Guidely

Project Overview

WHAT: Guidely is a web app that helps students and interns explore career paths, build portfolios, and gain networking guidance through AI-powered recommendations. It transforms career uncertainty into personalized, actionable learning journeys that guide users step by step toward their professional goals.

WHY: Future-of-work skills and career readiness are a priority for both students and employers. Many students struggle to identify learning paths, build meaningful portfolios, or navigate professional networking. While AI-powered tools exist, most are generic or overly complex. Guidely addresses this by providing personalized, supportive, and visually engaging career guidance, inspired by Google’s mission to democratize access to knowledge and skill-building (e.g., Google Career Certificates).

HOW: Guidely empowers users through:

• AI-Powered Recommendations: Personalized learning paths, portfolio guidance, and networking tips based on user interests and goals.

• Visual Growth Journeys: Timeline-style dashboards showing skills unlocked, milestones achieved, and next steps.

• Conversational UX: Friendly, supportive AI interactions that guide users without being robotic or overwhelming.

• Cross-Platform Web Accessibility: Fully functional on desktop and tablets, with responsive layouts.

Success metrics:

• Daily Engagement: 50–60% of users interact with AI suggestions daily.

• Portfolio Progress: 70% of users complete at least one recommended portfolio task per week.

• Learning Path Completion: Users complete an average of 60% of suggested learning steps in the first month.

• User Satisfaction: Average rating of 4.5/5 for AI guidance clarity, usability, and motivation.

Target Audience: Guidely is designed for students, interns, and early-career professionals who want structured career guidance, skill-building, and portfolio development without feeling overwhelmed.
Industry: Career Development
Timeline: 8 weeks (2024)
My Role: UX Researcher, UX/UI Designer
Tools: Figma, FigJam

DESIGN PROCESS:

Empathize:
I conducted interviews and surveys with students, interns, and early-career professionals to understand their career anxieties, learning gaps, and portfolio-building struggles. I mapped pain points and emotional triggers—like uncertainty, imposter syndrome, and lack of actionable guidance—through personas and journey maps. This empathy-driven research informed the AI conversational flow, visual dashboards, and milestone tracking.

Define:
Problem: Students and interns want to explore careers and build professional skills but struggle with unclear paths, overwhelming choices, and lack of actionable guidance.
Goal: Design a web app that uses AI to provide personalized, actionable career guidance, visual growth journeys, and supportive UX that builds confidence and skill in early professionals.

Ideate:
Lo-Fi Wireframes:

Prototyping:
Hi-Fi Wireframes:

Testing:
Participants: 6 (3 students, 2 interns, 1 early-career professional)
Tasks:

• Complete onboarding and input interests/goals

• Interact with AI to receive career and learning recommendations

• Explore visual growth dashboard and track milestones

Findings:

• Users wanted clear next steps → added prioritized AI recommendations

• Growth dashboard was intuitive → retained timeline-style visualization

• Conversational AI needed to feel supportive → refined tone to be encouraging, not robotic

• Users requested portfolio checklist → added task completion and skill badges

Challenges Faced and Reflection:
Designing Guidely taught me that AI-powered tools must feel supportive, transparent, and human-like. Challenges included:

• Balancing AI guidance with user autonomy – avoiding over-reliance while still being actionable

• Visualizing abstract career growth – solved with timeline dashboards and skill milestones

• Designing conversational UX – iterated on tone, microcopy, and AI responses

I overcame these by testing multiple AI interaction designs, refining dashboard layouts, and conducting usability sessions to ensure users felt motivated and informed.

This project strengthened my strategic UX thinking, showing how storytelling, visual metaphors, and trust-building in AI interfaces can empower users to take real steps toward career growth.