EMIC

Empowering Minority Youth
within Global Education

UX/UI, Mobile, Product Strategy

2025

OVERVIEW

A Support System for Study Abroad

EMIC is a nonprofit that provides youth access to international education, fostering global citizenship through initiatives like language book donations and speaker panels. Our stakeholders envisioned a hub of scholarship, community, and travel planning resources for students and educators.

I designed 3 core organizational features for EMIC'S ready-for-handoff mobile platform from 0→1 and pitched our product to professionals at Bloomberg and Cisco.

TIMELINE

15 WEEKS

ROLE

PRODUCT DESIGNER

CONTRIBUTORS

7 PRODUCT DESIGNERS
1 DESIGN MANAGER

1 PRODUCT MANAGER

1 TECHNICAL ADVISOR


PROBLEM

Secondary students currently have no trusted platform to help them navigate study-abroad opportunities.

Secondary students currently have no trusted platform to help them navigate study-abroad opportunities.

Managing visas, scholarships, deadlines, and academic requirements can feel impossible for younger students, who often lack travel-specific guidance.

Managing visas, scholarships, deadlines, and academic requirements can feel impossible for younger students, who often lack travel-specific guidance.

FEATURE ANALYSIS

FEATURE ANALYSIS

FEATURE ANALYSIS

Identifying market gaps to fill user need

Identifying market gaps to fill user need

For one week, we analyzed 7 adjacent platforms to understand what resources already exist and where students face friction. I referenced the Gilman Scholarship portal, which gave me insight as to how students fulfill travel requirements covering pre-, during, and post- timelines.

For one week, we analyzed 7 adjacent platforms to understand what resources already exist and where students face friction. I referenced the Gilman Scholarship portal, which gave me insight as to how students fulfill travel requirements covering pre-, during, and post- timelines.

2 Main Opportunity Points

Younger User Base

5/7 competitors catered only to higher-ed students, underserving younger students.


Community Trust & Privacy

4/7 competitors relied on AI advisors or open forums, raising privacy concerns and legal accuracy risks.

USER RESEARCH

USER
RESEARCH

Mapping expectations from 23 students to inform our initial feature set

Mapping expectations from 23 students to inform our initial feature set

  • 81% of students faced challenges with keeping track of deadlines so we noted checklists as a key value proposition.

  • 78% reported interest in peer-to-peer support, guiding us to integrate social features

  • 81% of students faced challenges with keeping track of deadlines so we noted checklists as a key value proposition.

  • 78% reported interest in peer-to-peer support, guiding us to integrate social features

PROPOSED
SOLUTION

PROPOSED SOLUTION

Synthesizing feedback to develop a privacy-first platform

Synthesizing feedback to develop a privacy-first platform

Through 5 alignment calls, we prioritized engagement first to validate features before scaling.

Through 5 alignment calls, we prioritized engagement first to validate features before scaling.

Verified Abroad Resource Library

Students struggled to find legitimate opportunities amid unverified listings.

Admin-Moderated Trip Forums

Scaled back messaging to protect against phishing and avoid duplicating social apps.

Trip-Specific Reminders & Timeline

Students often lost track of submission steps across multiple channels so we centralized deadlines.

ITERATIVE
WIREFRAMING

ITERATIVE WIREFRAMING

Clarifying key user interactions over client syncs

Clarifying key user interactions over client syncs

Each week, we revisited core flows with EMIC and pilot users. Our conversations fueled rapid cycles of questioning and design iteration. Questions like:

Each week, we revisited core flows with EMIC and pilot users. Our conversations fueled rapid cycles of questioning and design iteration. Questions like:

How might we organize student data and resources for educators to review, recommend, and assign?

How can we consider age-limitations for our youth target group?

What tasks do students typically complete for pre-travel processes?

"MY TRIP" LO-FI

"MY TRIP" LO-FI

Design explorations that stuck

Dashboard & Timeline
Students reported feeling overwhelmed by having separate tabs for “Checklist,” “Timeline,” and “Documents," so we merged all three into one Trip Dashboard. It reduced redundancy in navigation.

REVERTED DESIGNS – LO-FI

REVERTED DESIGNS – LO-FI

Explorations we later reverted

My Trip Landing

Side nav for quicker switching between trips. Most students managed a single trip at a time, making side navigation feel unintuitive.


Adding Item
Modals could streamline quick edits without navigating away, but they didn’t scale well for longer forms like document uploads.

USABILITY TESTING

After prototype tests with 5 users, we revealed unclear feature discovery in our dashboard.

