UI Designer
Capstone Project Case Study
Role: Project Designer
Group Roles
Nathan Lee - Storyteller
Rajit Goel - Prototype
Silas Solomon- Designer
Cole Jesberg -Synthesizer
Burak Bas - Researcher
Duration
August-December 2025
Tools
Figma
FigJam
Canva
Adobe Illustrator
Helping applicants stand out in a job market where everyone seems to be qualified. Creating a space for both applying graduates and hiring managers to connect through professional certifications.
Background and Problem
Our class was presented with a problem given by the hiring manager at a global money management company. Their primary goals were to design an interface to help them:
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Be a memorable and relevant company to job-seekers
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Smooth the transition for new graduates into their jobs
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Help graduates feel as if they have chosen the correct company to apply to that will support the start to their career journey
The Solution
Preface smooths the anxiety of job-seekers by providing them with the unique opportunity to learn about the companies they want to apply to and show off their skills. Applicants spend time and effort to be noticed for the commitment they make to earning a certificate for job positions. Not only does Preface help applicants stand out amongst the crowd, it also allows hiring managers to view applicants' course results in real-time and provides them with the best applicants possible.
Survey
Methods
As a class, we designed a digital survey form to fill out to collect data on recent/ future graduates and how they interact with job-seeking in the current market. Our team brainstormed several potential questions to contribute to the class's final survey questions. Our class collected 44 survey responses.
Sample Questions
Q: How much advance notice do you need for interviews?
A: (<24h / 1–2 days / 3–5 days / 1 week+)
Q: Most likely reasons you’d change your mind (renege) after accepting the job (pick up to 3):
A: better offer, compensation mismatch after details, role mismatch vs. page, slow, no communication, relocation constraints, visa work auth changes, family reasons, other:
Q: What community elements would help you feel you belong early? (select all):
A: Preferred Chat Platform, identity and interest groups, volunteer day, learning circles, manager intro series, campus to career workshops
Results
87%
of respondents said they find jobs through LinkedIn
80%
of respondents said long response times/ ghosting roadblocked them
40%
of respondants said they had difficulty finding opportunities
Interviews
Methods
Our group conducted four interviews of job-seeking individuals who either had already graduated from college or were preparing to graduate from college soon. We led them through each of our questions without revealing any sort of bias or intended responses. We asked follow-up questions on answers that could provide us with more details about their individual perspectives and insights into their unique job-seeking experiences.
Results
Desire to stand out
“How do I stand out in a competitive job market?”
Skills Focus
"The process favors cookie-cutter finance candidates, but people with different backgrounds and innovative ideas can bring real value too
Personality Focus
"They focused on my personality and desire to learn. I liked the fact that they focused on my values which matched with the culture at the firm
User Persona
Wireframes
Our group created wireframes of the two primary ideas we came up with based on our research. The first one is a Coursera-type interface which focuses on providing candidates with a way to showcase their abilities and technical skills while also learning about company values and culture.
The second idea was to create a dating app simulation for applicants' resumes so hiring managers could easily swipe and choose candidates based on their compatibility with the company.
Idea #1
Idea #2
Logo Design
Final Design
High Fidelity
Prototype
Key Features
Course Modules
Applicants can answer company questions in real-time and show off their skillsets to hiring managers
Certificates
Earn certificates for courses completed and save them on profile tab
Upload earned certificates to LinkedIn and show hiring managers work-ethic
Corporate
Hiring managers can navigate and search for role-applications as well as applicants certificate overviews
Summary
We were faced with the problem of job applicants who felt lost and misunderstood in their post-grad job-seeking journey, and a money management company that felt like they couldn't find the correct candidates for their roles. Preface creates a platform as a middleman between applicants and hiring managers to ease the tension of every perspective of the hiring process. Our website provides courses for company positions, not just a "click to apply" link. Applicants can show off their commitment to applying to roles while learning about company culture and showcasing their technical abilities through free-response questions.