Personal UX Case Study
Designing a unified workspace for job seekers to track applications, plan interviews, and manage next actions without disconnected tools.
My Role
This was a self-initiated UX concept where I independently shaped the product direction, mapped key job-seeker workflows, designed the interface, and built an interactive prototype to communicate the experience.
Timeline
Jan 2025 - Mar 2025
Platform
Web product concept
Methods
Workflow mapping, empathy mapping, journey mapping, UI design
Deliverable
Interactive Figma concept prototype
Overview
JobJournal addresses a common breakdown: users track applications in one place, plan interviews in another, and manage follow-ups elsewhere. The result is missed context and rising mental load.
My work focused on shaping a clear workflow where status, timeline, and action are tightly connected.
The design direction aimed to make daily progress visible in seconds, so users could spend less time organizing information and more time preparing for the right opportunities.
Contribution
Defined product scope, navigation architecture, and core workflow model.
Translated research artifacts into key product decisions and screen priorities.
Designed high-fidelity dashboard, applications, and calendar experiences.
Aligned status language, interaction patterns, and hierarchy for daily repeat use.
Who It’s For
Active Job Seeker
Multi-role applications
JobJournal was designed for active job seekers applying to many roles at once, switching between interviews, resume versions, and deadlines across disconnected tools.
Organization
Keeps resumes, dates, and contacts in one place
Focus
Surfaces what needs attention right now
Momentum
Visual progress that keeps motivation up
Clarity
Next actions visible without digging through tabs
Design Process
Shows the process from empathize and define to design and testing.
01
Empathize
Mapped day-to-day job-search behaviors and frustrations from real workflow patterns.
02
Define
Framed fragmentation as the core problem: status, timeline, and action were disconnected.
03
Ideate
Explored ways to connect tracking, planning, and follow-through in one product loop.
04
Design
Built dashboard, applications, and calendar concepts with consistent interaction patterns.
05
Testing
Used scenario walkthroughs and feedback to tighten clarity and next-step visibility.
User Scenarios
Context: A user is applying to many roles each week and needs one place to see stage, follow-up timing, and upcoming interview tasks.
Pain point: Status notes are split between spreadsheets, inbox threads, and calendar reminders, causing missed follow-ups and duplicate applications.
How JobJournal helps: JobJournal combines status pipeline, reminders, and upcoming events so the user can quickly decide what needs action today.
Context: A user is preparing for interviews at different companies while tailoring resumes and tracking referral conversations.
Pain point: Resume versions, referral contacts, and prep tasks are scattered, making it hard to stay interview-ready for each role.
How JobJournal helps: JobJournal keeps each application connected to prep tasks, timeline context, and role-specific resume notes in one workflow.
Research
Problem framing, empathy mapping, and journey mapping were used to define the core friction points and prioritize what the product needed to solve first.
These artifacts helped separate surface-level complaints from root causes, especially around fragmented tracking, delayed follow-ups, and resume version confusion.
Users lose track of where they applied and when to follow up.
Resume tailoring is repetitive and disconnected from the application flow.
Status anxiety increases when updates are spread across many tools.
Interview preparation starts too late when reminders are not tied to event timelines.
Empathy Map
Captures what users say, think, feel, and do while managing multiple applications.
Says
Thinks
Feels
Does
Journey Map
Maps Discover, Apply, Track, and Respond stages to reveal pain points and opportunities.
Discover
Steps
User Actions
Pain Points
User Thoughts
Opportunities
Touchpoints
Apply
Steps
User Actions
Pain Points
User Thoughts
Opportunities
Touchpoints
Track
Steps
User Actions
Pain Points
User Thoughts
Opportunities
Touchpoints
Respond
Steps
User Actions
Pain Points
User Thoughts
Opportunities
Touchpoints
Competitive Analysis
I compared JobJournal with common tools users already rely on to understand where a unified workflow creates clearer value.
