IKIGUIDE - Career Guidance App

Overview of the Prototype

Final Screens:

Onboarding screens

Ikigai assesment Step 1 & Step 2

Ikigai assessment Step 3 & Step 4

Login screen & Homepage

Stage 1: Empathize

Why I choose this problem?

I personally faced this problem. I had a lot of confusion about my career and never knew what path to choose. I was very confused because I wasn’t aware of the career options available to me. I never knew what my Ikigai was until I explored many different career paths.

Market Research

To understand the problem better, I read several articles.

From these articles I can stress of 4 Major problems

1. High Levels of Career Dissatisfaction

2. Lack of Awareness About Career Options

3. Misalignment Between Expectations and Reality

4. Lack of Passion and Fulfilment

Here are the screenshots of a few research articles,

After conducting market research, I found that students, career changers, and even experienced professionals face similar problems

Great Business Opportunity

From the website dataintelo.com I found out that career guidance market has a potential to grow at a approximate CAGR of 8.3% from 2023 to 2032

Next, to conduct primary research, I narrowed down my target users.

Who are my Target Users?

The target users include students, early-career professionals and career changers.

User Interviews

Based on market research, instead of asking numerous questions, I decided to focus on four key questions that address every aspect of the problems identified so far.

I Interviewed 5 people with the following 4 questions

1. What are the biggest obstacles you face when trying to make career decisions or find a career path that feels right for you?

2. Can you describe a recent situation where you felt confused or stuck about your career direction? How did you handle it?

3. What tools or resources have you used for career guidance in the past, and what did you find most or least helpful about them?

4. How do you currently balance your skills, interests, and values when making career choices, and what challenges do you encounter in this process?

User Surveys

I also conducted user surveys using Google Forms and would like to include screenshots of some of the most interesting responses.

Stage 2: Define

Goals & Frustrations

Out of all the insights I gained from interviews and surveys, here is the goals and frustrations that includes all the key points. While a more in-depth persona could be created, keeping it simple and straightforward will make it easier to ideate.

Following are the Goals and Frustrations

How Might We Questions

Next, I converted the goals and frustrations into How Might We Questions

How might we created in Figjam

Stage 3: Ideate & Prototype

One of my favourite methods of ideating is crazy eight! Just 8 minutes and 8 new ideas is the beauty of this method. This method is only used to think out of the box and generate ideas without thinking if its actually can be implemented as a feature.

So here are my eight ideas that I sketched

Paper wireframes of crazy 8 ideating exercise

My 8 Ideas:

1. Exploring Different Careers

2. Deciding on a Career Based on Your Time Spent Exploring

3. Chatting with AI After Taking the IKIGAI Career Assessment to Find Careers that Align with Your Goals

4. Joining a Community to Connect with People Who Share Your Career Interests

5. Finding a Mentor Based on Your Career Choice

6. Entering Your Interests, Hobbies, etc., to Discover Careers that Match Your Passions

7. Selecting Skills You Already Possess

8. Tracking Progress with Meters

Finding Solutions

Let's start finding solutions for our How Might We's

With ideas from crazy 8 I started to ideate further using paper wireframes

1. How might we guide individuals in exploring fulfilling career paths outside their current field or area of study?

Solution: With the help of 4 steps of finding their IKIGAI

• Step 1: What you love

• Step 2: What you are good at?

• Step 3: What the world need?

• Step 4: What you can be paid for?

Finding answers to these questions will simply answer this question but lets output of this could only be checked after the product launch

Final Paper wireframes after many iterations

Initial Hi-fi prototype before Usability Testing

2. How might we provide personalized, practical tools to help users identify and align their passions, strengths, and career goals?

   A) Careers to Explore section: Offering personalized course recommendations based on an Ikigai test helps users align their passions, skills, and values, empowering them to take actionable steps toward a fulfilling career.

   B) Progress Tracker: A tool for setting actionable career goals, breaking them down into manageable steps, and tracking progress with milestones and reminders to maintain motivation.

Paper wireframe and Hifi homepage

Stage 4: Test

I conducted a usability test by inviting target users to a Google Meet session and carried out an unmoderated test.

Problem identified 1:

What was the problem?

1. The user faced issues on Steps 2 and 3
2. He wanted more information about why he needed to complete each step.
3. He was especially confused in Step 4, feeling unsure about the purpose of selecting specific options and what the outcome would be.

Solution:
After identifying this issue, I came up with an idea to add information addressing three key areas:
1. Purpose of the step,
2. What to consider, and
3. Ideas for guidance.

After:

Gif showing solution to problem identified 1

Problem Identified 2:

What was the problem?

The user thought they had to select the career choices as options, as they were confused by the borders, similar to the previous sectionsAft

Solution:

Clearly added a headline stating, 'Start these courses from the homepage' to avoid confusion about selecting it as an option.

Style Guide

Conclusion & Future Scope

This project helped me think outside the box to design a solution that I aim to bring to life in the future, helping students, career changers, and other professionals discover their true purpose.

I plan to further research and continue developing this project with additional features that will provide long-term value for users. Through usability testing and iterative design, I addressed real user feedback, simplifying complex steps and enhancing clarity at key stages, which led to a more intuitive experience.

The IKIGUIDE app demonstrates my commitment to blending thoughtful research with design precision to solve user pain points and provide clarity in career decision-making. I look forward to applying these insights and lessons to future projects, where I can continue to make meaningful, user-centered contributions.