Redefining Career Education Access for Public High Schoolers in the United States
Interface Design | Wireframing & Prototyping | UX Research
Project Role
User Interface Lead
User Interface Lead
Tool
Figma
Figma
Timeline
Q1-2 2023
Q1-2 2023
Industry
Youth Career Development
Youth Career Development
Across the U.S., public high school students face uneven and often inadequate access to career education. Without structured guidance, many make college decisions without a clear sense of purpose, causing a sharp increase in first-year college dropout rates. The gap is about systemic barriers and a lack of personalized, unbiased support.
Koyu set out to rethink what career education could look like for young people navigating an uncertain future. Framed as a student-first, non-linear exploration system, Odyssey goes beyond traditional career planning tools. She and the team focused on designing an ecosystem, one that empowers students to reflect, explore, and engage in honest conversations with their support networks.
Koyu designed a career exploration platform for public high school students to address the lack of accessible and equitable career education across the U.S. Her goal was to build a system that empowers students to explore at their own pace, reflect on their strengths, and have honest conversations about their futures.
Responsibilities
Designed interactive wireframes, high-fidelity mockups, and animations in Figma for a student-centered career planning interface, focusing on open-ended exploration, emotional resonance, and intuitive guidance
Co-led website design direction alongside the UX lead and developed a modular design system to ensure accessibility, visual consistency, and seamless integration across both digital and physical touchpoints
Conducted mixed-method research with public high school students and educators to uncover pain points, emotional needs, and decision-making behaviors related to career planning
Facilitated usability testing and developed a physical welcome kit prototype to extend the experience into real-world educational settings,
Team size
7 UX/UI Designers + 1 Professor
Left to Navigate Alone from the Start
For many high school students, career planning feels like walking into a fog with no map. They’re expected to make life-shaping decisions without the space to explore, reflect, or even understand what options exist. Without support, they carry the weight of expectations on their own and parents and often choose paths that don’t fit who they are. This disconnection affects their education and influences how they perceive their future.
30%
of college freshmen drop out after their first year.
40%
of college students end up changing their major at least once.
Only 1
school counselor for every 482 students in U.S. public high schools. (ASCA-2023)
The issue at hand is…
High school students, especially those in under‑resourced public schools, struggle to explore diverse career pathways. They often enter college without a clear understanding of their own interests and strengths, resulting in disengagement, poor alignment with their chosen majors, and alarmingly high dropout rates of 30% during their first year.
Empowering Students with Clarity and Not Pressure
Koyu believes that students deserve more than a one-size-fits-all approach to planning their future. Together with her team, she created a personalized platform that transforms career exploration into a guided, meaningful experience. The solution provides structured resources, self-assessments, personalized recommendations, and real-world industry context to help students connect their interests with actionable paths.
Discover career paths through self-assessment
Gain a clearer understanding of your strengths and interests, then explore career paths you might not have thought of but could be a natural fit.
Get the Full Picture Behind Every Career Path
Dive deeper into career paths with curated insights, industry advice, FAQs, and up-to-date job market trends. Each recommendation is tailored to your personality profile, helping you connect your value with what the world needs.
Turn preferences into possibilities
As students rate their interest in different career suggestions, the system will deliver more personalized and relevant options over time. This ongoing feedback loop helps students uncover connections between their preferences and lesser-known but well-matched paths.
Build career path with professional guidance
Schedule a one-on-one session with a career advisor to turn exploration into action. Whether it’s choosing courses, mapping long-term goals, or validating your interests, students get tailored advice and support to make confident, informed decisions about their future.
From Insights to Impact
This project began with a tough truth: most public high school students are navigating their futures with little support, vague advice, and a lot of pressure. Koyu and her team dug into this issue by listening to students, educators, and counselors to understand the emotional and structural gaps in today’s career education system.
Decoding the Student Experience
Koyu analyzed the career decision-making journeys of public high school students by conducting interviews with students, educators, and counselors. Alongside her team, she audited existing career platforms, dissected self-assessment models, and mapped out key decision-making moments in a student’s journey.
