Velosaty Mentorship: Built to Inspire Student-Athletes

TIMELINE

  • December 2023 - Present

MY ROLL

  • UX Designer and Researcher at Velosaty

  • 4 Person Team

SOFTWARE USED

  • Figma/ FigJam

  • Google Forms/ Sheets

SUMMARY

Velosaty’s mission is to ensure that every student-athlete we work with feels equipped, confident, and ready to take on their university years and beyond. The UX Design and Research team at Velosaty was tasked with understanding and designing a mentorship program feature for the website. Our team conducted literature reviews, user interviews, surveys, audited other mentorship programs, and market research to gain a solid foundation. We then moved on to finalizing the core functionality of Velosaty’s mentorship feature and all the features we wanted to offer our users, creating user goals/stories, journey maps, activity diagrams, and a site map. The team and I have since handed off our MVP designs to development and are working on our next feature!

PURPOSE

Conduct research to understand the efficacy of mentorship programs for student-athletes, what students and mentors want/need, and how to foster meaningful connections. The final design streamlines mentor-mentee interactions, providing a structured, impactful support system for athletes as they navigate their university years and beyond.

RESEARCH METHODS

  1. Literature review - reviewed previous research on the efficacy of mentorship programs on student-athletes.

  2. User interviews - conducted 12 interviews with student-athletes as well as former/current mentors & mentees.

  3. Surveys - designed a preview page on the upcoming mentorship feature with a survey to gauge interest and what features student-athletes were interested in seeing.

  4. Audits - audited other mentorship programs to understand offerings and view other sitemaps.

  5. Market research - better understand the needs and usability of this mentorship service and what segment of the market we should target.

LITERATURE REVIEW - CAREER FOCUSED MENTORSHIP PROGRAM

    • The Learning Theory of Career Counseling (LTCC)

      • Based on Krumboltz's social learning theory, focuses on helping individuals acquire new skills, interests, beliefs, and values (emphasizes the role of learning experiences in shaping career paths)

    • Psychosocial Mentoring vs Career-focused Mentoring

    • Peer Mentoring

    • E-mentoring

    • Constellation Mentoring

    • Exploring different career options & gaining a more realistic view of the job market

    • Increased job search self-efficacy

      • Higher levels of confidence in various job search activities - applying for jobs, networking, & interviewing

    • Provided a safe place for student athletes to seek personal insight, clarify career goals, and receive objective guidance, facilitating their transition into productive members of society

    • The social support aspect of the mentor-mentee relationship was highly rewarding for student athletes, offering them someone to talk to and helping them develop future career goal

    • Mentoring programs provide athletes an opportunity to learn about areas of interest not offered in high school curriculum to work with professionals in the community and to learn about education and career options and make decision regarding these options

    • Early intervention

      • First and second-year student-athletes should explore academic and career interests to gain control over their inevitable transition (the earlier the better)

    • Matching process

      • EX: Survey, assessment, choice-based, practitioner-assigned

      • Properly matching mentors and mentees played a crucial role in the success of the mentoring experience (ex. Gender or race-based)

    • Incorporating practical activities

      • Career exploration activities

        • Internships, job shadowing

      • Career development activities

        • Resume writing, mock interviewing,crafting elevator pitches, job search strategies

      • Life Skills

        • Financial literacy

      • Guest speakers

    • Emphasize the value of transferable skills

      • Teamwork, cooperation, focus, discipline, & time management

    • Regular feedback (program maintenance)

      • EX: Survey

    • Commitment

      • Signed contracts and/or various accountability measures

      • Orientation to share objectives, expectations and norms

    • Relationship building was identified as a significant factor contributing to the success of mentor-mentee relationships

    • Both mentors and mentees should commit to a long-term relationship, and training should cover various topics to help establish a strong mentor-mentee bond

    • Genealogy: Mentors should talk about their own mentors and their mentors' mentors, so students and others will understand how they fit (belong) within the long history of the discipline.

    • Mentors act as benefactors, counselor, supportive friend and role model

    • Mentor success is conducive to long-term mentee success

    • Mentors need training on mentoring

    • Mentors must meet program’s minimum qualifications to act as a mentor

  • Beck, L. (1989). Mentorships: Benefits and Effects on Career Development. Gifted Child Quarterly, 33(1), 22-28.

    Bjornsen, A. L., & Dinkel, D. M. (2017). Transition experiences of division-1 college student-athletes: Coach perspectives. Journal of Sport Behavior, 40(3), 245-268.

