KapeChat
Caroline David
FUSION @ UCI
KapeChat
ROLE
Design Lead
DURATION
October 2024 - May 2025 (8 months)
TOOLS
Figma
Adobe Photoshop
Adobe Illustrator
Notion
TEAM
Ethan Santos
Tawann Alvarez
Sebastian Capuyan
Arlaghn Cayanan
Sherard Dalaguit
Ethan Le
Candice Li
Danielle Ligasan
Ethan Lin
Koston Malayo
Mark Phouiphiphath
Joshua Yalung
Gabriel Zhang
Context
KapeChat is a web application to help students find mentors
As the Design Lead for the first cohort of FIP (FUSION ICS Project) leaders, I collaborated with a Development Lead and led a design sub-team in building a full-stack application to support the search for mentorship through in-app mentor matching and scheduling.
The Problem
Finding mentorship is difficult
The job market for college students is highly competitive, with key challenges including limited internship and new grad opportunities, delayed responses or being ghosted by recruiters, and difficulty in aligning student skills with employer expectations. As a result, students often feel disconnected and underprepared for entering their chosen industry.
Key Findings
52% of students struggle the most in receiving referrals from mentors
78% of students struggle with landing interviews in general
91% of students believe mentorship is important throughout the job search
"Being successful with my major is hard unless you have good connections for internships and healthcare IT departments. I think mentors would have the resources to guide me towards certain companies/healthcare facilities to get that first-off connections that many struggle to get at first." — Student Interviewee
User Journey & Ideation
We mapped out core features with information architectures and flows
Through brainstorming ideas for app names and branding, we took inspiration from the idea of "coffee chats" as a way to interact with mentors. We used this theme of coffee, along with the origins of FUSION as a Filipino-founded organization, to settle on the name KapeChat—with "kape" meaning "coffee" in Tagalog (the language of the Philippines).
Wireframing & User Testing
We tested early designs and iterated based on user feedback
A whole page just for one feature (scheduling coffee chats) overcomplicates the process
Too many clicks to view scheduling page/not intuitive
Simplified process for scheduling coffee chats within "Network" and "Messaging" sections, allowing for consolidation of pages
Viewing schedule from dashboard is more simple and accessible
We then transitioned to high-fidelity prototypes, utilizing a branding style with warm brown colors, coffee motifs, and clean fonts/elements—inviting yet professional. We continued to seek user feedback and conducted usability tests to see how our audience would respond to our application.
Features
Feature #1
COFFEE CHATS
With our Coffee Chat section, users are able to view mentors' profiles and request to message other users. To maintain security, a user’s contact information and resume on their profile are locked until both parties mutually message each other.
Feature #2
COFFEE EVENTS
A Coffee Event is a meeting stored within the application. Users input the event name, recipient, location, date, time, and description. This invite is then sent to the recipient and shows on their dashboard, where they can accept it.
Ultimately, this streamlines the process of planning when to hold a coffee chat without the need for back-and-forth messaging.
Outcome
We received the Impact Award out of 5 competing teams
Our project was presented and awarded at the very first FUSION Con.
Reflection
Clarifying ambitions and timelines
Takeaway #1: Setting Clear Expectations
With this being my first time fully leading an agile design team, I learned the importance of setting expectations for all aspects of my team—developer lead and team included.
Takeaway #2: Scoping with a Purpose
As we approached busy seasons, the team slowly lost motivation and became disorganized as deadlines were being extended to accommodate for members falling behind.
Check out our prototype here:
Like this project
Posted May 22, 2026
A mentorship web app helping students connect with mentors through structured interactions.