16+
Interviews with students, parents who have high school children, and educators
35 & 125+
Survey answers from high school students and parents with high school children
3+
Field research in college open day and conducted card sortings with high school students
What Students Actually Need…
Act 1: Teens Feel Lost, Parents Feel Stuck
Koyu began by speaking directly with the people at the heart of the problem, high school students and their parents.
Many students told us they felt pressured to choose “safe” or prestigious careers, like doctor, lawyer, or engineer, even when those didn’t match their interests or strengths. And teens often lack direct exposure to what jobs actually entail, which makes it challenging for them to envision or plan their futures. On the flip side, parents were lost too. Several admitted they didn’t know how to support their child’s career decisions, especially with how fast the job market is evolving.
“My parents want me to become an engineer, but I hate math.” - High School Student
Act 2: The System Doesn't Help
Zooming out, Koyu looked at the structural side of the problem. Secondary research showed that nearly 30% of college freshmen in the U.S. drop out in their first year, largely due to poor alignment between their interests and chosen majors. Most teens don’t know what’s out there beyond a handful of common careers. However, parents feel schools aren’t doing enough to support meaningful career planning. The students who had access to internships, mentorships, or extracurriculars did feel confident, but this was rare in most public schools. Existing tools like guidance counseling is often generic, outdated, or impersonal, and fail to meet students where they are.
Act 3: Students Want to Explore, Not Be Told
The results were clear that students preferred to sort careers based on interests or traits (like “creative” or “problem-solving”) rather than by job titles or industries. We also discovered huge misconceptions about certain careers, showing just how limited and inaccurate their mental models were. Once we turned the activity into a hands-on, visual task, students became more engaged and reflective. Teens don’t lack motivation. They lack a system that speaks their language.
Act 4: From Insight to Opportunity
Students just never had the tools to make meaningful, informed career choices. They need a full ecosystem that invites students to discover who they are, explore careers that align with their values, and make better choices with confidence.
That's Why…
How might we provide a system early in high school education that helps students feel confident that they have explored different options for their future, and have selected the most compatible one? Koyu has never sat in a high school classroom as a guidance counselor, but she understands the weight of choosing a future without the right tools or direction. That’s why she and her team designed Odyssey to reframe career exploration, making career learning feel relevant, reflective, and student-led.
Start with Who They Are
Career Exploration as Self-Discovery
Top priorities:
Intrinsic Motivation First
Value-Based Navigation
Emotional Clarity
Interactive, Visual, and Paced
Interactive, Guided Learning Systems
Top priorities:
Progressive Disclosure
Personalized Pathways
Feedback-Driven Iteration
Structuring Navigation Through User Flow
Koyu and her team designed this timeline to demonstrate how students actually experience through our concept of Odyssey. This structure breaks down the overwhelming question of “what do you want to be?” into manageable phases: self-discovery, real-world exposure, and future planning. It gives students space to reflect, try, and grow.
Leading 2 Usability Tests
Koyu led two rounds of usability testing, one with the mid-fidelity prototype and another with the high-fidelity version. She and her team carefully mapped out the experience flow to capture meaningful insights at each stage. They also crafted a structured discussion script to ensure questions were asked in a neutral, non-leading way to minimize bias, reduce unnatural responses, and allow users to interact with the product as intuitively as possible.
Wrapped up with impact, industry night!
To wrap up the project, she transformed delivery into an event that brought together people across disciplines and career levels. For this industry night, Koyu took the lead on introducing the entire digital experience, guiding the team through hands-on execution while mentoring others in turning ideas into polished interfaces. After weeks of long nights and tight collaboration, she also contributed to designing the physical event space.
The message we brought to the event was clear: career discovery should be human-centered, reflective, and empowering. Odyssey is about equipping students with the tools and language to ask better questions. Koyu is grateful for the team she shared this journey with and proud to have helped turn research and insight into something real, shareable, and impactful.
Designing for teens requires empathy, flexibility, and intention.
