Hiroto SUZUKI

USTARlinks is a service platform that allows Canadian university students to give educational advices to high school students outside Canada who want to attend universities abroad.
More than just a platform facing students, packaged services are open for local agencies to expand their business to BtoC and BtoB.

As the design lead with two other Canadian designers, we were responsible for designing a bridging hub between education agencies and students who consider to study overseas.

USTARLinks hero section

Role

• UX & UI Design
• User Research

Client

Madoor Inc.

Date

2019

User Insights: Chinese Families

USTARlinks has a primitive goal to help Chinese families with children. It was all initiated by the CEO's own challenges in moving to and studying abroad in Vancouver from China.

During the first stage of user research, three parents were interviewed for their background of sending their children to study overseas. This stage was significant as we explored any potential educational opportunities and business models.
In addition to the interviews, we also conducted user journey maps with ten international students, learning how they chose universities and educational needs.

USTARLinks interview

Parents: A Need for Reliable Agency

• When it is about education, parents want work with agencies with a well-trusted and renowned background.
• Rather than specific schools, they prioritize applying for schools that accept their children’s current GPA. They apply to an average of 20 schools.
• Parents are willing to pay $8,700 USD for an agency that promises to help until they settle down with a satisfied school option.

Children: Getting direct guidance from actual university students

• Children prefer hearing from the personal experience of university students rather than an education agency.
• Communication with the schools is more challenging when they do not have any relatives locally.
• Students are extremely busy preparing for exams, leaving them not enough time to communicate with education agencies.

User Insights: American Agencies

USTARLinks interview2

Chinese parents will reach out to education agencies based in the US when they have no choice but to find agents.

Entering the education industry is competitive for new agencies

• New companies need to invest hugely in advertisements to compete with reputable agencies and expand their client connection.
• It is a difficult industry to start a new company, so it takes years to identify who their competitors are.
• Every university comes with its expertise, advancements, and human connections, making management very hard.

Wireframing

Matching high school students and university students

First, we created a system that allows high school students in Asia to connect with Canadian students.
As we recognized the importance of passion and interests for students, students should be able to choose their schools based on interests.

Matching Agencies and Families (Parents & Students)

ustar diagram

Through the platform, renowned agencies in China can reach out to clients in Vancouver, while Canadian agencies can acquire clients in China.
Based on our research, we have concluded our primary user insights: Families are looking for a trusted agency to assist in helping children to find their areas of expertise.

The insight led us to form three different connection points that shaped our final platform structure - exam agencies, students from well-known Canadian universities, and high school students from outside Canada.

Problems From Wireframe

Problem 1: Management system lacks flexibility

To our surprise, the scale of agencies varies from big corp to one-man-army. The existing management system is too simple to accommodate different agencies’ needs.

Solution: The account owner has control over how employees interact with the system

USTARLinks settings

The account owner can customize employees' accessibility to the system based on their types of employment.

Problem 2: Keeping up with the ever-changing industry

The feedback from the employee registration page shows us that "agencies want to attract a wide variety of employees, but they do not know how."

Solution: Visualize key information

USTARlinks company profile

In order to keep up with the diversification of the examinations, we have converted relevant experts from different agencies into data, building a database that can automatically match students with the corresponding agencies.

In addition, a feature for reaching out to university student scouting is added for the purpose of connecting agencies with students.

Problem 3: Delayed response

Parents expect immediate responses from college students. The latter, however, finds it hard to keep track of inquiries from those living in a different timezone.

Solution: Q&A

An alternative format for getting guidance would be allowing high school students to ask questions individually on a Q&A forum. University students get paid for every answered question, making the profit gaining transparent for both sides.

Students pay for each questions not the person, it makes the cash flow clear.

Problem 4: Too many designers, too many revisions

As the design lead, I realized that having three designers working on the same project within a limited time can cause chaos if team management is not structured.

Solution: Utilize UI Components

USTARlinks components

We adopted Atomic Design Methodology to keep the design consistent. We broke the design system into groups of components, which can later be combined together to create new features.

Unifying The Design

To stand out from our competing brands, I decided to stay away from conventional educational palettes and explore underused options instead. Finally, I came up with salmon pink, a color that speaks of novelty, youthfulness, and care.

Typography

USTARLinks font

Colors

• ●

  FF5057

• ●

  FF989A

• ●

  FFFFFF

Brand Logo

USTARLinks Logo

The logo itself is a graduation cap that represents educational accomplishment.

Six Months After The Launch

USTARlinks has helped over 50 agencies reach out to potential clients.

Recently the Chinese government issued a nationwide ban on after-school tutoring. USTARlinks could come in handy for Chinese parents seeking tutors outside of China; thus, the number of users is expected to increase.

Future Platform Features

Credit System Implementation

• Currently, users can only make payments with virtual currency "Star Coin."
• Implementing a credit system requires a lot of human resources, but the current stage of the project has other priorities in developing the platform.
• The credit system can attract more clients as it becomes more convenient and accessible.

Whether to make questions public

• Should we allow all users to see existing questions?
• Should users be able to view existing answers for a fee?
• University students could gain more profit from their answers.

What I Learned

Ability to adapt quickly

Startups tend to find their way out through trial and error. For designers, it means a constant change in project scope and design direction. Thus, it is important to utilize existing resources rather than creating everything from scratch. Sometimes it is necessary to cut down resource- draining features to ensure MVP delivery.

Understanding cultural differences

I had problems communicating with my French manager, a culture that is very different from Asian ones. Europeans tend to value individuality while Asian cultures prefer harmony.

It is easy to always think about the project, but her way of working, focusing more on her personal life, was eye-opening for Japanese people.

Sharing a design system

When designers collaborate, it is crucial to set up a guideline or design system that all parties can follow.