Beyond
Bridging career inequities with empathy, guidance, and community
Beyond is a career exploration platform designed for people who don't have the same access to opportunities, mentors, or professional networks as their peers. Built during Boston University's Catalyst Designathon, Beyond won an Honorable Mention out of 87 teams.
Designathon
Catalyst
ROLE
UX Designer
EXPERTISE
Education
Accessibility
User Research
Duration
2 Days
Mar 2024
Team
3x UX Designers
Background
Catalyst is a two-day designathon hosted by Boston University centered around accessibility and inclusive design.
Our prompt was:
Through digital tools, how can we aim to make experiences and services more accessible to others?
As someone who spent years figuring out my own career path, this question immediately resonated with me. Growing up, I often felt like everyone else had access to information I didn't. They knew what jobs existed, what opportunities to pursue, and what steps to take next. I didn't lack ambition. I lacked exposure. The more I talked to friends, classmates, and other students, the more I realized this wasn't a unique experience.
My team decided to explore that gap.
Timeline
The Problem
Finding a career shouldn't depend on who you know.
When people talk about career development, they usually focus on resumes, networking, internships, and job applications. Our research pointed to a much earlier problem. Many people never make it that far.
They don't know what careers exist. They don't understand how different majors translate into real jobs. They don't have mentors to guide them. They feel pressure from family expectations, financial realities, and cultural norms.
Most importantly, they don't have a clear path forward. For underrepresented students, access to opportunities often depends on who happens to be in their network. If nobody around you works in a particular field, it's difficult to imagine yourself there. That creates a cycle where opportunities remain hidden from the people who could benefit from them most.
define the opportunity
How might we help people find direction when they don't know what they don't know?
The internet isn't lacking information. If anything, there's too much of it. The challenge isn't finding resources. It's finding the right resources at the right time, presented in a way that feels approachable rather than overwhelming.
We saw an opportunity to create a platform that combines career exploration, education, mentorship, community, and events into a single experience. Instead of asking users to jump between LinkedIn, Coursera, Discord communities, job boards, and university websites, what if we could bring those experiences together in one place?
The solution
Beyond is a career exploration platform designed to help people discover opportunities they may never have otherwise encountered.
The platform connects users based on their interests, goals, and skills while surfacing personalized resources, events, certifications, and career pathways.
Rather than asking users what job they want, Beyond helps them answer a more fundamental question: What's possible for me?
Whether someone is a high school student exploring careers for the first time, a college student looking for direction, or a professional considering a career change, Beyond provides a supportive environment to learn, connect, and grow.
Video demo
Brainstorming
Accessibility is about access to opportunity.
We brainstormed ideas for the three different prompts we were provided. After reflecting on our own tumultuous journeys to find a career path that was right for us, we decided on an education/career app geared towards people still finding their way.
Survey
128 students helped us understand where people get stuck.
To learn more about our users' specific needs, we sent out a survey with 7 demographic questions, 9 multiple-choice questions, and 1 free response. We gathered 128 responses from students.
71% faced challenges in accessing career opportunities or higher education
A significant portion of our target audience is seeking direction and clarity. Our app should prioritize tools that help users explore interests, set goals, and develop actionable pathways to achieve them.
34% didn't feel like they had clear academic/career goals in life
Barriers such as lack of resources, guidance, or access are a dominant pain point. We need to provide accessible resources, mentorship opportunities, and clear pathways to overcome these challenges.
Pain Points
Users didn't know where to start.
I used affinity mapping to sort 107 free-responses surrounding purpose to identify key user pain points that prevented them from reaching their true potential.
Lack of Exposure to Career Options and Opportunities
Many individuals struggle to find their purpose due to insufficient exposure to various career paths and hands-on experiences.
"I don't know what I don't know; one advantage of uni is being able to give you a syllabus to follow to explore an interest and its related fields."
"Taking courses to guide my perspectives on what I am interested in. I was missing a lot of exposure in terms of how a field of study could be applied in many ways."
"I think opportunities to explore individual career paths before entering college would definitely help, although it would be hard to organize for a bunch of high schoolers."
Lack of Guidance and Support from Family, Friends, or Mentors
The absence of emotional, financial, or informational support makes it challenging for individuals to explore and commit to their passions.
"My life circumstances made it extremely challenging for me to find my purpose. My family did not support my decision to go to college in any way early on."
"A guiding figure to help me realize my potential, showing me my strengths and interests, would have helped a lot."
"I long for not just acknowledgment, but a deeper concern for me and the unfolding of my life. This absence is palpable."
Pressure and Constraints from Social Expectations
Tools should facilitate exploration, provide structured pathways, and offer emotional support to empower users in overcoming barriers and finding clarity in their pursuit of purpose.
"There is a huge pressure to be successful (especially in the Bay Area), which really limits your career choices and goals."
"In my culture, many people don’t get to go to school, but I always see others driving nice cars and people from my culture servicing them. I realized it’s because they take education seriously compared to people from my culture."
"Hard to choose something to do for your whole life when you've only lived through the short beginning."
User Personas
Designing for people at different stages of self-discovery.
After looking at the survey demographics and insights, we decided to cater the app towards 4 main groups of users.
Market Research
Most platforms solve one piece of the puzzle.
We reviewed 11 products across three categories: career platforms, learning platforms, and community/event platforms.
Career platforms like LinkedIn, Handshake, Indeed, and Blind help users find jobs and build professional networks.
Learning platforms like Coursera, Khan Academy, Udemy, and edX help users develop skills and earn certifications.
Community platforms like Reddit, Discord, Meetup, and Eventbrite help people connect with others and discover events.
Each category does one thing well, but none address the full journey of someone who is still figuring out what they want to do. Many career platforms assume users already know their interests. Learning platforms assume users know what skills they want to develop. Community platforms assume users already know where to find their people. Our research suggested the opposite, many users were struggling because they didn't know what opportunities existed in the first place.
The Gap
Existing platforms help people take the next step. We wanted to help people discover what the next step should be. Beyond combines career exploration, learning, mentorship, networking, and event discovery into a single experience designed for people who are still finding their direction.
User Flow
Turning research insights into a clear path forward.
We determined key features and screens in a user flow, informed by our user and market research.
Features
Allowing users to explore and act.
Onboarding and skill assessment
Explore jobs and industries, find relevant trainings + certifications
personalized profile page
Connect with other users
Takeaways
Exposure is a privilege.
Many career products assume users already know what they're interested in. Our research suggested the opposite. People often struggle because they haven't been exposed to enough possibilities to make informed decisions.
Accessibility extends beyond physical and technical accessibility.
Access to information, mentorship, and opportunity can be just as important. In only two days, our team designed a solution that earned an Honorable Mention out of 87 participants, but more importantly, it challenged how I think about accessibility. Sometimes the most impactful thing a product can do is help someone imagine a future they didn't know existed.