As designers and educators, Koyu realized that she needs to be intentional about what we ask young people to learn, and even more intentional about how we guide them through it. That means breaking down problems clearly, offering step-by-step support, and always designing with room for curiosity, doubt, and growth. Most importantly, youth thrive when they feel seen, supported, and trusted.
From Ownership to Alignment
Taking the lead on prototyping taught Koyu that initiative is less about ownership and more about creating clarity for the team. She learned how to work closely with the project lead, work within a tight schedule, be flexible in making sudden changes, and be persuasive with her multiple design versions.
Koyu designed a career exploration platform for public high school students to address the lack of accessible and equitable career education across the U.S. Her goal was to build a system that empowers students to explore at their own pace, reflect on their strengths, and have honest conversations about their futures.
Responsibilities
Designed interactive wireframes, high-fidelity mockups, and animations in Figma for a student-centered career planning interface, focusing on open-ended exploration, emotional resonance, and intuitive guidance
Co-led website design direction alongside the UX lead and developed a modular design system to ensure accessibility, visual consistency, and seamless integration across both digital and physical touchpoints
Conducted mixed-method research with public high school students and educators to uncover pain points, emotional needs, and decision-making behaviors related to career planning
Facilitated usability testing and developed a physical welcome kit prototype to extend the experience into real-world educational settings,
Team size
7 UX/UI Designers + 1 Professor
Left to Navigate Alone from the Start
For many high school students, career planning feels like walking into a fog with no map. They’re expected to make life-shaping decisions without the space to explore, reflect, or even understand what options exist. Without support, they carry the weight of expectations on their own and parents and often choose paths that don’t fit who they are. This disconnection affects their education and influences how they perceive their future.
30%
of college freshmen drop out after their first year.
40%
of college students end up changing their major at least once.
Only 1
school counselor for every 482 students in U.S. public high schools. (ASCA-2023)
The issue at hand is…
High school students, especially those in under‑resourced public schools, struggle to explore diverse career pathways. They often enter college without a clear understanding of their own interests and strengths, resulting in disengagement, poor alignment with their chosen majors, and alarmingly high dropout rates of 30% during their first year.
Empowering Students with Clarity and Not Pressure
Koyu believes that students deserve more than a one-size-fits-all approach to planning their future. Together with her team, she created a personalized platform that transforms career exploration into a guided, meaningful experience. The solution provides structured resources, self-assessments, personalized recommendations, and real-world industry context to help students connect their interests with actionable paths.
Discover career paths through self-assessment
Gain a clearer understanding of your strengths and interests, then explore career paths you might not have thought of but could be a natural fit.
Get the Full Picture Behind Every Career Path
Dive deeper into career paths with curated insights, industry advice, FAQs, and up-to-date job market trends. Each recommendation is tailored to your personality profile, helping you connect your value with what the world needs.
Turn preferences into possibilities
As students rate their interest in different career suggestions, the system will deliver more personalized and relevant options over time. This ongoing feedback loop helps students uncover connections between their preferences and lesser-known but well-matched paths.
Build career path with professional guidance
Schedule a one-on-one session with a career advisor to turn exploration into action. Whether it’s choosing courses, mapping long-term goals, or validating your interests, students get tailored advice and support to make confident, informed decisions about their future.
From Insights to Impact
This project began with a tough truth: most public high school students are navigating their futures with little support, vague advice, and a lot of pressure. Koyu and her team dug into this issue by listening to students, educators, and counselors to understand the emotional and structural gaps in today’s career education system.
Decoding the Student Experience
Koyu analyzed the career decision-making journeys of public high school students by conducting interviews with students, educators, and counselors. Alongside her team, she audited existing career platforms, dissected self-assessment models, and mapped out key decision-making moments in a student’s journey.
16+
Interviews with students, parents who have high school children, and educators
35 & 125+
Survey answers from high school students and parents with high school children
3+
Field research in college open day and conducted card sortings with high school students
What Students Actually Need…
Act 1: Teens Feel Lost, Parents Feel Stuck
Koyu began by speaking directly with the people at the heart of the problem, high school students and their parents.
