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Context

Research

Solution

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Context

Research

Solution

Final Designs

Takeaways

November 2025

Contributions

UX Research

Project Management

Presentation & Pitch

Constraints

Designathon

8 hours

Collaborators

Mavis Lo

Mackenzie Leu

Andreea McKague

Flock

A platform to deliver genuine and impactful mentorship in a supportive community. Reimagining growth through small, meaningful moments.

Second Place!

A look at modern mentorship

We were challenged to design a solution to the hyper-individualism crisis in modern society, to help people connect with and care for each other and their communities.

Problem statement

How can we design solutions that help people care, connect, and thrive empowering both individuals and community?

Trying to identify a problem without digital solutions that already exist, we considered issues in healthcare to indigenous rituals. However, due to the tight timeline, I knew we wouldn't be able to achieve a deep enough understanding of user needs to create a well-researched solution.

Then, I had a crucial revelation: we were working in a unique environment, surrounded by a blend of students and mentors, a user-base that we could properly research.

01 Context

Understanding both sides of mentorship

Through research online, we identified an important statistic.

76% of people believe mentors are important yet only 37% actually have one

This revealed a gap in modern mentorship. To uncover more, I took advantage of the gold-mine of user-data around us and hosted user interviews with mentors and students. I synthesized re-occuring pain points into two categories:

Scheduling & time commitment

Recurring 1:1s felt like a heavy obligation, fitting two busy schedules together becomes impossible

Friction finding mentors

Compatibility, fear of judgment, and hidden resources keep connections from being made.

02 Research

I expected mentor engagement to be the biggest challenge. Instead, mentors were highly willing to give back. Instead, the friction came from scheduling, structure, and maintaining connections.

Two distinct user journeys

Flock was born from a need for authentic connection between students and mentors, and a community of mutual growth and respect. Mentees can join multiple Flocks, or communities following one mentor. Mentors tend to their Flocks, answering questions and moderating interactions.

Through our role-based onboarding, Flock is split into two experiences. We felt it was important to establish two distinct user flows to accommodate two distinct needs.

In order to streamline each flow, I organized our ideas to identify only the non-negotiable features, preventing cognitive overload and ensuring full coverage of pain points.

03 Solution

Key points for mentors are flexibility and feeling like they're making an impact.

How we addressed each pain point:

Time commitment

Async communication allows mentors to give deeply on their own time, without committing to a schedule. Mentors can adjust how much they give based on their needs.

Friction finding mentors

Flocks allows eager, likeminded students and beginners to find mentors through industry and interest tags on profiles, removing the tedious and stressful early stages of finding mentorship and streamlining to the growth.

Mentors (Hens)

Key points for mentees are accessibility, community and feeling welcome. Because of power imbalances and age differences, we also wanted to prioritize building a safe platform for mentees to thrive.

How we addressed each pain point:

Time commitment

Mentees interact with their mentors on their own time, sending in questions to be answered. However they have unlimited access to their Flocks, allowing learners to support each other even between mentor responses.

Friction finding mentors

Through the detailed onboarding and algorithm, mentees can easily find new mentors and join new Flocks, based on compatible industries and interests. The anonymous user profiles remove mental blocks such as fear of judgement.

Mentees (Hatchlings)

Cards, video, and community boards (and chicken?)

Card swipe system

Mentors browse questions from their mentees (without feeling like doomscrolling!).

Onboarding

Personalize settings for the algorithm. We decided to use anonymous profiles to preserve safety.

Video & audio responses

Maintaining the authenticity of face-to-face conversation.

Dashboard

Gain insights on Flocks, activity, and impact all in one easy-to-use page.

Building an app centered around community and growth, we wanted to give our app a face that was friendly and welcoming. I thought of a chicken to represent guidance and care, eggs to represent growth, and a flock, to represent community. I designed customizable hatchlings, while a teammate designed the chicken, and Flock made its way to the screen.

Mentee flow

Mentor flow

04 Final

What I'd carry into the next project

Find a problem for the people and not people for the problem

We didn't start with mentorship as the answer. Instead, we took a second to look around the room and find what people need. Designers can sometimes invent user personas/strawmen to "prove" a problem exists where there isn't one. Instead, observing what real people need is a mindset I want to carry into every project.

Trusting your team is a design decision too

With only 8 hours to complete this project, I didn't have room to doubt my team. In order for us to succeed, I had to do my parts well and trusting they would too, while communicating and ensuring we were all an the same page. It proved to me that collaboration is one of the most important skills a designer should have.

The UX behind the UI

Wanting to challenge myself, I focused on management, research, interviews, and the slide deck during this project. The insights from my research and interviews gave my teammates a clear brief. The slides made the short presentation actually land. UX work for this project meant building a solid foundation to create, and then selling it to a room full of judges. I want to get better at both ends, and eventually connect them to be a fully rounded designer.

05 Takeaways

Bringing Flock to life

Building an app centered around community and growth, I wanted to give our app a face that was friendly and welcoming. I designed customizable hatchlings, while a teammate designed the chicken, and Flock made its way to the screen.

Async communication means allowing mentors to give without heavy commitment, while community boards create support between responses. Detailed onboarding allows the algorithm to create connection, keeping the process low-friction for both parties.

Mentee flow

Mentor flow

04 Final Designs

What I'd carry into the next project

Find a problem for the people in the room and not people for the problem in your head

I didn't start with mentorship as the answer, I took a second to look around the room. Designers can sometimes invent user personas/strawmen to "prove" a problem exists where there isn't one. Instead, observing what real people need is a mindset I want to carry into every project.

Trusting your team is a design decision too

WIth only 8 hours to complete this project, I didn't have room to doubt my team. We delegated tasks, and wanting to challenge myself, I took on the research and presentation roles instead of design. This means that a huge part of the project rested in their hands. Collaboration is one of the most important skills a designer should have.

The UX of it all

I barely touched the UI on Flock, which meant my work was research, interviews, design systems, and the slide deck. For a long time I thought that design was the main part. This project showed me otherwise. The insights from my research and interviews gave my teammates a clear brief. The slides made five minutes of presentation actually land. I built a solid foundation for them to create, and then sold it to a room full of judges. I want to get better at both ends, and eventually connect them to be a fully rounded designer.

05 Takeaways

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Works

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Resume

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Works

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About

Resume

Twitter