    Coffin, K., Stokowski, S., Paule-Koba, A., & Godfrey, M. (2021).“I Have Grown”: A Case Study of Student-Athlete Career Development at Clemson University. Sports Innovation Journal, 2, 56-72.

    Curry, L. (2010). The impact of a mentorship program on the academic and personal development of college athletes. ProQuest Dissertations Publishing.

    Fraina, M., & Hodge, S. (2020). Mentoring relationships among athletes, coaches, and athletic administrators: A literature review. Journal For The Study Of Sports And Athletes In Education, 14(2), 140-164.

    Girves, J. E., Zepeda, Y., & Gwathmey, J. K. (2005). Mentoring in a Post-Affirmative Action World. Journal of Social Issues, 61(3), 449–479.

    Hallmann, K., Breuer, C., Ilgner, M., & Rossi, L. (2020). Preparing elite athletes for the career after the career: the functions of mentoring programmes. Sport in Society, 23(7), 1217-1234.

    Hamilton, L. K., Boman, J., Rubin, H., & Sahota, B. K. (2019). Examining the impact of a university mentorship program on student outcomes. International Journal of Mentoring and Coaching in Education, 8(1), 19-36.

    Hill, S., & Bahniuk, M. (1998). Promoting career success through mentoring. Review of Business, 19(3), 4-7.

    Hoffmann, M.D., (2019). Considerations for facilitating the development of peer mentoring relationships between athletes. Journal of Sport Psychology In Action, 10 (1), 59-72.

    Navarro, K., & Malvaso, S. (2015). Toward an understanding of best practices in student-athlete leadership development programs: Student-athlete perceptions and gender differences. Journal of Applied Sport Management, 7(3), 23-43.

    Navarro, K., & McCormick, H. (2017). Outcomes-Based Career Preparation Programs for Contemporary Student-Athletes. Journal of Applied Sport Management, 9(1), 135-158.

    Rickel, E. A., Derby, J. L., & Chaparro, B. S. (2022). Using Peer Mentorship to Foster Growth and Interest in Human Factors. Ergonomics in Design.

    Sanders, E.J. (1992). Implementing A Career Development Program For Student Athletes. The Academic Athletic Journal, 7(2), 24-29.

USER INTERVIEWS

12 student-athletes who participated in a mentorship program as a mentee or mentor were asked various questions about their personal background, mentorship program experience, and for mentorship program feedback.

Findings:

  • Have clear expectations and communication

  • Flexibility is Key

  • Offer Career Focus & Mental Health Support

  • Qualities of a Good Mentor

  • Face-to-Face Interaction is Vital

SURVEY

An introduction into the mentorship feature was designed and added to the Velosaty site with a survey to gauge interest. Screens for desktop, tablet, and mobile are shown below.

XXL Screen - Desktop

XL Screen - Desktop

Md Screen - Tablet

Sm Screen - Mobile

Once the user completes the survey about the mentorship page they receive a pop-up modal asking if they’d like to see the other feature we are working on - an internship feature.

XXL Screen - Desktop

XL Screen - Desktop

Md Screen - Tablet

Sm Screen - Mobile

Survey Results: Great feedback showing interest in the mentorship program and the features we are planning to offer.

MARKET RESEARCH

Research showed us certain areas that likely indicate student-athletes will a likelihood of higher support needs for schooling and career development. These identifiers include:

Other key identifiers:

  • Low socioeconomic status

  • Intent as an athlete? (Someone that is an athlete for scholarship/plans on normal career after vs. athlete that plans on going pro)

  • Geographic location

  • Typically Basketball, Football, and Soccer that see more individuals of low socioeconomic status as these sports are typically low-cost to play.

Schools to focus on:

  • Student-athletes at Division 2 and 3 schools

  • Schools with low grad rate

  • Schools with low job rates after graduation

Why Division 2 and 3 Schools?

Division 1 (D1) typically has better competition, scholarships, and overall better support. We want to focus on D2 and D3 schools so their student-athletes can access support for their academic and career growth. Velosaty’s Mentorship program will help pair athletes with mentors and provide access to a free library of resources on a variety of topics from study tips, resume building, mental health, and much more. These features and resources are seen less often at D2 and D3 schools and result in student-athletes struggling to find careers after college.

Why focus on student-athletes with low socioeconomic status?

