Project Outcomes at a Glance

Less Busywork

Centralized data and simplified tasks are projected to cut administrative time by 20%, giving mentors their day back.

 

One-Stop Shop

We killed the “tab tax.” Mentors now have a single dashboard, eliminating the need to juggle Keap, email, and spreadsheets.

 
Ready to Scale

The new adaptive system handles volume effortlessly, supporting growth from 300 to 1,000+ students without breaking a sweat.

Project Details
Core Responsibilities
  • Senior UX/UI Designer (Team of 6)
  • UX Research Lead
Timeline

  • Two Months

Tools & Methods
  • Miro (Affinity Mapping, Workshops)
  • Figma (Prototyping)
  • Usability Testing
  • User-Centered Design (UCD)
The Challenge: Growing Pains

Avocademy started strong, but success brought its own set of problems. The team initially managed students on spreadsheets before moving to Keap, a standard small-business CRM. While Keap checked the boxes for basic management, it wasn’t built for the human nuances of mentorship. Mentors were getting bogged down—struggling to track milestones, consolidate feedback, or spot struggling students in time. They needed a tool that worked for them, not against them.

My Approach: Championing the Mentor

My role was to lead the design team in solving this operational puzzle with a heavy dose of empathy. We needed to look past the technical constraints of the CRM and focus on the people behind the screen. I led the research and strategy, ensuring we didn’t just build a prettier interface, but a simpler, more intuitive workflow that respected the mentors’ time.

From Insight to Action

We moved fast, keeping our process iterative and grounded in feedback:

  • We Listened First: Before designing a single pixel, we interviewed 35 mentors. Using Affinity Mapping in Miro, we uncovered the real headache: it wasn’t just “software issues,” it was the mental load of chasing down information across three different apps.
  • Collaborative Design: We ran a workshop to sketch out solutions, rapidly focusing on a centralized dashboard that acts as a “home base.”
  • Testing Real Scenarios: We built an interactive Figma prototype and put it in front of mentors. We watched them try to leave feedback and check schedules, refining the flow until it felt natural.
  • Smart Integration: We didn’t reinvent the wheel; we just made it roll smoother. The design is adaptive to Keap, pulling in the necessary data while presenting a custom, friendly face to the user.
Avocademy Research Affinity Map

Research Synthesis: Mentor Pain Points

Source: 35 Mentor Interviews & Observations

Quotes Observations Pain Points

Theme 1 Information Chaos

"I have to open 3 different tabs just to find a student's email address."

"Keap doesn't show me their last project submission. I have to dig through Drive."

I keep my own spreadsheet because the CRM is too slow.

Mentors constantly alt-tabbing between Calendar, Email, and Keap during calls.

Key Insight

Information is siloed. Mentors act as "detectives" piecing together data.

Theme 2 The Scheduling "Ping Pong"

"Emailing back and forth for 3 days just to pick a 30-min slot."

"Students forget to show up because there's no auto-invite sent."

Time zone confusion makes me miss meetings.

Observed mentor manually typing zoom links into 5 different emails.

Key Insight

Administrative friction (scheduling) eats up valuable mentoring time.

Theme 3 Lack of Visibility

"I don't know who is falling behind until they actually quit."

I need a "Red Flag" list.

"Who hasn't submitted anything in 2 weeks? I have no way to check easily."

"Manually checking 20 folders every Friday takes me 2 hours."

Key Insight

Mentorship is reactive, not proactive, due to lack of aggregate data.

Theme 4 Mentor Experience

"I spend more time on admin than actually helping students."

"The current tools feel cold. I want to feel connected."

Mentors expressed anxiety about "dropping the ball" on a student.

Idea: "What if I could see their face on the dashboard?"

Key Insight

Current friction reduces job satisfaction and mentor-student connection.

The Solution: Mentorship, Simplified

The Avocademy Mentor Portal isn’t just a tool; it’s a relief. It brings everything a mentor needs into one clean view.

  • No More Detective Work: The Student Dashboard gives an immediate snapshot of every student’s status. Mentors know exactly who needs help the moment they log in.
  • Proactive, Not Reactive: Visual Milestone Timelines make progress tracking automatic. Mentors can now spot “at-risk” students early, reaching out before problems escalate.
  • Click Less, Do More: We streamlined the core actions—scheduling calls and leaving feedback—so they happen in seconds, not minutes.
  • Ultimately, this system allows Avocademy to scale confidently, knowing their technology can handle the growth without sacrificing the personal touch that defines their brand.

Key Takeaways

This project reminded me that sometimes the best UX work is invisible—it’s about removing barriers so people can do what they do best.

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