Loper
App Design UX/UI
Product Owner
The problem
Address the overwhelming complexity of higher education for students, counselors, and educational institutions. There was a pressing need for a structured approach to help students navigate their educational paths intuitively and engagingly.
The goal
Empower students by providing AI-driven, personalized recommendations, gamified learning experiences, and seamless support from counselors through a user-friendly app.
Development of the MVP
Creating an engaging experience
Our initial focus was to design a simple, yet engaging, experience for students to explore their educational options. The goal was to make the process of discovering potential programs easy and enjoyable, encouraging students to actively participate in shaping their educational path.
Swipe-based preference mechanism
One of the core ideas was to introduce a swipe mechanism, allowing students to express their preferences effortlessly. By swiping left, right, or up on cards representing different subjects and interests, students could indicate whether they liked, disliked, or loved something.
Efficient matching process for uiversity selection
This intuitive interaction allowed the algorithm to quickly eliminate unsuitable universities, helping students narrow down their choices. The swipe-based system, inspired by familiar mobile app interactions, made the exploration process both fun and efficient, while guiding students toward their best educational match.
My contribution to the project
In my role as Associate Product Owner, I worked closely with both design and development teams to ensure Loper’s vision became a reality. I helped shape key features, translating the team’s educational expertise into clear user stories and action items. A significant part of my contribution involved bridging the gap between conceptual ideas and technical execution, making sure that every piece of the product spoke to the needs of its users—students, counselors, and institutions alike.
Navigating technical challenges and time pressure
Technically, this project was anything but simple. The complexity of integrating AI-driven recommendations, gamification, and a seamless user experience for both students and counselors created constant challenges for the development team. With tight deadlines and the high expectations of stakeholders, there were moments when the technical execution could not always align with the original vision. A key part of my role was mediating between the design and development teams to find efficient solutions when roadblocks arose. In these critical moments, I worked closely with both sides to adjust features, refine workflows, and ensure that milestones were still being met, allowing the project to continue moving forward without compromising the product’s core value.
Key actions
Defining the user journey
I contributed to creating clear, user-centered journeys for students and counselors alike. By refining user stories and flows, I made sure that both students exploring educational options and counselors guiding them had an intuitive, engaging experience.
Balancing short-term and long-term goals
I worked on balancing immediate product needs with Loper’s long-term vision. This involved prioritizing features like AI-driven recommendations and the ability to track application progress while ensuring there was room to expand the platform’s capabilities over time.
Facilitating cross-team communication
Keeping everyone aligned was crucial. I facilitated open communication between developers, designers, and stakeholders, ensuring that all teams were working toward the same goal: a user-friendly platform that met the needs of students and educational counselors alike.
