Building the UX foundation for a more focused, intuitive mentorship platform.
2024
UX Consultant & Product Designer
Mentorkey is a platform used by organisations to run structured mentorship programs. While feature-rich, the user experience had become inconsistent and overwhelming - particularly for new users. I was engaged to conduct a comprehensive audit of the platform, define opportunities for simplification, and guide the design of a scalable, accessible, and more seamless experience.
Discover
The platform supported a wide range of users — from mentees and mentors to program managers and HR admins — all with different needs and behaviours. Over time, the interface had become crowded with competing elements, colour use was inconsistent, and visual hierarchy didn’t always align with user goals.
My first step was a full UX audit of the current dashboard and program interfaces. Assessing:
Cognitive load across flows and components
Visual hierarchy and use of colour
Navigation, and layout patterns
Consistency and usability across screen types
Key friction points were identified, which set the foundation for a new design approach.
Define
Our goal was to reduce friction and refocus the platform around what users need to achieve, and when. From this, several priorities emerged:
Simplify and clarify the information architecture, especially for users with multiple programs
Use colour more intentionally to guide users to where we needed them to go
Create a visual system grounded in accessibility and hierarchy
Support onboarding and ongoing engagement through lightweight tutorials and nudges
This approach shaped our UX strategy — balancing user understanding, product flexibility, and brand continuity.
Design
We created the foundation for a new design system that prioritised clarity and simplicity:
A reduced colour palette to guide attention and reinforce information hierarchy
Modular components that could scale across program types and dashboards
A cleaner layout with stronger grouping and progressive disclosure of content
Alongside UI refinements, we worked on early designs for onboarding flows and tutorials — helping first-time users understand what the platform offers and where to begin.
All work was undertaken in close collaboration with the MentorKey team, ensuring design strategy aligned to ongoing product needs.
Deliver
The audit and strategy resulted in UI improvements, clearer dashboard structures, and early onboarding designs — forming the groundwork for future platform growth. Highlights included:
Reduced visual noise and improved information clarity
Clearer segmentation between platform and program-level views
Stronger user alignment around next steps and outcomes
The next phase of engagement with MentorKey is currently underway. The next stage involves defining event tracking strategies to better capture product analytics and understand user behaviour across journeys — ensuring future iterations are data-informed and insight-led.
