Want to Explore the Process? Let's dive in!
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It Started with a Problem

In exploring the rapidly evolving landscape of higher education and industry collaboration, I found a pressing need for a centralized and efficient platform that connects students, universities, and industry professionals. Project managers and clients currently face significant challenges in identifying suitable academic partners due to mismatched skill sets, misaligned expectations, and limited access to information on past projects and university capabilities. This leads to missed collaboration opportunities, inefficient use of resources, and suboptimal outcomes for both students and industry partners.

The Power of Early Research

As I delved into the project, I turned to secondary research to build a strong foundation. Exploring industry reports, academic studies, and market trends, I uncovered key insights that shaped our approach, ensuring our solution was both user-centered and strategically aligned with business goals.

Primary Research - Uncovering Hidden Needs
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I dive into gathering direct insights from users through methods like semi-structured interviews. During these sessions, I ask open-ended questions to understand their experiences, pain points, and expectations, allowing me to gather rich, qualitative data that informs the design process.
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Key Issues Identified - Mapping User Pain

From Insights to Personas: A User-Centered Approach

It All Started with a Question, Then the Ideas Rolled In

"How might we simplify the process of finding universities to collaborate with organizations enabling informed decision making?"

Project managers and clients struggle to identify suitable academic partners due to mismatched skillsets, expectations, and limited information on past projects. This leads to missed collaboration opportunities and inefficient outcomes.

Through my research and analysis, including in-depth literature reviews and interviews with stakeholders, I identified key challenges in the collaboration process between clients, universities, and students. These challenges include difficulty in articulating value propositions, meeting new universities or potential partners, and ensuring skill alignment. Based on these insights, I brainstormed potential solutions that could address these pain points effectively.

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