Collegeduia Study Abroad
It guides students with expert counseling, global university insights, application assistance, scholarships, and visa support worldwide.
My Role
My Role
UI/UX Designer - Feature Scoping, Research, Interaction Design, Prototyping, UI Design,UX Thinking.
UI/UX Designer - Feature Scoping, Research, Interaction Design, Prototyping, UI Design,UX Thinking.
Team Members (5)
Team Members (5)
Shyam Sharma - Senior Designer, Arjun Sorout - Product Manager, Adityanath Gupta - Frontend Engineer, Manish Goyal - Backend Engineer
Shyam Sharma - Senior Designer, Arjun Sorout - Product Manager, Adityanath Gupta - Frontend Engineer, Manish Goyal - Backend Engineer
Timeline
Timeline
Sep 2025 - Sep 2025 (16 Days Approx)
Sep 2025 - Sep 2025 (16 Days Approx)
PrePP Test Result Dashboard
It is an online platform providing exam preparation resources, current affairs, and study materials for competitive exams.
Overview
Study Abroad is a platform that helps students discover universities, compare programs, explore destinations, understand admission requirements, and connect with expert counseling for higher education abroad.
As a UI/UX Designer, I redesigned the initial homepage experience to make it more engaging, intuitive, and trustworthy. By improving the content hierarchy, simplifying navigation, and strengthening the visual storytelling, I made it easier for students to explore study abroad opportunities and confidently take the next step in their journey.
By simplifying the user journey and making key actions more discoverable, the redesign delivered a 25% increase in engagement across multiple pages, 20% more students reaching out to counsellors, and a 36% increase in application submissions before the deadline.
What Was Going Wrong?
The homepage should establish trust within seconds and help students confidently begin their study abroad journey. Instead, the existing experience presented multiple usability issues that increased confusion from the very first interaction.
An inconsistent visual hierarchy, unclear navigation, and poor prioritization of key information made it harder for students to discover relevant services, connect with the right counsellor, and stay updated on critical deadlines. These friction points negatively impacted engagement and increased drop-off across the funnel.
Here are the key insights from student engagement patterns on this page.
5%
Users struggled to find the page they intended to visit.
16%
Students were confused about selecting the right counsellor.
+32%
Students missed important application deadlines due to overlooked notifications.
User Friction & Business Loss
The existing Study Abroad homepage failed to guide students effectively through their decision-making journey. Poor visual hierarchy, inconsistent design, and scattered information created friction, reducing engagement and limiting conversion opportunities.
Weak First Impression :-
The homepage lacked a strong visual hierarchy, making it difficult for users to understand the platform's value within the first few seconds. Important actions competed equally for attention, reducing clarity and trust.
Difficult Content Discovery :-
Students struggled to quickly find universities, countries, scholarships, or counselling services because multiple sections appeared visually similar and lacked clear prioritization.
Low Motivation :-
Counsellor cards, university listings, and promotional banners lacked personality and credibility, making it harder for students to build confidence before taking the next step.
Visual Inconsistency :-
Different icon styles, inconsistent colors, spacing, and component designs created an unpolished experience that reduced perceived product quality and brand consistency.
Low Conversion Opportunities :-
Primary CTAs such as booking counselling sessions, exploring universities, or checking deadlines lacked visual emphasis, leading to lower engagement and fewer qualified leads.
Business Impact :-
The homepage missed opportunities to educate users, build trust, and guide them toward high-value actions such as counselling bookings, university exploration, and lead generation, ultimately impacting conversion rates.
How I Managed a Tight Timeline?
Just two weeks before the Study Abroad Virtual Carnival, I was tasked with redesigning the experience. With the event approaching in the last week of July and thousands of new users expected, delivering the design on time was critical for a successful launch.
Prioritized High-Impact Flows First :-
Broke the project into smaller modules and identified the most critical user journeys to design and hand off first.
Designed & Developed in Parallel :-
Collaborated closely with developers so design handoff and development happened simultaneously, reducing overall delivery time.
Focused on MVP Before Enhancements :-
Prioritized essential features for the Study Abroad Virtual Carnival launch, while keeping lower-impact improvements for later iterations.
Maintained Continuous Communication :-
Conducted frequent design reviews and quick developer syncs to resolve blockers early, ensuring the product launched on schedule without compromising usability.
Key Issues Before the Redesign
Issue in the Country Selection Flow
Issue in the Country Selection Flow
How I Managed a Tight Timeline?
Just two weeks before the Study Abroad Virtual Carnival, I was tasked with redesigning the experience. With the event approaching in the last week of July and thousands of new users expected, delivering the design on time was critical for a successful launch.
Prioritized High-Impact Flows First :-
Broke the project into smaller modules and identified the most critical user journeys to design and hand off first.
Designed & Developed in Parallel :-
Collaborated closely with developers so design handoff and development happened simultaneously, reducing overall delivery time.
Focused on MVP Before Enhancements :-
Prioritized essential features for the Study Abroad Virtual Carnival launch, while keeping lower-impact improvements for later iterations.
Maintained Continuous Communication :-
Conducted frequent design reviews and quick developer syncs to resolve blockers early, ensuring the product launched on schedule without compromising usability.