These student-athletes are likely the ones with the least amount of support in school and career development. This may be from a lack of program support options or a lack of awareness of these topics. Additionally, student-athletes of low socioeconomic status are typically seen to have weaker skills in areas like finance, career planning, and more. Turning to focus more on this group of individuals will help Velosaty find the student-athletes who need this help the most.

USER PERSONA

MENTORSHIP PROGRAM AUDITS

This audit focused on competitors and other popular mentorship programs. We looked at the following areas:

    • Competitor Type (direct or indirect)

    • Primary Market Segments

    • Product Offering

    • Pricing Strategy

    • Website URL

    • Unique Value Proposition

  • Interaction

    • Features

    • UX/UI

    Visual Design

    • Brand Identity

    • Tone

    • Revenue Streams

    • Partnerships

    • Customer Reviews

    • Strengths/Weaknesses

    • Gaps

Competitor Audits - analyzing mentorship programs tailored toward schooling and career development of students and student-athletes in high school and college. Click the link below to open a pdf file of the document.

View File: Competitor Audit

Popular Mentorship Program Audits - analyzing mentorship programs tailored toward career development. Click the link below to open a pdf file of the document.

View File: Popular Mentorship Program Audit

AUDIT FINDINGS

Pricing:

  • Per hour

  • Monthly

  • Subscription-based


Mentors:

  • Pricing

    • Mentors set their own pricing

    • The site sets a subscription price

  • Offerings

    • Voice Calls

    • Video Calls

    • Messages

    • Other: Resume review, etc.

  • Aspiring mentors can submit a form to be reviewed and either accepted or rejected

Site offerings:

  • Mentorship search/filter

  • Free trials (7-day)

  • Work with multiple mentors vs 1


Extras offered by site:

  • In-person meet-ups

  • Lectures/talks by professionals

  • Messaging service

  • Calendar

  • Meeting reminder services

MONETIZATION FOR MENTORSHIP PROGRAM

Partner Research:

  • Partnering with schools bc schools allocate money for programs like this 

  • Donors of large institutions (parents, coaches = passionate about supporting athletes) 

  • Nonprofits can be a good resource and may partner with platforms/people to distribute money to 

  • Licensing (ex: formal mentorship program)

RESEARCH CONCLUSIONS

Effective mentorship enhances career exploration, skill development, and confidence in students, particularly benefiting student-athletes.

Mentorship Recommendations:

  • Enhanced Mentor Training

  • Clear Program Communication

  • Tailored Program Content

  • Regular Program Evaluation

Additional Program Features:

  • Mental Health Resources

  • Community Building

  • In-person and virtual meetups

    • Talks by professionals

These research conclusions led us to clarify some questions about how Velosaty’s mentorship program will work. Our team worked closely with the company’s owner to ensure his vision is met and came to the following conclusions.

  • Pricing Structure:

    • Determine pricing strategy:

      • Free

        • Consider the incentive for mentors with no payment - Would mentors offer their services for free? How to find mentors willing to do a free service? What would the quality be like?

      • Per hour

        • Probably the best option

      • Monthly

        • Likely not the best choice for college students

      • Subscription-based

        • Likely not the best choice for college students

    • Mentor pricing

      • Can mentors set their own pricing?

        • Yes

          • Consider: How to handle excessive pricing? Have pickable price options? A max price?

        • No

          • Consider: How mentors would feel about having no say in their prices? Would their offerings change to fit the fixed cost/free service?

    • Can mentors adjust their pricing?

      • If yes - How often can they adjust their pricing?

        • Anytime? Once a month?

        • What happens to previous mentees if a mentor increases their pricing?

          • Mentees must accept the price increase or their next payment is automatically canceled (monthly pricing structure).

          • Past mentees keep whatever pricing amount it was when they signed up regardless of any increases.

    • Mentees

      • (If there is a cost) Offering mentees some kind of free trial/1 call to meet with their mentor and make sure they mesh well together

      • (If there is a cost) Can student-athletes apply for a fee waiver?

        • What would this include?

        • How does this impact mentors if there is a cost?

      • (If there is no cost) How to encourage/incentivize mentees to keep working with mentors?

      • Any check-in messages if they miss meetings or don’t utilize the service?

    • Mentors:

      • Offerings

        • Will there be a standard of offerings that mentors should have?

          • Voice Calls

          • Video Calls

          • Messages

          • Other: Resume review, etc.

        • If there is no standard, how will mentorships be kept in check for quality offerings?

        • How often can offerings be edited?

          • Anytime? Once a month?

    • Mentor vetting process

      • Any requirements to apply?

      • How will mentorship applications be vetted?