After prototype tests with 5 users, we revealed unclear feature discovery in our dashboard.

We initially designed the timeline card with the assumption that users would click on it to gain a more detailed view of their tasks; then they could locate an "add a task" button.

Adding a task to a trip was hard to locate according to 4/5 tests, so we changed our call-to-action to foster user discovery.

We initially designed the timeline card with the assumption that users would click on it to gain a more detailed view of their tasks; then they could locate an "add a task" button.

Adding a task to a trip was hard to locate according to 4/5 tests, so we changed our call-to-action to foster user discovery.

CALL TO ACTION COPY

CALL TO ACTION COPY

SOLUTION

Prototypes Cleared for Takeoff 🛫

Prototypes Cleared for Takeoff 🛫

Projected for a 3-month development cycle in Winter 2026, with plans to pilot the platform soon after.

Projected for a 3-month development cycle in Winter 2026, with plans to pilot the platform soon after.

A Personalized Dashboard

A Personalized Dashboard

A quick overview of trip-specific information like announcements, deadlines, and upcoming tasks. It also features general recommendations of resources like scholarships, regardless of whether they have an active trip.

A quick overview of trip-specific information like announcements, deadlines, and upcoming tasks. It also features general recommendations of resources like scholarships, regardless of whether they have an active trip.

HOME PAGE

HOME PAGE

Browse, Filter, & Search Opportunities

Browse, Filter, & Search Opportunities

It addresses a core user need for finding relevant programs by offering filtering options and categorizing resources into Internships, Scholarships, Study Abroad, and a Tips & Advice section.

It addresses a core user need for finding relevant programs by offering filtering options and categorizing resources into Internships, Scholarships, Study Abroad, and a Tips & Advice section.

EDUCATION RESOURCE DISCOVERY

EDUCATION RESOURCE DISCOVERY

Keeping Students on Track

Keeping Students on Track

"My Trip," is the organizational core of the app supporting pushed announcements and document requests by admin and educators. Students can create a new trip and access an overview containing a timeline, checklists, and document storage/submission.

"My Trip," is the organizational core of the app supporting pushed announcements and document requests by admin and educators. Students can create a new trip and access an overview containing a timeline, checklists, and document storage/submission.

TRIP ORGANIZATION

TRIP ORGANIZATION

A Secure Way to Build Community

A Secure Way to Build Community

In line with the client's focus on security, social features are carefully controlled: students can only friend others within their trip groups, and all posts must be approved by an administrator before they are visible.

In line with the client's focus on security, social features are carefully controlled: students can only friend others within their trip groups, and all posts must be approved by an administrator before they are visible.

USER PROFILE + FORUM

USER PROFILE + FORUM

REFLECTION

Lessons as the liaison between client and user.

Lessons as the liaison between client and user.

#1 Lean into the Scoping Phase with Intention

It's easy to say YES to so many exciting ideas, but I learned to step back and reevaluate user and business need. While an all-encompassing product was appealing, being conscious of my output toward resources that already exist allowed us to meet checkpoints.


#2 The Client is Not the End User

Product direction must be informed by user insights, not just client assumptions. For example, the social media aspect became a stretch goal, which aligned with the client’s priorities and gave us a way to frame the conversation.


If I could do things differently…

  • Develop a design system earlier. Would've saved us time instead of retroactive UI feedback loops after working asynchronously on different flows.

  • Interview secondary user groups like educators, parents, and school administrators to account for edge cases.

#1 Lean into the Scoping Phase with Intention

It's easy to say YES to so many exciting ideas, but I learned to step back and reevaluate user and business need. While an all-encompassing product was appealing, being conscious of my output toward resources that already exist allowed us to keep a steady pace and meet client expectations.


#2 The Client is Not the End User

Product direction must be informed by user insights, not just client assumptions. For example, the social media aspect became a stretch goal, which aligned with the client’s priorities and gave us a way to frame the conversation.


If I could do things differently…

  • Develop a design system earlier. Would've saved us time instead of retroactive UI feedback loops after working asynchronously on different flows.

  • Interview secondary user groups like educators, parents, and school administrators to account for edge cases.

Study abroad is deeply personal to me, but so is music!
Check out Presto next →

盧家亨

Thanks for stopping by — happy exploring!

v2.6.0 Last updated 11/18/25

盧家亨

Thanks for stopping by — happy exploring!

v2.6.0 Last updated 11/18/25

盧家亨

Thanks for stopping by — happy exploring!

v2.6.0 Last updated 11/18/25