Scaling an EdTech startup from
0 to 30,000+ users
UI/UX Design
0-1 Design
Design Systems
SaaS/B2B/B2C
Pre-seed AI startup
|
USA
Deliverables
Mobile App
Desktop Web App
High-Fidelity Interactive Prototype
Design System
Team
Founding designer (me)
1 Project Manager
Team of Developers
Industry
AI
EdTech
B2B
SaaS
B2C
TransferBuddy is an innovative, new-to-market product that bridges the gap between community college students and universities. It empowers students to easily and seamlessly transfer to their dream 4-year unis and pursue their goals.
Objective
As the first UX hire, I was tasked with taking TransferBuddy from concept (0) to a fully functional product (1). To efficiently manage the complexity of building a new app from scratch, I adopted a feature-based design approach, focusing on designing, testing, and launching the app feature by feature.
My mission was to design an engaging, user-friendly app that simplifies the transfer journey and supports students every step of the way.
Challenge
Transferring colleges can be a confusing and stressful process. Students face many different kinds of adversity, such as:
Fragmented information across multiple platforms: there is no one "source of truth" for transfers
Lack of personalized guidance: Community college transfer guides have a lot on their plates and aren't able to give the required attention for every student
Unclear transfer requirements: This often leads to students spending more in university and more money on repeat classes that they did not need to take
Limited support in aligning transfer decisions with long-term career goals: It'd be best to have student's transfer goals align with their career goals
Solution
To address the platform’s early challenges, we designed a scalable, user-centric experience that balanced the needs of both students and universities. At the core of the solution was a centralized student dashboard that consolidated progress tracking, application statuses, and key deadlines into a single, intuitive interface—eliminating the confusion of managing multiple tools.
Student Dashboard
The Student Hub gave users an area where they could store and reference all of their activity on the app. They could also see their progress, important dates / deadlines, application status, and target universities.
Event Planner
When a community college student is just starting out on their transfer journey, they usually need to attend quite a few meetings. We made it easy for them to do that internally so they could stay organized and not worry about external scheduling issues.
University Channel Builder
Branding is an important part to any university. To accommodate University's needs, we implemented a customizable "Channel" builder where the University can add their colors, logos, and specific sections.
Explore Universities
I helped to create the first version of the “Explore" experience, where students can search for universities to find out more information such as group chats, programs, finances, majors, and upcoming events.
Student Application
The current standard to apply for universities right now is either directly through the university or through the universally known CommonApp, but both experiences are clunky and time-consuming. This application is quick and easy to submit.
Versatile Messaging
Community is an important aspect of the transfer journey, so it was important for students to have a reliable resource to cultivate their own communities. Through groupchats, students can create and join those that they most relate to and ask questions, get/give advice, and make friends.
Comprehensive Design System
I developed the initial version of TransferBuddy’s design system in parallel with the MVP design process, enabling efficient workflows and accelerating time-to-market for the product launch.
"Alyssa is an incredible designer and, most importantly, a great human being. Alyssa leads with empathy toward the user journey and understands what it takes to design a product with multiple stakeholders and diverse user needs. She has integrity, she is an effective communicator, and she is diligent. Our developers love to build her designs. Alyssa has become a trusted and vital teammate!"
Ainta A.
Chief Product Officer
I'd love to see if we're a match made in design heaven ✨ (we are)