Many students told us they felt pressured to choose “safe” or prestigious careers, like doctor, lawyer, or engineer, even when those didn’t match their interests or strengths. And teens often lack direct exposure to what jobs actually entail, which makes it challenging for them to envision or plan their futures. On the flip side, parents were lost too. Several admitted they didn’t know how to support their child’s career decisions, especially with how fast the job market is evolving.
“My parents want me to become an engineer, but I hate math.” - High School Student
Act 2: The System Doesn't Help
Zooming out, Koyu looked at the structural side of the problem. Secondary research showed that nearly 30% of college freshmen in the U.S. drop out in their first year, largely due to poor alignment between their interests and chosen majors. Most teens don’t know what’s out there beyond a handful of common careers. However, parents feel schools aren’t doing enough to support meaningful career planning. The students who had access to internships, mentorships, or extracurriculars did feel confident, but this was rare in most public schools. Existing tools like guidance counseling is often generic, outdated, or impersonal, and fail to meet students where they are.
Act 3: Students Want to Explore, Not Be Told
The results were clear that students preferred to sort careers based on interests or traits (like “creative” or “problem-solving”) rather than by job titles or industries. We also discovered huge misconceptions about certain careers, showing just how limited and inaccurate their mental models were. Once we turned the activity into a hands-on, visual task, students became more engaged and reflective. Teens don’t lack motivation. They lack a system that speaks their language.
Act 4: From Insight to Opportunity
Students just never had the tools to make meaningful, informed career choices. They need a full ecosystem that invites students to discover who they are, explore careers that align with their values, and make better choices with confidence.
That's Why…
How might we provide a system early in high school education that helps students feel confident that they have explored different options for their future, and have selected the most compatible one? Koyu has never sat in a high school classroom as a guidance counselor, but she understands the weight of choosing a future without the right tools or direction. That’s why she and her team designed Odyssey to reframe career exploration, making career learning feel relevant, reflective, and student-led.
Start with Who They Are
Career Exploration as Self-Discovery
Top priorities:
Intrinsic Motivation First
Value-Based Navigation
Emotional Clarity
Interactive, Visual, and Paced
Interactive, Guided Learning Systems
Top priorities:
Progressive Disclosure
Personalized Pathways
Feedback-Driven Iteration
Structuring Navigation Through User Flow
Koyu and her team designed this timeline to demonstrate how students actually experience through our concept of Odyssey. This structure breaks down the overwhelming question of “what do you want to be?” into manageable phases: self-discovery, real-world exposure, and future planning. It gives students space to reflect, try, and grow.
Leading 2 Usability Tests
Koyu led two rounds of usability testing, one with the mid-fidelity prototype and another with the high-fidelity version. She and her team carefully mapped out the experience flow to capture meaningful insights at each stage. They also crafted a structured discussion script to ensure questions were asked in a neutral, non-leading way to minimize bias, reduce unnatural responses, and allow users to interact with the product as intuitively as possible.
Wrapped up with impact, industry night!
To wrap up the project, she transformed delivery into an event that brought together people across disciplines and career levels. For this industry night, Koyu took the lead on introducing the entire digital experience, guiding the team through hands-on execution while mentoring others in turning ideas into polished interfaces. After weeks of long nights and tight collaboration, she also contributed to designing the physical event space.
The message we brought to the event was clear: career discovery should be human-centered, reflective, and empowering. Odyssey is about equipping students with the tools and language to ask better questions. Koyu is grateful for the team she shared this journey with and proud to have helped turn research and insight into something real, shareable, and impactful.
Designing for teens requires empathy, flexibility, and intention.
As designers and educators, Koyu realized that she needs to be intentional about what we ask young people to learn, and even more intentional about how we guide them through it. That means breaking down problems clearly, offering step-by-step support, and always designing with room for curiosity, doubt, and growth. Most importantly, youth thrive when they feel seen, supported, and trusted.
