Case Study
Streamlining the Post-Secondary Education Journey
Role: Strategy Lead – SYPartners
Skills: Content Development, Design, Education Expertise
Industry: Education
Client: CEO & Head of Education Policy
Summary
At SYPartners, as a Senior Strategist, I dedicated two years to collaborating with XQ, an innovative education company aimed at transforming the high school experience to ensure students are thoroughly prepared for life's challenges. Our evolving partnership with XQ's CEO and education policy experts led to additional projects, including a pivotal one: creating a comprehensive guide for U.S. high school students. This guide, structured to assist students from 9th grade through to college admission, was born out of a challenging environment characterized by tight deadlines and resource constraints. Despite these hurdles, we successfully developed and designed a series of five books. These resources, available online, have been a significant success, with over 10,000 downloads by students and educators.
Fig. 1: Complete set of College pathfinder
Conceptualization
1) Identify Audience & Establish Objectives
Our goal, as set by our client, was to encapsulate the myriad of knowledge and resources necessary for high school students across the U.S. to successfully transition from high school to college. Recognizing the diverse requirements for high school graduation across states, we honed in on the major hindrances in completing high school education. Despite a broad scope, limited resources, and a pressing timeline, we efficiently conceptualized, designed, and gathered continuous feedback from students and educational experts.
Fig. 2-6: Draft version of high school student timeline
2) Mapping Key Moments and Blockers
Our initial step involved interviewing high school students to grasp their needs. We mapped out a typical American high school student's journey to college, pinpointing key moments and student needs. This approach led us to identify five core needs, crucial for the guide's effectiveness. We aligned on five core needs, outlined below.
Fig. 7: Draft outline of the guide
Fig. 8: Final outline of the guide
3) Content Hierarchy & Design Guidelines
Feedback from students highlighted the overwhelming and tedious nature of college preparation. To counter this, we developed a content taxonomy that was not only engaging but also facilitated understanding and commitment. The design emphasized simplicity and usability, infused with the brand's optimistic and playful, yet mature, aesthetic.
Fig. 9: Draft templates
Fig. 10: Final templates
Content Development
4) Finalizing Content & Managing Expectations
The content was shaped around a carefully crafted outline, with input from our experts to ensure it was both informative and motivating. Balancing the CEO's deadline and the education experts' desire for comprehensive content posed a challenge. I devised a set of criteria to filter essential and beneficial content, addressing stakeholder conflicts effectively.
Fig. 11: Draft outline for one guide
Fig. 12: Content criteria
5) Building Out Content & Design Integration
To work through content revisions with our education experts, we drafted content in a google doc. The images show how a version of the written content was adjusted and eventually placed into a design file.
Fig. 13: Draft content for one “Understand” section
Fig. 14: “Applying to College” – Understand section
6) Developing Interactive Exercises
One of the central tenants of the guide was to help young people see themselves in the process and understand where they were in the process, and what they needed to accomplish. As a result, we developed exercises to help illustrate concepts in the “Understand” portion of the guide. Below, we created a worksheet for students to map out their interests and proficiencies.
Fig. 15: “Discovering Your Path” – Understand section
Fig. 16: Draft of activity with edits from user testing
7) User Testing & Final Revisions
We knew that getting the perspective of high school students was essential in creating guides that genuinely helped them work through the biggest challenges in attending high school, applying to and accepting an offer from a post-secondary education. We recruited 10 local students and brought them into our office to read through the guides and complete the interactive components.
Fig. 17: Final draft of activity
Limitations & Challenges
During our initial discussions, our client envisioned an ambitious and interactive online tool. This tool was intended to actively engage students, guiding them through their educational journey with dynamic, user-focused features. To assess the viability of such a digital solution, we convened with our small yet capable internal software development team. The consensus was clear: an interactive online platform would indeed be the most effective medium to captivate and assist students. However, we soon confronted a significant hurdle – the project was constrained by a tight timeline and limited resources, which made the development of a comprehensive digital tool unfeasible within the given parameters.
The envisioned guide included several innovative digital elements. For instance, we planned a section where students could make a public commitment to complete the guide and share updates as they progressed through different sections. This interactive feature was designed to foster a sense of community and accountability among users. However, the translation of these interactive concepts into a static format like a PDF presented a challenge. The inherent dynamism and engagement potential of these features were somewhat diminished in a non-interactive format.
To address this challenge, we focused on creating a version of the guide that, while not fully digital, still aligned with the goals set forth by the education experts. We strived to incorporate elements that would lay the groundwork for a future digital iteration, ensuring the content was adaptable for an online format. This approach allowed us to deliver a valuable resource within the project's constraints while setting a clear direction for potential digital enhancement in the future.
Regrettably, the complete realization of a digital version of the guide remained unfulfilled. Despite this, the project's outcome was a testament to our team's adaptability and commitment to delivering quality work under challenging circumstances. The experience provided valuable insights into balancing ambitious digital objectives with the practicalities of resource and time constraints.