Context

This project was a fast design sprint focused on creating an experience that enables mentors and mentees to discover each other more intentionally.

Most existing mentorship programs in universities either match students based on major or rely on alumni networks. All pairings are coordinated by the school, leaving little room for students to find someone who actually matches their needs or interests.
Given the sprint timeline, I focused my research on college-specific mentorship programs targeting underclassmen.

People Problem

“If I am going to be someone’s mentor then I want to make sure I can offer them exactly what they want, and not feel like I was randomly assigned.”

UX Research

I surveyed 10 former mentors and mentees from Cal Poly’s mentorship programs.
Key takeaway: Most mentees said they would not continue with the program.

They reported that their assigned mentor never reached out after the initial introduction, leaving them anxious or unsure how to maintain the relationship.

More Interview Results

I conducted in-person interviews with 2 previous mentees: Kelly (Business) and Liat (Public Health and 2 previous mentors: Eli (Engineering) and Emily (Design).

Insights:

Kelly: After an initial text exchange, “she was super helpful, but once classes started we never saw each other again,” eventually leading her to stop reaching out.

Liat: “We met twice and then she never responded again.”

Eli: “It often feels like mentees are only asking questions they think they should ask, not what they actually care about.”

Emily: She’d consider mentoring again if she could avoid the administrative matching process: “I would rather have a freshman approach me directly.”

Overall, both sides felt mismatched, disconnected, and uninspired by the current system.

Competitive Analysis

Existing mentorship offerings fall into two categories:

Alumni-focused programs meant to strengthen long-term community
Major-specific pairings that don’t account for personal fit

Neither approach supports organic, student-driven relationships.

Brainstorming

Two major questions emerged:

How can we motivate students to genuinely want to be mentors or mentees?
Current programs ask vague, impersonal questions that don’t lead to meaningful matches.
If students can reach out to each other directly, how do we avoid bias and ensure equitable distribution of mentors?

These became the foundation for ideation.

Persona Creation

Personas helped clarify user goals, frustrations, and motivations, grounding design decisions in real student behaviors.

Story Boarding

Based on the persona insights, I storyboarded Amber’s journey to visually explore her emotional experience, unmet needs, and opportunities to create more purposeful interactions.

Solution

MentorConnect: a mobile app that empowers students to build intentional, self-driven mentorship relationships.

Key features:

Direct student-to-student engagement
Students can browse, connect, and form mentorship partnerships based on genuine alignment, not random assignments.
Meaningful onboarding for mentees
The sign-up flow captures their goals, challenges, and interests, ensuring they find mentors who can meet their needs.
Campus involvement integrated into the feed
Relevant club meetings, workshops, and campus events appear in the mentee’s feed to encourage engagement.
Mutual matching
Both mentors and mentees play an active role in choosing each other based on relevant information, increasing retention and investment.

High Fidelity Mocks

Reflections / Takeaways

The challenge required designing a mentorship experience specifically for my university to strengthen community. If implemented, I would integrate MentorConnect into Cal Poly Now, the Student Affairs app required for all incoming freshmen and transfer students. Featuring it there would drive immediate exposure, usage, and long-term adoption.

This sprint was a rewarding process where I was able to participate in so many cirtical components to design thinking, moving from research to storyboarding, wireframing, and high-fidelity design.

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