Internship-On-Demand
Turning Frustration Into Opportunity
Internship-On-Demand (IOD) is an online platform designed to connect college students with employers through skill-building modules, assignments, and digital portfolios.
But while the mission was clear, the user experience was not. Students were confused by unclear labels, inconsistent navigation, and a lack of feedback when completing tasks.
As part of a UX research team, I set out to identify where students struggled and how to improve the platform’s usability, particularly around two key student goals: submitting assignments and building a public portfolio.
My Roles:
• UX Designer
• UX Researcher
Methods:
• Contextual Inquiry & User Stories
• Cognitive Walkthrough/Website Audit
• User Flows
• Site Architectual Diagram
Tools:
• Figma
Deliverables:
• High Fidelity Interactive Prototypes
Discover: Understanding the Problem
The Client
Internship-On-Demand (IOD) allows students to:
Complete employer-created learning modules
Upload assignments and build a digital portfolio
Interact with employers via forums and panels
But the interface made these tasks confusing. Students reported feeling lost and uncertain if their work was submitted or visible. The problem was not motivation, it was clarity.
Research Goals
I aimed to uncover:
How students interact with IOD in real-world contexts
Where the platform fails to meet their expectations
What changes would make these core functions usable and intuitive
Internship-On-Demand homepage: At first glance, the platform seemed promising but users struggled to understand how to submit work or build a portfolio
Research: Observing Real Students
Methods
Contextual inquiry sessions with two college students
Cognitive walkthrough of the IOD site
Site architecture analysis
Task-specific user stories and flow mapping
Key Tasks
Upload a completed assignment
Add an assignment to the portfolio
I observed users performing these actions and noted where confusion, friction, or error occurred.
Findings: Where Students Struggled
Task #1
Upload a Completed Assignment
Unclear copy created hesitation and confusion
No confirmation message after upload led users to assume failure
One student uploaded the file multiple times, “just in case”
Where are the submitted assignments? Without a visible confirmation, students uploaded assignments repeatedly, unsure if the action worked.
Task #2
Add an Assignment to The Portfolio
One student didn’t know the portfolio feature existed
Navigation to portfolio tools was hidden and unintuitive
Students weren’t aware that uploaded projects were public-facing
Profile is the same as a portfolio? Portfolio was labeled as “Profile” and users didn’t even know it was public, much less that it was a portfolio.
Conclusion
Despite being core platform features, both tasks left students feeling frustrated, unsure, and unsupported. They lacked:
Feedback mechanisms
Clear, task-specific language
Visibility of available tools
Ideation: Mapping a Better Solution
Using research insights, I developed:
User scenarios and stories to reflect real-world use cases
Revised user flows for the two key tasks
A site architecture diagram showing where tasks sit in the system
These sketches formed the foundation for rethinking how users navigate, interact with, and receive feedback from the platform.
Task #1 - Upload a completed assignment to the assignment portal within IOD platform
Task #2 - Add an assignment to the portfolio within IOD platform
Revised architecture: Aligning tools and labels with user expectations helped reframe IOD’s user experience.
Then I sketched out what the user interface could look like for users completing the two tasks.
Task flow #2: add an assignment to the portfolio within IOD platform.
Design: From Wireframe to Interactive Prototype
Improvements for Task #1
Upload a completed assignment to the assignment portal within IOD platform
Redesigned upload flow to include:
Clear file upload status
“Submission complete” confirmation
Error messages for failed uploads
Updated button labels to use direct, task-specific language (e.g., “Upload Assignment” instead of “Submit”)
The old portal: light on instruction and confirmation
My upload redesign: Visual status cues and confirmation messages increased user confidence.
Improvements for Task #2
Add an assignment to the portfolio within IOD platform
Renamed and relocated the “Portfolio” option to the profile navigation menu
Introduced visible call-to-action buttons for “Add Project”
Added confirmation and error-prevention messages with accessible, human-readable language
Clarified public/private visibility of uploaded projects to the portfolio and sharing it with prospective employers.
It wasn’t obvious that clicking “Preview Profile” would take users to their actual portfolio page.
Redesigned profile UI: Clearer labels and improved visibility
View the Annotated Protoype on Figma
Final prototype: A student-centered experience that delivers clarity, control, and confirmation.
My design revisions addressed the root issues uncovered during user research:
Increased visibility of features
Better language clarity
Confirmation and error-prevention patterns