Huntr
Tracking: Strong pipeline tracking and reminders
Interview: Limited interview planning depth
Resume: Basic attachments, limited version context
Follow-ups: Good follow-up nudges
Integration: Focused tracker; less connected daily workspace
Teal
Tracking: Good application organization
Interview: Light interview timeline support
Resume: Resume tools are stronger than trackers
Follow-ups: Moderate follow-up support
Integration: Powerful features but can feel split across areas
Notion templates
Tracking: Flexible but manual setup
Interview: User-defined and inconsistent
Resume: Manual linking to external files
Follow-ups: Depends on custom template quality
Integration: Flexible system but heavy maintenance overhead
Spreadsheets
Tracking: Fast manual logging
Interview: No native interview context layer
Resume: Manual file naming and version tracking
Follow-ups: Manual formulas or ad hoc reminders
Integration: Low integration across actions and planning
LinkedIn saved jobs
Tracking: Good for discovery and bookmarking
Interview: No interview planning workflow
Resume: No resume version management
Follow-ups: No structured follow-up management
Integration: Useful entry point, weak end-to-end process support
JobJournal differentiators
Unifies application status, interview timeline, and next actions in one loop.
Connects interview events with preparation tasks instead of treating them as separate tools.
Supports role-level resume version thinking alongside application tracking.
Design Decisions
ProblemUsers were switching between spreadsheets, calendars, and notes with no shared context.
DecisionI designed JobJournal as one connected workspace where dashboard, applications, calendar, and reminders support one continuous loop instead of separate task silos.
The experience reduces app-hopping and keeps users focused on progress and follow-through.
ProblemWithout quick status visibility, users miss updates and duplicate effort.
DecisionI used a pipeline-first applications table with clear stage labels, filters, and row-level actions so users can quickly update progress and see what needs attention.
Users can scan progress quickly and update their pipeline with less effort.
ProblemDate-only calendars do not carry enough interview context for decision making.
DecisionI added event previews, event actions, and date-slot shortcuts for tasks and reminders, keeping planning and execution in the same context.
Interview preparation is easier to manage directly from the timeline.
ProblemUsers need immediate answers on current status and next actions when they log in.
DecisionI prioritized status distribution, upcoming events, active tasks, and recent applications in one snapshot with a top-down reading order for fast scanning.
The dashboard gives fast orientation and stronger day-to-day planning confidence.
After Feedback
Scenario walkthrough feedback highlighted where users needed stronger action clarity. These updates improved day-to-day usability.
Status clarity and follow-up visibility
Before: Users had to infer next actions from generic status labels, and follow-up timing was easy to miss.
After: Status stages were refined and tied to explicit follow-up prompts so users can see next steps immediately.
Calendar context for interview readiness
Before: Calendar entries only showed date-level information, which forced users to open separate notes for interview details.
After: Event detail previews now show role, company context, and meeting mode directly in the calendar flow.
Workflow fragmentation between applications and tasks
Before: Applications and preparation actions felt disconnected, so planning and execution happened in different places.
After: Task and reminder actions are now integrated with application and calendar touchpoints to reduce context switching.
Edge Cases
The concept also accounts for less ideal job-search scenarios that can disrupt momentum if not handled explicitly.
Each rejected application can store a short reflection and outcome reason so users can learn patterns and improve future applications.
If no response is received within a target window, the workflow surfaces a follow-up reminder and keeps the application visible in attention queues.
Applications can reference role-specific resume variants so users avoid sending the wrong version and can compare outcomes by variant.
Referral records include who referred, when they referred, and whether outreach needs another follow-up before interview stages.
Process
I moved from empathy and journey mapping into focused UI decisions for the highest-frequency workflows, then used scenario walkthroughs to refine clarity and action sequencing.
Outcome
The result is a cohesive high-fidelity concept for a unified workspace across dashboard, applications, and calendar, with research-backed structure and interaction consistency.
Reflection
This project strengthened my ability to convert emotional user friction into concrete interaction and hierarchy decisions while keeping the product lightweight and practical.