COMEN: A Mentorship Platform empowering students
COMEN
Building a platform focused 100% on the student-college student mentorship model
Building Information Architecture & User Flows
Building Information Architecture & User Flows
Initial Conceptualization
Based of the research and structuring out different flows, I started creating the low-fi concepts for primary use cases
01
Onboarding flow of Mentee
Goal
Easy Access & Low Barrier Entry
Role Clarity from the Start
Collect Key Academic Information
Surface Relevant Mentor Matches
02
Find Mentor
Goal
Easily access the mentor discovery interface from the Home screen.
Filter Based on Specific Criteria
Get high-trust signals quickly (badges, ratings, number of sessions)
View mentor profile to validate experience, college, language, and vibe
03
Interactive Booking & Confirmation Process
Goal
Direct and clear CTA to start the booking process - “Book a session”
Seamlessly select the session type, date, time slot and call type
Helps the mentor to prep and creates clarity by adding a brief description for the call
Offer Secure & Multiple Payment Options. Confirmation alert with redirection to view booking details
Receive email/SMS/notification confirmation.
Have the option to: View/reschedule/cancel session
04
From Booking to Feedback: The Mentee Call Flow
Goal
Enabling easy call joining from the bookings page
Capture valuable feedback to improve mentorship quality and refine Comen's matchmaking.
MVP Experience
Landing Page
Dual User Entry Point
Structured User Journey
Visually Appealing & Trust-Building
Mentor Showcase Carousel
Community Testimonials
Mentorship Recruitment Section
Key Highlights
Snippets for Mentee Flow
01
Onboarding flow of Mentor
Goal
Clarity of purpose from the start. Clear Expectations & Guidelines
Frictionless Signup process : simplifying an easy 3 step Mentor application submission also acting as a primary step by step profile builder
Allowing users to skip the verification in the initial stage: Minimising the user drop off
02
Mentor Dashboard
Goal
Easy to navigate Mentor dashboard: explore, set up a strong mentor profile, create sessions and update calendar
Snippets for Mentor Flow
Project Learnings
Working on COMEN pushed me to balance ambition with practicality. Designing a mentorship platform for high school students — a highly emotional and information-sensitive space — challenged me to think beyond just clean UI.
Users Need Confidence Before Action
High school students are often overwhelmed. I realized that good UX isn’t just about usability — it’s about trust-building. From mentor profile layouts to session booking flows, I focused on surfacing credibility, clarity, and warmth in every step.
The Real MVP Is Simplicity
I learned that an MVP is about removing, not adding. I streamlined every flow down to its core: "Can a student find the right mentor and book a call with minimal friction?"
Designing for Two Sides Requires Balance
This wasn’t a one-sided user flow. I had to keep mentee needs at the center without alienating the mentor experience. Understanding both sides — their motivations, hesitations, and goals — helped me create a more balanced and scalable system.
Design is Never 'Done' Without Context
The product isn't live yet — and that’s okay. I learned that design work doesn't end when the mockups are polished. It ends when it connects with real users, solves real problems, and helps the team make real decisions.
Initial Conceptualization
Based of the research and structuring out different flows, I started creating the low-fi concepts for primary use cases
Landing Page
Dual User Entry Point
Structured User Journey
Visually Appealing & Trust-Building
Mentor Showcase Carousel
Community Testimonials
Mentorship Recruitment Section
Key Highlights
01
Onboarding flow of Mentee
Goal
Easy Access & Low Barrier Entry
Role Clarity from the Start
Collect Key Academic Information
Surface Relevant Mentor Matches
02
Find Mentor
Goal
Easily access the mentor discovery interface from the Home screen.
Filter Based on Specific Criteria
Get high-trust signals quickly (badges, ratings, number of sessions)
View mentor profile to validate experience, college, language, and vibe
02
Interactive Booking & Confirmation Process
Goal
Direct and clear CTA to start the booking process - “Book a session”
Seamlessly select the session type, date, time slot and call type
Helps the mentor to prep and creates clarity by adding a brief description for the call
Offer Secure & Multiple Payment Options. Confirmation alert with redirection to view booking details
Receive email/SMS/notification confirmation.
Have the option to: View/reschedule/cancel session
04
From Booking to Feedback: The Mentee Call Flow
Goal
Enabling easy call joining from the bookings page
Capture valuable feedback to improve mentorship quality and refine Comen's matchmaking.