From Ownership to Alignment
Taking the lead on prototyping taught Koyu that initiative is less about ownership and more about creating clarity for the team. She learned how to work closely with the project lead, work within a tight schedule, be flexible in making sudden changes, and be persuasive with her multiple design versions.
Koyu designed a career exploration platform for public high school students to address the lack of accessible and equitable career education across the U.S. Her goal was to build a system that empowers students to explore at their own pace, reflect on their strengths, and have honest conversations about their futures.
Responsibilities
Designed interactive wireframes, high-fidelity mockups, and animations in Figma for a student-centered career planning interface, focusing on open-ended exploration, emotional resonance, and intuitive guidance
Co-led website design direction alongside the UX lead and developed a modular design system to ensure accessibility, visual consistency, and seamless integration across both digital and physical touchpoints
Conducted mixed-method research with public high school students and educators to uncover pain points, emotional needs, and decision-making behaviors related to career planning
Facilitated usability testing and developed a physical welcome kit prototype to extend the experience into real-world educational settings,
Team size
7 UX/UI Designers + 1 Professor
Left to Navigate Alone from the Start
For many high school students, career planning feels like walking into a fog with no map. They’re expected to make life-shaping decisions without the space to explore, reflect, or even understand what options exist. Without support, they carry the weight of expectations on their own and parents and often choose paths that don’t fit who they are. This disconnection affects their education and influences how they perceive their future.
30%
of college freshmen drop out after their first year.
40%
of college students end up changing their major at least once.
Only 1
school counselor for every 482 students in U.S. public high schools. (ASCA-2023)
The issue at hand is…
High school students, especially those in under‑resourced public schools, struggle to explore diverse career pathways. They often enter college without a clear understanding of their own interests and strengths, resulting in disengagement, poor alignment with their chosen majors, and alarmingly high dropout rates of 30% during their first year.
Empowering Students with Clarity and Not Pressure
Koyu believes that students deserve more than a one-size-fits-all approach to planning their future. Together with her team, she created a personalized platform that transforms career exploration into a guided, meaningful experience. The solution provides structured resources, self-assessments, personalized recommendations, and real-world industry context to help students connect their interests with actionable paths.
Discover career paths through self-assessment
Gain a clearer understanding of your strengths and interests, then explore career paths you might not have thought of but could be a natural fit.
Get the Full Picture Behind Every Career Path
Dive deeper into career paths with curated insights, industry advice, FAQs, and up-to-date job market trends. Each recommendation is tailored to your personality profile, helping you connect your value with what the world needs.
Turn preferences into possibilities
As students rate their interest in different career suggestions, the system will deliver more personalized and relevant options over time. This ongoing feedback loop helps students uncover connections between their preferences and lesser-known but well-matched paths.
Build career path with professional guidance
Schedule a one-on-one session with a career advisor to turn exploration into action. Whether it’s choosing courses, mapping long-term goals, or validating your interests, students get tailored advice and support to make confident, informed decisions about their future.
From Insights to Impact
This project began with a tough truth: most public high school students are navigating their futures with little support, vague advice, and a lot of pressure. Koyu and her team dug into this issue by listening to students, educators, and counselors to understand the emotional and structural gaps in today’s career education system.
Decoding the Student Experience
Koyu analyzed the career decision-making journeys of public high school students by conducting interviews with students, educators, and counselors. Alongside her team, she audited existing career platforms, dissected self-assessment models, and mapped out key decision-making moments in a student’s journey.
16+
Interviews with students, parents who have high school children, and educators
35 & 125+
Survey answers from high school students and parents with high school children
3+
Field research in college open day and conducted card sortings with high school students
What Students Actually Need…
Act 1: Teens Feel Lost, Parents Feel Stuck
Koyu began by speaking directly with the people at the heart of the problem, high school students and their parents.