      • Can anyone apply to be a mentor?

    • Rating/Reviews

      • Getting pulled from the site

      • How will mentors be monitored?

      • What can cause them to be pulled from the site?

      • Have an automated system to keep an eye on reviews? Consider: If they reach a certain rating the mentor account is flagged for review.

      • Having a system for rating/reviewing the mentees they work for?

      • Have named or anonymous reviews from mentees?

    Mentees:

    • Account creation process

      • Can anyone apply for an account?

      • Must be an athlete?

        • How to enforce? Proof of athletic participation?

      • Can they be an athlete for any amount of time?

      • What if they were only a previous athlete?

    • What information is required?

      • First Name

      • Last Name

      • School

      • Degree

      • Major/Minor

      • Sport

      • Career Goals

      • Email

    • Getting pulled from the site

      • How will mentees be monitored?

      • What can cause them to be pulled from the site?

      • Have an automated system to keep an eye on reviews? Consider: If they reach a certain rating the mentor account is flagged for review.

    • Can mentees work with multiple mentors?

    Mentee/Mentor interactions:

    • How are meetings between mentors and mentees scheduled?

      • Calendar

        • Open a mentors calendar where available times can be selected by the mentee?

      • Messaging

      • View contact information once a mentor/mentee are paired

      • Who takes initiative to set up meeting?

      • What method of contact is used

        • LinkedIn? Phone number? Email?

      • Messaging feature through Velosaty site?

    • What mentor information is shared with mentees?

      • Contact info?

      • Velocity profile?

    • What mentee information is shared with Mentors?

      • Velocity profile?

    Site Structures:

    • Develop a finalized Site Map

    • Main Navigation

    • Pages

    • Mentorship search/filter

      • Determine how the search filter will work.

      • What filtering options will there be?

    • Mentorship pages

      • Info shown when showing mentors while browsing/searching

        • Name

        • Image

        • Bio (short)

        • Offerings/Pricing (short)

        • Reviews (star rating - or however we choose to show it)

      • Info shown for individual pages when a mentor is selected to view

        • Name

        • Image

        • Bio (full - character limit?)

        • Education

        • Experience

        • Offerings/Pricing (detailed)

        • Reviews (can read full written reviews)

    • Sponsors

      • Add a section or contact info for people or organizations interested in partnering

    • Mentee Profile (signed-in)

      • Personal info:

        • First Name

        • Last Name

        • School

        • Degree

        • Major/Minor

        • Sport

        • Career Goals

      • Contact Info:

        • Email

      • Social connection:

        • LinkedIn

      • Mentors:

        • Saved mentors

        • Active mentors they're working with

      • Calendar to keep track of upcoming meetings?

    • Mentor Profile (signed-in)

      • Personal info:

        • First Name

        • Last Name

        • Bio

        • Education

        • Experience

      • Offerings/Pricing

      • View Reviews

      • Contact Info:

        • Email

      • Social connection:

        • LinkedIn

      • Mentees:

        • Active mentees they're working with

        • Past mentees they’ve worked with

      • Calendar to keep track of upcoming meetings?

    • How it works page?

    • FAQs?

    Extras offered by site:

    • In-person meet-ups

      • Safety must be considered

    • Lectures/talks by professionals

      • Virtual is the most accessible

      • Can teach/cover a variety of topics

    • Community Forums

    • Free resource library

      • Stress management

      • Financial literacy

      • Mental health

      • Interview prep

      • Resume writing

      • Etc…

    • Messaging feature?

    • Calendar?

    • Message/Email reminders for mentors/mentees for meetings

    • Focus on individuals

    • Velocity will assess mentee forms and pair them with a mentor

    • Offer additional options if primary mentor pairing is unsuccessful

    • Review and update mvp

    • Identify the outline/flow of the landing page & Dashboard

    • Could have a FAQ page when logged in to answer questions

    • No cost to mentees, no payment for mentors

    • Since mentees will not be charged and mentors will not be paid in the beginning - think about free offerings we could provide mentors - like shoutouts on LinkedIn?

    • Offer a micro-mentorship program where they work with multiple mentors throughout a period of time

USER GOALS & STORIES

(Click on any of the images to view them clearly in another tab)

During a design sprint, we each placed notecards on our users that described their primary goals. This showed us what each user group may want or expect to see/do when coming to Velosaty. From this we got some great insight into other features we could implement in the future! Next, we created User Stories and voted on which we felt were the most important. From here, we created User Journeys to depict these important User Stories.

