Going Merry
Going Merry
THE COMPANY
Going Merry helps students match with scholarships. As the company expanded toward a more holistic "Paying for College" platform, I joined to lead mobile UX and contribute to a broader company redesign.
ROLE
UI Design, UX Design, Project Management, User Research
WHEN
June 2020 - December 2020
IMPACT
We created seamless experiences for new product features and refined old features to make them more intuitive.
I began by immersing myself in the user journey—becoming a user, observing pain points, and translating insights into design opportunities. Early research focused on students’ general understanding of money and financial aid before narrowing into product-specific usability.
I began by immersing myself in the user journey—becoming a user, observing pain points, and translating insights into design opportunities. Early research focused on students’ general understanding of money and financial aid before narrowing into product-specific usability.
Key insights:
Many students don’t fully understand what qualifies as a scholarship,
which affects how they use the product.
The product lacked feedback loops, making it unclear if user actions led to results.
Students saw the product as work-oriented and stressful.
Users were excited by opportunity but overwhelmed by responsibility.
Key insights:
Many students don’t fully understand what qualifies as a scholarship,
which affects how they use the product.
The product lacked feedback loops, making it unclear if user actions led to results.
Students saw the product as work-oriented and stressful.
Users were excited by opportunity but overwhelmed by responsibility.
We created a detailed user journey map aligning financial tasks with user actions, emotions, and business opportunities. This helped us prioritize which services to expand or redesign (content confidential).
We created a detailed user journey map aligning financial tasks with user actions, emotions, and business opportunities. This helped us prioritize which services to expand or redesign (content confidential).
Together with the senior designer, we led a collaborative redesign of the platform’s navigation—mapping content, collecting team input, iterating, and simplifying access to the company’s wide range of services.
Together with the senior designer, we led a collaborative redesign of the platform’s navigation—mapping content, collecting team input, iterating, and simplifying access to the company’s wide range of services.
WIREFRAMES & RESULTS
I redesigned a feature to help students better understand financial aid and related processes, improving confidence and product comprehension.
I redesigned a feature to help students better understand financial aid and related processes, improving confidence and product comprehension.
Students used mobile mostly for browsing, not applying. To reduce overwhelm, I redesigned the feed to mimic a social media scroll—showing one scholarship at a time in a shuffled order to create a sense of novelty and ongoing discovery.
Students used mobile mostly for browsing, not applying. To reduce overwhelm, I redesigned the feed to mimic a social media scroll—showing one scholarship at a time in a shuffled order to create a sense of novelty and ongoing discovery.
