hope akello | creative careers

Creative Careers

Designing a system to help users explore identity and role within a creative community.

Overview

CLIENT

Emily Carr University's Career Development + Work Integrated Learning Office

ROLE

Design Lead and Project Manager; I guided a talented student team through the design process.

PROBLEMS

Career resources were siloed and dispersed across multiple university departments, and the Career Development Office was at limited capacity with only three staff members supporting the entire student body.

SOLUTIONS

A digital hub for career resources with interactive tools to help support the work of the career advisors.

Impact

Designed and launched a centralized digital platform that streamlined access to career and work-integrated learning resources, supporting over 1,800 students, alumni, and prospective applicants annually.
Extended the reach of the Career Development Office by transforming formerly in-person services into a 24/7 accessible digital resource, increasing off-campus and asynchronous access.
Consolidated 30+ fragmented resources into one user-friendly hub, reducing friction in the advising process and empowering users to find support independently.
Created a digital advising toolkit staff now reference during appointments, improving advising efficiency and consistency.
Improved capacity of the Career Development Office and student autonomy by designing an intuitive, self-serve portal that addressed common student challenges and FAQs.
Integrated into curriculum; the platform was adopted by faculty teaching Professional Practice, the university’s mandatory career development course for students, and has been shared with faculty at other institutions.

Final Design

The final design is a comprehensive digital hub for the Career Development Office, offering students and alumni centralized access to career resources, interactive tools, appointment booking, and success stories. Built with Figma, React, GraphQL, and Sanity CMS; the platform delivers a seamless and responsive experience.

View🡭

Career Resources

The resources section was designed as a centralized, self-serve hub where students could find all university career-related learning materials without needing to book an appointment or search in another area of the school.

Design Priorities In Action

Expandable sections to reduce scroll fatigue

Consistent language, as determined by the Career Development Office

Modular design for easy updates and additions

Designed for diverse users: current students, alumni, and prospective students.

By considering prospective students, our design is relevant and accessible to other post-secondary institutions offering art, media, and design degrees

Career Tools

The tools page features three interactive and dynamic tools designed to help students tackle the most common challenges identified by the Career Development Office. These tools support exploratory, self-guided learning while reducing pressure on staff by proactively answering frequently asked questions.

Design Priorities In Action

Update

Since launch, the Creative Careers site has continued to evolve. While the current design reflects updated university branding, the core functionality, layout, and structure remain true to our original goals of making career resources more accessible, student-centered, and actionable. This progression reflects one of my biggest takeaways from the project: good design should adapt, scale, and serve the needs of its community over time.