USER JOURNEYS

Each member of our team completed User Journeys for the User Stories we selected that were most important. I have selected three of our most crucial User Journeys to showcase here. These journeys show the process college students and mentors will follow to participate in the mentorship program at Velosaty. I created Mentor 1 & 2 User Journeys. The journeys were extremely helpful in giving us ideas on how to design the site and the mentorship pages. Noteworthy points are written on the yellow sticky notes.

ACTIVITY DIAGRAMS

Next, we needed to create Activity Diagrams for some primary User Journeys. On the left, you can see three Activity Diagrams I created for college students participating in the mentorship program and users creating a profile with Velosaty. On the right, we broke down the user journeys even more for new mentees and mentors for our development team.

SITE MAP

Finally, we each created site maps we would be using to design Velosaty’s website. Click on the image to the left to see the site map clearly.

Based on timeline and development constraints, we noted features in our MVP and planned future iterations.

Current MVP:

  • Landing Pages

  • Mentee Dashboard

Future Features:

  • Mentor Dashboard

  • Messaging Feature

  • Personal Calendar

  • Goal Tracking

  • Community Forum

  • Scheduling Feature

  • Resource Hub

DESIGN SYSTEM

Now that our research is concluded and the mentorship program is fully understood, the next step is to design the user interface for the mentorship feature and hand it off to development so student-athletes can develop their career goals with Velosaty.

We spent a lot of time defining our company brand based on the founder’s goals and premade logo. Ultimately, we decided to go for a dark theme to compliment the striking green the founder wanted.

Defined Aesthetic/Tone:

  • Dark/Modern

  • Professional/Light

  • Playful/Colorful

  • Modern/personable - real images, more dimensional

  • Empowering and Supportive

  • Professional and Approachable

  • Modern and Collaborative (use gradient colors)

Moving over to Figma, we built out a full design system library utilizing styles, components, tokens, and more! Defining our color palette and text styles across all screen sizes. I also created a document for marketing to reference as you can see here.

MVP DESIGNS: LANDING PAGES

Our MVP was kept simple for the timeline and experience of the development team. Our team met with development often to define exactly what can be done in the given timeframe by the founder. We took our findings from the research we conducted and ranked the most important features of our mentorship. It was determined that basic landing pages and a mentee dashboard view was possible and necessary for our basic mentorship service to kick off - so we got to work. Once we finished designing, we conducted usability tests and iterated the landing pages based on the findings.

Velosaty Landing Pages (Desktop)

  • Home Page

  • Mentorship Program

  • About Us

  • Contact Us

  • Donation Page

Above you can see an overview of the landing pages we made for desktop. Not included are the following pages of flows within these screens (ex: full donation process) or the various states. These were included in handoff to development as well as detailed redline documentation, user stories, and user journeys.

Below shows a quick view of the tablet and mobile designs of the landing pages.

Tablet Landing Pages

Mobile Landing Pages

MVP DESIGNS: LOGIN

Our login pages would welcome two user types - mentees and mentors. For this first launch of the program, our company would be working with one small team of student-athletes. These student-athletes would be given an access code to create their account to prevent any other user from joining to program.

Velosaty Login Pages (Desktop)

  • Log In

  • Create Account

  • Create Account (Mentee)

  • Create Account (Mentor)

  • Create Account (Access Code)

Tablet Login Pages

Mobile Login Pages

MVP DESIGNS: DASHBOARD

Our dashboard is currently developed for mentees, with a mentor dashboard coming soon! User have access to a home page that shows a program overview, a personalized profile, and customizable settings. In the future, Velosaty will also support messaging within the platform between mentors/mentees, personal calendars, and more!

Velosaty Home & Profile Dashboard Pages (Desktop)

  • Dashboard Home (New User)

  • Dashboard Home (Matched with a Mentor)

  • Profile

  • Profile (Edit)

Tablet Home/Profile Dashboard Pages

Mobile Home/Profile Dashboard Pages

Velosaty Settings Dashboard Pages (Desktop)

  • Settings (Home)

  • Account Details

  • Login & Security

  • Notifications

  • Support

  • Program Details

Tablet Settings Dashboard Pages

Mobile Settings Dashboard Pages

NEXT STEPS

With the MVP designed and handed off to development, we are now focusing on designing our next features and preparing for usability testing. First, we will be working on the dashboard view for our mentors and then on a messaging system! Our team starts our design sprint in February 2025 so more updates will be coming soon.

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