College Advising Corps is an education nonprofit that helps students in under-resourced U.S. high schools pursue university or other postsecondary pathways by pairing them with volunteer academic advisers who are university graduates.
I designed a progressive web app for Advising Corps to help students keep track of tasks and dates for their postsecondary applications and submit the information to the database. This reduces advisers’ administrative burden and allows them to focus on supporting students in their academic and career endeavours.
Advisers had many responsibilities – collecting and reporting student data, communicating information to students, and guiding students throughout the postsecondary application process.
The client asked our team to build a product that is integrated with their existing CRM application to address these needs and reduce the load on advisers.
Using, optimizing, and adapting many existing components from the design helped me work quickly and reduce dev time.
a closer look
Two focus groups conducted with high school students in Georgia and Missouri found that students wanted a centralized mobile-friendly solution allowing them to see outstanding to-do items and track their progress.
To gain insight into students’ preferred terminology and mental models, I proposed to conduct an online card sorting study using Maze.
However, because of the extra layers of consent required to conduct research with minors, the client was not able to arrange for any further research with students other than the focus group before the students went on summer break.
Summary
Context
Visual Design
My Role
UI, UX, Visual Design, Atomic Design, UX Principles, Information Architecture, Card Sorting, Focus Groups, Prototyping, Motion, Tokens
Lead designer collaborating with Project Manager and Developers
The Team
Tools
Figma, Tokens Studio, Tailwind
Alleviating adviser workloads and helping students apply for college through
a browser-based progress tracking app
Student App
Fundraising efficiency:
Helps Advising Corps reduce expenses and increase impact per donation dollar by streamlining data collection and administration
Donor acquisition and retention:
Helps Advising Corps raise support since attractive product visuals from this new initiative can be included in fundraising appeals
Data analysis:
Allows for new measurements of student engagement and progress that could help Advising Corps discover ways to improve their operations
Partner organizations:
Creates opportunities for Advising Corps to partner with more education companies and nonprofits
Projected benefits of the student app:
Advising Corps needed an efficient way to communicate with students and collect information from them.
The student app reflects the design patterns and appearance of the CRM application, but with added flair derived from the brand.
Student needs
Research proposal
Context
Follow-up Questions
Card Sorting Interface
Final System Architecture
CAC Brand Guidelines
Type and colour scales used in existing CRM app
Instructions
Instructions
Current CRM application
Adviser needs:
To reduce time spent reminding students to submit information and manually reporting the data in the existing CRM application
Organizational needs:
To efficiently disseminate information to
students and keep data current for administration and analysis
Use their phones more often than their laptops
“We’re on our phones 24/7… if it’s not mobile, I won’t use it.”
“Make sure the phone version works just as well as desktop. Some apps mess that up.”
Annoyed by excessive notifications
“If you're constantly on me about something, it gets really annoying and I drop out.”
“Don’t bombard me. A reminder a week before and three days before is perfect.”
Frustrated about having to switch between apps to complete tasks
“I don't like going to different apps to do the same thing. If everything's on one app, I'm more motivated to do it.”
Motivated by progress indicators and checklists that show what is outstanding and reminders on time-sensitive tasks
“Seeing 70% complete really motivates me. I want to get to 100%.”
“I like seeing what I haven’t finished—it pushes me to do it.”
Want to track scholarships, applications, acceptances, and enrolments
“I want to keep track of how much money I've gotten from scholarships.”
“I’d use a tracker to keep up with everything I’ve done.”
I added visual contrast with shadows, gradient borders, and bolder splashes of colour to differentiate the mobile experience from the desktop CRM app.
Final Visual Design
a closer look
Submissions
To remind and motivate students to stay on track, I designed a to-do list interface that shows tasks ordered by due date.
To allow students to track applications and proactively add this data to their record, I created a page that shows all their submissions to the database.
“Checklists with deadlines are the biggest thing. That way you don’t miss anything important.”
-student in Georgia focus group
“If there's a menu showing what I still need to do, I’ll check it off to clear it.”
-student in Missouri focus group
“I’d use a tracker to keep up with everything I’ve done.”
-student in Missouri focus group
Header cards and navy background
Final dashboard design
Dashboard task completion flow
Final submissions design
The focus groups conducted with students also demonstrated the potential of using gamification to increase engagement.
Capturing and analyzing the following metrics could reveal whether the app has improved student outcomes and reduced adviser administration.
The app unlocks opportunities to streamline student-adviser communication, involve parents, and partner with other organizations.
In addition, conducting focus groups with students and advisers could reveal valuable insights about the user experience and how it could be improved.
Future opportunities
Evaluating app performance
Product strategy
Competitive leaderboard
“A leaderboard with people from your school? That’d make me want to keep going.”
“Make it fun - like who submitted the most scholarships this month.”
Tangible prizes
“Give us early access to resources if we hit milestones - that’s better than random prizes.”
“I’d log in more if I knew I could earn something for it.”
The design needed to clearly show the differences between approved, pending and rejected submissions, and guide the student to make corrections to submissions if rejected.
Adviser Approvals
The main design challenge was that application data submitted by students needed to first be checked and approved by their advisers before it would be reflected on their record.
This section will be updated as more information becomes available post-launch.
Outcomes
In August, '25 - I finalized the designs and handed them off to the dev team, paving the way for a smooth launch of the app for the 2025-26 school year.
Student success
Rate of students getting accepted into desired postsecondary institution
Adviser administration
Ratio of adviser-initiated data submissions to student-initiated submissions
Improve communication with students by developing a native mobile app that can seamlessly support in-app messaging and iOS notifications
Improve parents’ awareness of their children’s postsecondary plans by allowing students to give their parents access to their postsecondary application data
Student success
Percentage of students who complete their financial aid applications on time
Adviser administration
Percentage of students with complete profiles
Make it easier for parents by allowing them to sign forms and update their contact information in the app
Allow other education nonprofits to engage with and serve content to students through the app
I was given a brief with requirements for the app and conceptualized the product architecture and user flows assuming that there were no other constraints. However, through receiving feedback on designs from the project lead and developers, I discovered other requirements, including technical limitations, data approval mechanisms, and specifications for student tasks and milestones.
In hindsight, it would have been beneficial to earmark more time to investigate the requirements of the project and familiarize myself with the existing CRM application.
Lessons
If the project requirements are ambiguous, ask clarifying questions to reduce assumptions and uncover additional constraints.