An all-in-one product for international students to find and organise their study programs.
The German Academic Exchange Service
The German Academic Exchange Service (DAAD) is the world's largest funding organisation for international student and academic exchange.
Its mission is to support German universities in promoting their study programmes worldwide and attracting qualified international students, and then to help these prospective students find suitable study places in Germany.
To this end, the DAAD is developing My GUIDE, an extensive digital platform that will help its users (international students) to inform themselves, research, organise and more easily achieve their study goals in Germany.
brightside Studio as lead UX/UI agency for the My GUIDE project
After another agency designed the first MVP, the DAAD felt unsatisfied and re-tendered the project. The European-wide tender was won by us, brightside studio, and since 2021 we've been working closely with the DAAD's My GUIDE team and their technical partner on the development of the product.
Our role as the lead UX/UI agency for My GUIDE is to ensure that the overall interface design and user experience is optimised for students around the world, as we progressively add, test and refine the product's features. We also make sure that we develop and maintain a scalable design system that grows with the product.
Solutions are planned and designed iteratively during weekly workshops and meetings with the client.
The great challenges of the My GUIDE product
Building a product for young people around the world presents a number of challenges, and it is important to take into account all the differences in the broad target group: from varying knowledge of the German education system, to contrasting experiences with digital media, devices used, internet connections, and the varying types of school qualifications.
The product offers, among other things, verification of the eligibility of different types of diplomas for admission to German universities, clear information refined from cluttered public databases, and step-by-step guides for international students.
Key features from My GUIDE
Based on the team's agenda and the results of usability testing, the core product features are prioritised and developed:
- Search between over 20,000 study programmes
- Saving study programmes
- Matching scholarships per study programme
- Non-binding check of admission possibilities
- Direct contact with universities
- Comprehensive dashboard with customised widgets
- Interactive checklist to help users navigate the complex German education system
- Informative pages for over 110 German student cities
A technically complex product praised for its ease of use
Through close and iterative collaboration with the product team, and despite the technical complexity of the backend systems, we launched a usable and accessible product that has been well received by students worldwide, based on feedback from regular usability testing, international collaboration and the agile workflow of the product team.
A comprehensive design system, developed in collaboration with the engineers, is used across My GUIDE's different sub-products, ensuring overall visual and behavioural consistency. It allows us to respond quickly to changes and create new functionality more efficiently.
Let’s discuss your product needs
Want to know more about how we can help? Our co-founder Victoria will meet with you to analyse your situation and discuss the efficient and flexible solutions to your design bottlenecks that brightside Studio offers.
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