Improving User Experience
as a Product Designer at Onramp
Who is Onramp?
Onramp was a startup connecting non-traditional tech talent (non-degree holders) to apprenticeships at companies like Google, Amazon, Twitch and more.
For 5 years I worked as a lead designer & developer at Onramp, taking ownership of creating seamless and engaging user experiences for candidates and business partners.
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At first, users reported confusion and uncertainty about company offerings, reflected by the following data points:
High volume of support tickets with repeated, simple questions (where to find content, how programs work, etc)
High user drop off at certain parts of the user flow (e.g. applications)
These issues not only made it more difficult to capture new users, but consumed the team’s time with repetitive support questions.
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Make the user experience both intuitive and enjoyable. This was achieved in the following ways:
Reimagine key user interfaces on the website to eliminate user confusion
Add features that address user pain points so offerings don’t need to be explained, and are instead understood organically
The login page: iterative approach
One of the very first interfaces to reimagine was the login page, and is a great example of a user experience that improved over time. As a foundational part of the site that users would visit every time they returned to the app, it was central to creating a positive user journey.
It’s important to note that Onramp was a startup with limited time and resources, meaning design updates were iterative, evolving alongside the growing needs of the user and business. The designs below demonstrate how user experience developed over time.
Original Login Page - April 2019
Created by the previous designer. Fun fact, this was my first project as a frontend developer at Onramp!
Main goals:
Basic login functionality
Login Page - 1st Redesign - July 2019
First login page redesign.
Main goals:
Match new navigation bar style, clean up UI, add friendly description in company voice, and focus on primary brand color.
Login & Signup Pages - Popup Feature - August 2019
Second login page redesign, adding sign up functionality.
Main goals:
Link to Login and Signup pages from both screens, redesign Signup page to match Login styles
Add candidate and client sign up - let us expand our acquisition funnel to work for both candidates (creating a new account) and clients (forwarding contact info to our marketing team)
Add Login and Signup popups that display when interacting with locked content in the app (led to higher user signups)
Login & Signup Page - 2nd Redesign - February 2023
While previous version worked great for years, the design was revisited to feature a new style, improved accessibility, and new offerings.
Main goals:
Update the look and feel of the UI by utilizing the new Onramp Styleguide
Ensure all background and text pairings meet contrast requirements from WCAG (Web Content Accessibility Guidelines)
Highlight the new program to incoming clients (The Onramp Mentor Program).
Login & Signup Page - Final Redesign - January 2024
The previous designs were very successful, with Onramp netting over 50k candidate signups. This sleek redesign focused on recruiting new business partners to the Onramp Mentor Program.
Main goals:
Update style and UI to further incentivize business partner engagement
Update mentor sign up form with more specific information and updated graphics
Solving user pain points
Apart from iterative redesigns, new features were also designed and added to Onramp’s website to address user pain points and provide value.
The new features highlighted in this section include:
A user training plan feature to help users prepare for upcoming opportunities
An updated site flow allowing users to customize their profile and keep track of their applications
A partner company page with a role finding feature, allowing users to match with relevant opportunities
A profile page to allow users to save their personal job application information
Note, far more features were designed and built, but can’t be shared to protect Onramp’s private company IP.
