in the market in order to indentify their successes as well as their weak points. This helped me to identify opportunities to make more improved products for users.
Ideation
Paper sketch
During the ideation phase i drew paper sketches that would later be transformed into wireframes. These sketches contained different ideas of how the app would look and I finally chose one that represented the user needs the most for wireframing.
Refined Home Screen
This is the refined version of the home screen for the job search service app that I chose to be transfered to a digital wireframe.
Digital Wireframes
Home Screen
The search bar element can help users easily search for specific job titles. The recently viewed jobs feature was created to help users see jobs that they have viewed.
Search Screen
The search page offers a search filter feature where users can easily narrow down their search to specific details.
Low-Fidelity Prototype
This is a flow of the low-fidelity prototype from my digital wireframes. Access the prototype here: Low-Fi
Usability Study
I conducted two usability studies involving five participants in each study in order to test the prototype and identiy user painpoints. In the course of the study, the five participants were interviewd and asked to perform certain tasks.
Goal of the study:
- Find out if the app was easy to use;
- Find out what users liked or disliked about the app.
Findings
- Users were confused about where saved jobs were located.
-
users don’t know how to identify the jobs applied for.
- Users wanted to be able to see jobs that fit their interests.
Before
After
On-Boarding Page
Hamburger Flyout
High-Fidelity Prototype
After making iterations on the low fidelity prototypes, I created mockups and used it to create High-Fidelity prototype where the final iterations were done after the second usability study was conducted.
Access the High-Fidelity prototype here: JobRanch Mobile App Hi-Fi
Accessibility Considerations
- I used font types and sizes that are easy to read.
- I used headings with different sized text for clear visual hierarchy
-
I designed the website with proper color and contrast considerations according to WCAG standard.
-
Alt in images for screen reader compatibility.
Responsive Website
Mobile
Desktop
Mobile Home
Desktop Home
After designing the mobile app for JobRanch, I designed a responsive website to go with it. This includes a mobile and desktop version.
Access the Mobile Version of the High Fidelity Prototype here: JobRanch Mobile Hi-Fi
Access the Desktop Version of the High Fidelity Prototype here: JobRanch Desktop Hi-Fi
Take Aways
Impact
My target users shared that they liked the features of the app and found them useful.
What I learned
I learned that designing across platforms requires a lot of work and iterations. This is because target users are expected to have the same experience regardless of the platform they are using. This requires research and continues adjustments to the designs until users needs are completely met
Next Steps
-
Conduct follow-up usability testing on the responsive website.
-
Design additional pages to reflect other features of the job search service.
-
Make adjustments to the design for improvements on findings from the follow-up usability study and design for additional size for tablet devices.