Many students told us they felt pressured to choose “safe” or prestigious careers, like doctor, lawyer, or engineer, even when those didn’t match their interests or strengths. And teens often lack direct exposure to what jobs actually entail, which makes it challenging for them to envision or plan their futures. On the flip side, parents were lost too. Several admitted they didn’t know how to support their child’s career decisions, especially with how fast the job market is evolving.
“My parents want me to become an engineer, but I hate math.” - High School Student
Act 2: The System Doesn't Help
Zooming out, Koyu looked at the structural side of the problem. Secondary research showed that nearly 30% of college freshmen in the U.S. drop out in their first year, largely due to poor alignment between their interests and chosen majors. Most teens don’t know what’s out there beyond a handful of common careers. However, parents feel schools aren’t doing enough to support meaningful career planning. The students who had access to internships, mentorships, or extracurriculars did feel confident, but this was rare in most public schools. Existing tools like guidance counseling is often generic, outdated, or impersonal, and fail to meet students where they are.
Act 3: Students Want to Explore, Not Be Told
The results were clear that students preferred to sort careers based on interests or traits (like “creative” or “problem-solving”) rather than by job titles or industries. We also discovered huge misconceptions about certain careers, showing just how limited and inaccurate their mental models were. Once we turned the activity into a hands-on, visual task, students became more engaged and reflective. Teens don’t lack motivation. They lack a system that speaks their language.
Act 4: From Insight to Opportunity
Students just never had the tools to make meaningful, informed career choices. They need a full ecosystem that invites students to discover who they are, explore careers that align with their values, and make better choices with confidence.
That's Why…
How might we provide a system early in high school education that helps students feel confident that they have explored different options for their future, and have selected the most compatible one? Koyu has never sat in a high school classroom as a guidance counselor, but she understands the weight of choosing a future without the right tools or direction. That’s why she and her team designed Odyssey to reframe career exploration, making career learning feel relevant, reflective, and student-led.
Start with Who They Are
Career Exploration as Self-Discovery
Top priorities:
Intrinsic Motivation First
Value-Based Navigation
Emotional Clarity
Interactive, Visual, and Paced
Interactive, Guided Learning Systems
Top priorities:
Progressive Disclosure
Personalized Pathways
Feedback-Driven Iteration
Structuring Navigation Through User Flow
Koyu and her team designed this timeline to demonstrate how students actually experience through our concept of Odyssey. This structure breaks down the overwhelming question of “what do you want to be?” into manageable phases: self-discovery, real-world exposure, and future planning. It gives students space to reflect, try, and grow.
Leading 2 Usability Tests
Koyu led two rounds of usability testing, one with the mid-fidelity prototype and another with the high-fidelity version. She and her team carefully mapped out the experience flow to capture meaningful insights at each stage. They also crafted a structured discussion script to ensure questions were asked in a neutral, non-leading way to minimize bias, reduce unnatural responses, and allow users to interact with the product as intuitively as possible.
Wrapped up with impact, industry night!
To wrap up the project, she transformed delivery into an event that brought together people across disciplines and career levels. For this industry night, Koyu took the lead on introducing the entire digital experience, guiding the team through hands-on execution while mentoring others in turning ideas into polished interfaces. After weeks of long nights and tight collaboration, she also contributed to designing the physical event space.
The message we brought to the event was clear: career discovery should be human-centered, reflective, and empowering. Odyssey is about equipping students with the tools and language to ask better questions. Koyu is grateful for the team she shared this journey with and proud to have helped turn research and insight into something real, shareable, and impactful.
Designing for teens requires empathy, flexibility, and intention.
As designers and educators, Koyu realized that she needs to be intentional about what we ask young people to learn, and even more intentional about how we guide them through it. That means breaking down problems clearly, offering step-by-step support, and always designing with room for curiosity, doubt, and growth. Most importantly, youth thrive when they feel seen, supported, and trusted.
From Ownership to Alignment
Taking the lead on prototyping taught Koyu that initiative is less about ownership and more about creating clarity for the team. She learned how to work closely with the project lead, work within a tight schedule, be flexible in making sudden changes, and be persuasive with her multiple design versions.