Reactor Nexus
Discover. Learn. Grow.
This project involved designing the mobile experience
for Reactor Industries, an education technology startup in Singapore.
for Reactor Industries, an education technology startup in Singapore.
3 weeks team project for Reactor Industries Singapore as part of the User Experience Design Immersive Programme at General Assembly
My Responsibilities
UX Researcher
• Conduct on site interviews and usability testing to assess field, needs and pain points
• Analyse and synthesise qualitative data from 12+ users
• Define Nexus' target audience and compile user personas
• Ensure a look consistent with all of Reactor Industries
What is Nexus App about?
The idea of Nexus came about because Reactor found that many of their younger students had difficulty figuring out exactly what career they wanted to pursue and decided to create a platform to support them in their career planning. The App is a platform to engage students by providing a centralised method that guide them through a step-by-step unique career exploration process.
Goals
The objective of Reactor Nexus is to be an App comprising of an AI powered platform that will allow Students (Age:14-24) and further on general public to:
1. Identifying the Problem and the Solution for the needs of the Students
on entrepreneurship (Age: 14-24) and Career Pathway (age: 16-24).
2. Create a self-filtering system for quality content to be shown to each user.
3. Create a Profile system to show the User’s achievements, levels and
2. Create a self-filtering system for quality content to be shown to each user.
3. Create a Profile system to show the User’s achievements, levels and
their progress in their career paths.
4. Create a communication system for the users to interact with other students
4. Create a communication system for the users to interact with other students
and domain experts.
Our Process
User research & analysis: Observe, ask, compare, synthesise
We started with qualitative research, approaching three different types of potential users (students, alumni and general public within an age between 20 to 33) and conducting about 12 interviews both on site and by phone. We asked them questions about their past experiences in career planning, choosing their education, the difficulties they faced during the journey and which tools and methods they used to support them while planning their career path. These allowed us to validate Reactor assumptions (The need for curated contents for example) and better understand people’s behaviours as well as the features of the app we would focus on.
What users want and what they said?
We realised that most of the “Reactor’s assumptions” found roots in people’s experiences. Regardless of whether people knew what they wanted to develop for their career or not, their experience is fragmented and they would like to have support and personal advices. Lack of orientation. Time wasting self-sourcing answers.
“To me it is quite difficult
to even figure out what I want to do”
to even figure out what I want to do”
•
“I know what I want
but I do not know how to get there.
There are so many different paths to get
to where I want and I don’t know which
is the right one”
but I do not know how to get there.
There are so many different paths to get
to where I want and I don’t know which
is the right one”
Problem
People who want to move up in their career need a more efficient way to gather information relevant to their interests and skills because they would feel more confident when deciding how to progress if they have access to personalised suggestions/content.
Hypothesis
We believe that by developing a mobile application which filters content based on the users’ skills and interests, we will provide people with a less overwhelming and time-consuming way to find information necessary for their career growth.
Solution
We will know this to be true when the number of downloads will grow and people will actively engage with the app.
Personas
Based on our findings and to help guide our design decisions, we carved three personas
and their journey maps throughout the whole career planning experience. The goal was further synthesising our research and create a better understanding of the key issues in order to have all the team aligned and on track.
and their journey maps throughout the whole career planning experience. The goal was further synthesising our research and create a better understanding of the key issues in order to have all the team aligned and on track.
So how does it is reflect reflected in our design?
High Fidelity Prototype & Iteration
We went through paper sketch wire frames before moving to high fidelity ones, a successful step to make sure contents & interactions were clear so visuals could start to be developed.
Two rounds of iterations with 4 users each and consequent design refinements to end.
1. Self-filtering / 2. Profile / 3. Connection System