01
Onboarding flow of Mentor
Goal
Clarity of purpose from the start. Clear Expectations & Guidelines
Frictionless Signup process : simplifying an easy 3 step Mentor application submission also acting as a primary step by step profile builder
Allowing users to skip the verification in the initial stage: Minimising the user drop off
Surface Relevant Mentor Matches
02
Mentor Dashboard
Goal
Easy to navigate Mentor dashboard: explore, set up a strong mentor profile, create sessions and update calendar
Snippets for Mentor flow
MVP Experience
Snippets for Mentee Flow
Project Learnings
Working on COMEN pushed me to balance ambition with practicality. Designing a mentorship platform for high school students — a highly emotional and information-sensitive space — challenged me to think beyond just clean UI.
Users Need Confidence Before Action
High school students are often overwhelmed. I realized that good UX isn’t just about usability — it’s about trust-building. From mentor profile layouts to session booking flows, I focused on surfacing credibility, clarity, and warmth in every step.
The Real MVP Is Simplicity
I learned that an MVP is about removing, not adding. I streamlined every flow down to its core: "Can a student find the right mentor and book a call with minimal friction?"
Designing for Two Sides Requires Balance
This wasn’t a one-sided user flow. I had to keep mentee needs at the center without alienating the mentor experience. Understanding both sides — their motivations, hesitations, and goals — helped me create a more balanced and scalable system.
Design is Never 'Done' Without Context
The product isn't live yet — and that’s okay. I learned that design work doesn't end when the mockups are polished. It ends when it connects with real users, solves real problems, and helps the team make real decisions.
Objective
Build an educational consultation platform that will help high school students connect with current college students for personalized guidance. As a product designer, my goal was to design the MVP experience of COMEN, focusing on simplicity, trust-building, and seamless mentor-mentee interactions, while ensuring the solution addresses the real pain points of both students and mentors.
My role
Product Designer ( Research+ UX/UI)
Duration
4 Weeks (Concept to Prototype)
Scope
MVP Design
User Research
UX strategy
UI Design
Prototyping
Validation
But first, What is COMEN?
COMEN is India’s first mentorship platform that puts students at the center by connecting them directly to college students for real, relatable guidance. The platform provides one-on-one mentorship to help mentees navigate the complex path of selecting the right college, preparing for competitive exams, and making informed decisions about their career aspirations
Problem area identified
High school students in India, especially in Tier 2/3 cities, lack authentic, affordable, and relatable mentorship for competitive exams and college admissions.
Most students rely on coaching centers, YouTube, or peer advice — which are either generic, outdated, or overwhelming.
Current mentorship platforms are designed for professionals, not for students.
Initial mind map: Understanding the need
Secondary Research shows
Current situation in India
Career Awareness:
93% of students are aware of fewer than ten career options (e.g., engineering, medicine, law, finance, IT).
There are more than 250 career options available today, indicating low awareness levels among students.
Counsellor to Student Ratio:
The globally accepted counsellor-to-student ratio is 1:250.
In India, the counsellor-to-student ratio is 1:3,000, highlighting a significant shortfall.
High Exam-Related Anxiety Among Students
80% of students in Classes 9–12 experience anxiety due to exams and results, highlighting the immense pressure faced during academic evaluations.
Expanding Test Preparation Market
The test preparation market in India is projected to reach USD 17.2 billion between 2025 and 2029, growing at a CAGR of 18.5%, indicating a robust demand for preparatory resources.
Emerging Mentorship Platforms
The mentoring software market is expected to exceed USD 6.31 billion by 2037, expanding at over 12.4% CAGR, reflecting a growing recognition of mentorship’s value in education and professional development.
Affinity Mapping
Processing
Customer verbatim
to understand user
needs better.
“As a high school student I’m unsure about my future, I want to explore various career options, so I can make an informed decision about my path.”
Sakshi
“I mostly reach out to relatives, family members or school senior for advice and guidance but that makes me more overwhelmed, confused plus it's time consuming”
Akash
“College feels like a huge step, and I don’t know if I’m making the right decision about my major.”
Soniya
“I wish I had someone to talk to back then, it would’ve saved me a lot of confusion and time.”
Raghav
“It feels good to share what I’ve learned and make someone else’s journey a little smoother.”
Priya
“I would love to do it, not just as a gig—it will help me build soft skills like communication and leadership.”
Pulkit
Intended Business Goals
Category
Goal
Product Validation
User Acquisition
Monetization
Brand Trust
Feedback & Iteration
Launch a working MVP with 1:1 session booking, verified mentors, and roadmap summaries.
Onboard 100+ mentors from IITs, NITs, DU, etc., and attract 1000+ mentees in the first 6 months.
Start generating early revenue via pay-per-session bookings and mentorship packs.
Establish COMEN as a reliable, student-friendly alternative to traditional coaching and counseling.
Collect user feedback (NPS, retention, conversion), refine UX, and optimize features for engagement.
With that the MVP modal can be defined as...
