Academic
Cooking
Sports
Instruments
Creative & Arts
OVERVIEW
background
College students possess diverse skills and a strong intrinsic motivation to both teach and learn from their peers, yet existing methods for peer-to-peer skill exchange remain inadequate. Current approaches are fragmented across disconnected social media platforms and informal word-of-mouth networks, making it difficult for students to discover learning opportunities or find qualified peers. This fragmentation is compounded by a lack of trust mechanisms to verify peer expertise and significant logistical friction in coordinating schedules, locations, and resources. These barriers prevent organic skill-sharing from scaling beyond immediate friend groups, limiting both individual growth opportunities and broader campus community development, with existing campus resources and third-party platforms failing to bridge this gap effectively.
Users (College Students)
can be both learner (student) and sharer (teacher).
Learner (student)
Create/request learning session
Pick their own sharer (teacher)
Prepare the required equipment or materials
Sharer (teacher)
Share what they know
Pick their own learner (student)
Provide necessary equipment list
PROBLEM STATEMENT
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How might we create a learner-driven skill-sharing network that establishes peer credibility, reduces organizational friction, and gives students autonomy over their learning experiences?
Current SYSTEM
College students want to both share skills they already have and learn new ones. The current system such as club meeting, community workshop, online learning platforms, etc. address part of the need but fail to connect students with peers in ways that are trustworthy and inclusive.
RESEARCH
Phrase 1
Primary Research
We began by understanding the peer-to-peer skill exchange problem through 8 field observations of how students currently share skills, 8 semi-structured interviews to uncover motivations and pain points, and 15 literature reviews to ground our findings in existing research.
8
Field
Observations
8
Semi-Structured
Interviews
An affinity map was created to organize and cluster raw insights from our interviews and observations to understand broader themes. This helped us take a step back and identify patterns across different user experiences and gaps in existing platforms.
The empathy map was created to visualize user emotions and motivations.
Phrase 2
Design and Prototyping
Based on our research insights, we generated 35 sketches, the reduced to 10 for sketching exploring potential features that could address fragmentation, lack of trust, and logistical friction. We then developed a low-fidelity prototype to test basic task flows.
Phrase 3
Evaluation
8
Evaluations
4 Expert
4 Usability
Created high-fidelity prototype with our established design system. Then, we conducted 8 in-depth task-based evaluations: 4 with UX experts who completed tasks asynchronously and filled out post-task surveys to identify technical design flaws, and 4 with potential users who completed tasks with our observation to assess whether the solution addressed their needs. This evaluation revealed critical issues around navigation, role clarity, and interaction consistency that inform our next iteration.
We took into account the key insights from all three phrases, refining our interfaces into their final design. Below is the highlight of our design changes.
Key Challenges
Challenge #1
Peer Trust and Safety
Problem
Students want to feel secure and confident when connecting with others for learning.
Solution
Requires users to be students of the same institution.
Mandates sign-up using the school’s SSO account.
Allows users to choose between group or one-on-one sessions as an added safety measure.
Shows peer-review and basics information on user's profile.
Challenge #2
Efficient Logistics
Problem
Solution
The app shows available campus resources to users.
The app helps scheduling meeting between users.
Challenge #3
Autonomy in Learning
Problem
Students value control over who they learn from and the learning conditions.
Solution
Users can act as both learners and teachers, reinforcing peer-to-peer autonomy.
Peer learners make the final decision on whom they learn from.
Users post requests that clearly state their goals.
WORKFLOW & KEY FEATURES
Design System
We developed a design system centered around green as our primary color, reflecting growth and collaboration in peer learning. Our app name, Tessera, meaning "tile" or "mosaic piece" in Latin, embodies the philosophy that each student contributes to the collective learning experience.
Color
Typography
Logo Font:
Jetlab
• 200px
Regular Font:
Switzer Variable
Body 1 • 16px
Body 2 • 14px
Body 3 • 12px
REFLECTION
LESSONS LEARNED
Think more broadly
We later realized that being on campus alone did not sufficiently address security concerns, which led us to introduce group sessions to improve safety.
Understand users better
Although we assumed the workflow was intuitive, usability testing revealed that users found it confusing.
Communicate consistently as a team
Frequent alignment was essential due to the large number of screens and complex interactions in the project.