Listening to Users: Research & Insights
Listening to Users: Research & Insights
I connected with 12 - 15 study abroad users to learn about their journey, struggles, and expectations. Their honest feedback helped me understand user pain points and identify opportunities to create a better experience.
I connected with 12 - 15 study abroad users to learn about their journey, struggles, and expectations. Their honest feedback helped me understand user pain points and identify opportunities to create a better experience.
Perform Qualitative Research
Strategic Insights Derived from Users Interviews ✦
Strategic Insights Derived from Users Interviews ✦
Students need a guided journey instead of directly showing multiple countries and universities.
Students need a guided journey instead of directly showing multiple countries and universities.
Users rely on trust signals before shortlisting universities.
Users rely on trust signals before shortlisting universities.
Showing too many choices increases cognitive load and slows decision-making.
Showing too many choices increases cognitive load and slows decision-making.
Improved visibility of counselling, applications, and support.
Improved visibility of counselling, applications, and support.
The existing navigation structure makes it difficult for students to understand where different actions and information are located, increasing effort and frustration.
The existing navigation structure makes it difficult for students to understand where different actions and information are located, increasing effort and frustration.
Added notifications and deadline indicators to reduce missed applications.
Added notifications and deadline indicators to reduce missed applications.
Perform Qualitative Research
Guidance Banners Improve User Navigation
Guidance Banners Improve User Navigation
I designed engaging and interactive banners to improve page discovery, helping students quickly find important sections, explore relevant journeys, and access key features with less effort.
Creating a Smarter Study Abroad Journey
Creating a Smarter Study Abroad Journey
Based on user research and detailed discussions, we redesigned this page to improve clarity, usability, and provide better insights.
Based on user research and detailed discussions, we redesigned this page to improve clarity, usability, and provide better insights.
A Fresh Approach to the Homepage Experience
Simplified Country Selection Flow
A Fresh Approach to the Homepage Experience
Simplified Country Selection Flow
Impact Created
Impact Created
These impactful numbers demonstrate the success of the redesign by showing improved user engagement, better user behavior, and measurable business value through increased trust, conversions, and overall platform growth.
These impactful numbers demonstrate the success of the redesign by showing improved user engagement, better user behavior, and measurable business value through increased trust, conversions, and overall platform growth.
+25%
+25%
Increase in engagement across multiple pages
Increase in engagement across multiple pages
+20%
+20%
More students reaching out to counsellors
More students reaching out to counsellors
+36%
+36%
Increase in application submissions before the deadline
Increase in application submissions before the deadline
Visit Live App - Study Abroad App
Visit Live App - Study Abroad App
Overview
Study Abroad is a platform that helps students discover universities, compare programs, explore destinations, understand admission requirements, and connect with expert counseling for higher education abroad.
As a UI/UX Designer, I redesigned the initial homepage experience to make it more engaging, intuitive, and trustworthy. By improving the content hierarchy, simplifying navigation, and strengthening the visual storytelling, I made it easier for students to explore study abroad opportunities and confidently take the next step in their journey.
By simplifying the user journey and making key actions more discoverable, the redesign delivered a 25% increase in engagement across multiple pages, 20% more students reaching out to counsellors, and a 36% increase in application submissions before the deadline.
What Was Going Wrong?
The homepage should establish trust within seconds and help students confidently begin their study abroad journey. Instead, the existing experience presented multiple usability issues that increased confusion from the very first interaction.
An inconsistent visual hierarchy, unclear navigation, and poor prioritization of key information made it harder for students to discover relevant services, connect with the right counsellor, and stay updated on critical deadlines. These friction points negatively impacted engagement and increased drop-off across the funnel.
Here are the key insights from student engagement patterns on this page.
5%
Users struggled to find the page they intended to visit.
16%
Students were confused about selecting the right counsellor.
32%+
Students missed important application deadlines due to overlooked notifications.
User Friction & Business Loss
The existing Study Abroad homepage failed to guide students effectively through their decision-making journey. Poor visual hierarchy, inconsistent design, and scattered information created friction, reducing engagement and limiting conversion opportunities.
Weak First Impression :-
The homepage lacked a strong visual hierarchy, making it difficult for users to understand the platform's value within the first few seconds. Important actions competed equally for attention, reducing clarity and trust.
Difficult Content Discovery :-
Students struggled to quickly find universities, countries, scholarships, or counselling services because multiple sections appeared visually similar and lacked clear prioritization.
Low Motivation :-
Counsellor cards, university listings, and promotional banners lacked personality and credibility, making it harder for students to build confidence before taking the next step.
Visual Inconsistency :-
Different icon styles, inconsistent colors, spacing, and component designs created an unpolished experience that reduced perceived product quality and brand consistency.
Low Conversion Opportunities :-
Primary CTAs such as booking counselling sessions, exploring universities, or checking deadlines lacked visual emphasis, leading to lower engagement and fewer qualified leads.
Business Impact :-
The homepage missed opportunities to educate users, build trust, and guide them toward high-value actions such as counselling bookings, university exploration, and lead generation, ultimately impacting conversion rates.