The ‘ADPList for High School Students,
run by College Students, in India
Building Information Architecture & User Flows
COLLEGE
MENTORS
COMEN
Colors & Typeface
Source Sans Pro
Primary font
A cheerful blend of pastel tones—vibrant blue for mentees, calm purple for mentors. Together, they light up CTAs and key highlights, bringing clarity and character to every screen.
Color Palette
3266FF
B6AEFA
87A6FB
545454
EBF0FF
Initial Conceptualization
Based of the research and structuring out different flows, I started creating the low-fi concepts for primary use cases
01
Onboarding Mentee to Mentee dashboard
Goal
Easy Access & Low Barrier Entry
Role Clarity from the Start
Collect Key Academic Information
Surface Relevant Mentor Matches
Easily navigate though screens once logged in
02
Find Mentor
Goal
Easily access the mentor discovery interface from the Home screen.
Find relevant mentors based on specific filters
Get high-trust signals quickly (badges, ratings, number of sessions)
View mentor profile to validate experience, college, language, and vibe.
03
Seamlessly Book a Session
Goal
Direct and clear CTA for booking sessions
Help the mentor prep and creates clarity by adding a brief for the call
Quick overlay actions for selecting session type, date, time slot and call preference.
Offer Secure & Multiple Payment Options. Confirmation alert with redirection to view booking details
Receive email/SMS/notification confirmation.
Have the option to: View/reschedule/cancel session
04
From Booking to Feedback: The Mentee Call Flow
Goal
Enabling easy call joining from the bookings page
Capture valuable feedback to improve mentorship quality and refine Comen's matchmaking.
MVP Experience
Landing Page
Dual User Entry Point
Structured User Journey
Visually Appealing & Trust-Building
Mentor Showcase Carousel
Community Testimonials
Mentorship Recruitment Section
Key Highlights
Snippets for Mentee Flow
Snippets for Mentor Flow
01
Onboarding flow of Mentor
Goal
Clarity of purpose from the start. Clear Expectations & Guidelines
Frictionless Signup process : simplifying an easy 3 step Mentor application submission also acting as a primary step by step profile builder
Allowing users to skip the verification in the initial stage: Minimising the user drop off
02
Mentor Dashboard
Goal
Easy to navigate Mentor dashboard: explore, set up a strong mentor profile, create sessions and update calendar
Designed a clean, goal-driven user flow for mentees to discover and book mentors quickly
Created clear mentor profiles with strong trust signals (college, branch, year, badges)
Prioritized performance and clarity to reduce bounce and drop-off
Made sure the design allowed for data capture at key friction points (e.g. filters used, bookings initiated, payments attempted)
My Role as Product Designer
MVP Validation Strategy (Planned Approach)
The goal was to outline how COMEN’s core product hypothesis would be tested in the real world — without assuming premature success. As the product designer, I focused on creating an experience that supports quick, measurable validation once the MVP goes live.
What We Need to Validate ?
key hypotheses driving the MVP
High school students are actively looking for relatable, trusted college guidance.
They prefer 1:1 sessions with current college students over generalized career counselors.
College students are willing to mentor in exchange for earnings or resume value.
Validation Plan (Post-Design Phase)
To validate these assumptions, I collaborated with the team to propose the following lightweight MVP test strategy:
Test Area
Approach
Mentee Interest
Session Conversion
Willingness to Pay
Mentor Supply
Feedback Loop
Landing page with mentor profiles + “Book a Session” CTA
Googlepay (or mock payment flow) to measure drop-offs vs. completions
Internal web-based booking system to track session bookings
Internal mentor onboarding system for sign-up and verification
Integrated post-session insights
Laying the Groundwork for Real-World Testing
Although the MVP hasn’t been launched, this validation plan:
Aligns design with measurable goals
Gives the dev team a clear way to test product-market fit
Ensures we focus on real user behavior, not assumptions
Project Learnings
Working on COMEN pushed me to balance ambition with practicality. Designing a mentorship platform for high school students — a highly emotional and information-sensitive space — challenged me to think beyond just clean UI.
Users Need Confidence Before Action
High school students are often overwhelmed. I realized that good UX isn’t just about usability — it’s about trust-building. From mentor profile layouts to session booking flows, I focused on surfacing credibility, clarity, and warmth in every step.
The Real MVP Is Simplicity
I learned that an MVP is about removing, not adding. I streamlined every flow down to its core: "Can a student find the right mentor and book a call with minimal friction?"
Designing for Two Sides Requires Balance
This wasn’t a one-sided user flow. I had to keep mentee needs at the center without alienating the mentor experience. Understanding both sides — their motivations, hesitations, and goals — helped me create a more balanced and scalable system.
Design is Never 'Done' Without Context
The product isn't live yet — and that’s okay. I learned that design work doesn't end when the mockups are polished. It ends when it connects with real users, solves real problems, and helps the team make real decisions.
