School project

ABOUT THE PROJECT ➤

There is a general trend of taking a break in education in Western Europe and the USA. It usually happens between graduation from high school and entering college or work. It is known as the gap year.

In Poland, despite the growing popularity, this phenomenon is still not well explored, but it’s definitely present. We created the application for people considering a break in further formal education and for those whose life situation forced them to make such a decision.

MY ROLE ➤

It is a project created at UX Design studies at the University. It was a teamwork in which we were equally involved in each of the individual stages of the UX process. From research and surveys to final design and working prototypes.

OUR CHALLENGE ➤

Unfortunately, we did not find statistical data on the gap year phenomenon in Poland. However, it is worth noting that such people exist, and there are many of them. Almost 14% of high school graduates (2019) who have not passed the final exam will have to wait until the following year to retake the final exams;

Our goal was to support and guide such people in building awareness of their professional path or future education.

We also wanted to create a space where it is be possible to meet other people in a similar life situation.

The entire project was based on the idea of the so-called sharing economy.

THE PROCESS ➤

After thorough research, we conducted individual in-depth interviews with over a dozen people to better understand our users' experiences, needs, and concerns. What were the criteria for selecting respondents?

- persons determined to take a gap year, during or

immediately after high school

- up to 3 years from the end of the study break

- residents of the Warsaw agglomeration (thanks to this,

we were able to meet personally selected people)

- using technology on a daily basis

The biggest difficulty was reaching the right number of people starting to plan their break in education on purpose. We only found one person like that.

We created personas to have a broader picture of a given

target group and better understand potential users, their

problems, motivations, and goals: one main, three secondary ones. We learned that the biggest issues of this group are:

- lack of a plan and ideas for their lives,

- lack of personalised help and advice,

- scattered information and sources of inspiration,

- misunderstanding, no acceptance from family or friends

- feeling of loneliness

In response to that , we decided to create a social tool that will provide the target group with access to:

- personalised offers of ideas and advice,

- suggestions for solutions how to spend time,

- databases of other people in a similar situation,

- space for exchanging questions, and experiences

The next step was to visualise the product. We started with creating stories, and based on them, we sketchily designed lo-fi screens. Of course, it took a while, and we needed many iterations to set the final views. A while later, we created the first interactive prototypes. We tried to make them advanced enough to test with potential users. We wanted to gather their opinions as soon as possible and make all corrections to enrich our app with that extra value.

MY LEARNINGS ➤

I learned the techniques of UX designers’ work, every stage of it, and I gained knowledge that I use in my daily work now.

I also realised how important is the ability to work in a group of strangers when designing. Teamwork is the key.

the app for those who decided to take a gap year

Thanks!