Creating a bridge to international students to Germany

During a course in the Master of Integrated Design at Hochschule Anhalt , it was developed a design prototype with the Dark Horse method. The final product was intended  to contribute to the concept of “Digital Cities”, a development model that envisions the improvement of communities through disruptive ideas.

My Role: UX Researcher/Designer

Challenges:

The international student community in Germany is a growing one, but settling down is not easy; they ofter face problems related to: language barrier, homesickness, dealing with health insurance, hiring services, and they don’t know who to ask to get help with these problems.

Solution:

Afara is a mentorship platform that connects international students in Germany with tutors who offer guidance on everyday challenges—from health and legal matters to jobs and culture. Matches are based on shared interests and background, and both sides earn university-redeemable rewards.

Afara helps students feel supported as they build their new life in Germany.

Support, connection, and rewards:

In Afara you can book mentorship sessions with tutors to talk about your struggles settling down in this new country, such as: Health and Wellness, Legal Affairs, Job Information, Transportation, Life and Culture, and what else do you need assistance with.

Our platform makes it possible to find the perfect match based on your shared interests, language, background, goals and more.

Using this app, the mentor and pupil earn points that can be exchange in rewards inside the university environment.

Let’s us be the bridge between home and a nice stay in Germany!

Features for each audience:

For Mentors

  • Onboarding

  • Skill selection

  • Meeting set up 

  • Calendar

  • Chat/ DM Interface

  • Rewards system

    • Count and redeeming points.

  • Statistics

  • Reviews overlook

  • Settings

For Students

  • Onboarding

  • Mentor search

  • Meeting set up 

  • Calendar

  • Chat/ DM Interface

  • Review writing/Evaluation

  • Statistics

  • Settings

Initial Screen

Initial Screen

Welcome Page

Welcome Page

Be a Mentor

Be a Mentor

Profie

Profie

Dashboard

Dashboard

Find a mentor

Find a mentor

Book Meeting

Book Meeting

Prototype:

DESIGN PROCESS

DESIGN PROCESS

The project was conduct in group sessions, with my colleagues Maria, Mario and Kristhel.

Research was conducted to validate our Challenge, then we created our Persona to guide about what are the user needs and expectations for this project. 

Through Ideation it was defined the medium to the solution: An App, so the resources and features were defined.

The Costumer Journey was made to map out the touch points of our main stakeholders, the student and the mentor.

To ensure the viability of the app, based on the Costumer Journey, I’ve created the Service Design Blueprint for the support actions that need to be made to ensure that the app function.

Congratulations, International Student!

You have been accepted into your program :)

But now you:

  • Don’t know the language, 

  • Miss culture, hometown and relatives. 

  • Face difficult times to understand health insurance and services. 

  • Don’t know who ask to get help with problems.

How might we:

Create an tool that can make the communication easier for direct or personal questions. To provide support in different languages and accessible ways through complex information.

Raz dreams of growth, support, and confidence in a new country:

Meet Raz!

Role: Young Student, Foreign

Age: 18-30

Skills: Technology; Music; Art

    • Moved recently

    • Curious and brave

    • Self taught

    • Adapt to a new environment/culture

    • Learn a new language

    • Find a job

    • Create a support network

    • Better job opportunities

    • New experiences

    • Better quality of life

    • Possibility to provide new experiences to relatives

    • Money

    • Experiences

    • New connections

    • Personal growth

    • Language barriers

    • Nearsighted

    • Bureaucracy

    • Lack of empathy

    • Accessibility

    • Homesick

    • Racial approaches

    • Getting a job

    • Not familiar with different laws

Wireframes:

Service Blueprint:

Next steps:

The project was an great experience to create something in a team in a short period of time, it has the possibility to become an tool for the university improve their support for the new students, to be viable it needs funding and local partnerships to make the rewards possible.

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