Mergen
My Impact
Design System
Created the first design system to improve efficiency and branding consistency, collaborating with the CEO to align with company goals.
Founding Designer
As a founding designer at the startup, I developed key concepts and features while collaborating with team members in a fast-paced environment.
Competitive
Selected from 12,000 applicants, I worked with top admissions experts from Stanford, Harvard, and other leading universities on product development.
Problem
Mergen aims to simplify the college admissions process using AI. Many talented students struggle to communicate their values, which can impact their chances of acceptance into their dream universities. We help students overcome language barriers, first-generation challenges, and other obstacles to effectively showcase their unique abilities and improve their admission prospects.
Major Obsticles
Problem
The lack of a clear design system made it difficult for designers to maintain consistency in the app and sync across all projects.
Solution
Collaborated with the CEO and a product manager to align our vision and branding with the business strategy.
Impact
Updated the logo's colors, typography, and design, contributing to the rebranding and improving team collaboration and efficiency.
Problem
Data entry made onboarding tedious, The data is vital for profiles, AI personalization, & application competitiveness.
Solution
I enhanced data entry intuitiveness and gamified onboarding with unlockable icons, a save function, a progress bar, and AI animations.
Impact
The intuitive information architecture and enhanced features improve user retention and data quality for AI analysis in Mergen.
Problem
Exploring colleges, including university overviews, costs, scholarships, majors, and admissions, is a critical feature that was needed.
Solution
Developed a webpage that analyzes onboarding data and essays to provide personalized college insights and financial aid recommendations.
Impact
The overview page provides a personalized snapshot of the chosen university, featuring key metrics for efficient decision-making.
Recommendations
The design system tackled branding issues but lacked a unified vision and effective components.
Color contrast can create accessibility issues for users. Testing is vital for WCAG compliance.
Designers flourish with clear requirements and a strong contextual understanding, enhancing creativity and innovation.