kaizen
24-hour design-a-thon | University of florida
feb 28-mar 1, 2026
A career companion app designed to help students navigate the uncertainty between applying to internships and hearing back.
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Role: UX Design Lead
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Timeline: 24 hours
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Context: Design-A-Thon Project
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Tools: Figma
The Problem
Students experience a lack of control during the internship application process, especially in the period between submitting applications and receiving responses. This “in-between” creates anxiety, uncertainty, and a loss of motivation.
knowing the user
Students feel stuck after applying
"I've applied to so many and most of the time I don't get a response"
Progress feels invisible
"Oversaturation: so many people applying for the same position"
"Too much demand, not enough supply"
Opportunity
How can we help students take back their sense of control and progress during this internship "in-between"?
The
Kaizen is a career companion app that encourages users to complete one meaningful action per day, helping them build momentum and reduce anxiety through visible progress.
Solution
Design System
I created a color palette that reflects the calming nature of the app's purpose, as well as a simple, rounded, sans-serif font
Core features
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Calendar checkmarks
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Reinforces momentum
Users complete one small task per day
Builds a streak → reinforces consistency
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Design process
Initially, I explored multiple ways to track progress, including task lists and progress bars. Though I did not have time to iterate these possibilities due to the time limit, based on my research, I shifted toward a calendar-based system because it made progress feel more tangible and consistent.
Reflection
Working within a 24-hour timeframe forced me to prioritize clarity and purpose and focus on a single core behavior rather than overloading the product with features.
If I had more time, I would conduct usability testing to validate the effectiveness of the daily task system.
