Aafereen Khan

Early-stage founders lacked a clear, actionable framework to turn ideas into viable businesses, while mentors struggled to support multiple students asynchronously without losing visibility into progress, expectations, or feedback loops.

The experience begins with a landing page that introduces Project Nova’s mission and sets clear expectations for both students and mentors. A clean visual hierarchy and intuitive navigation establish a shared understanding of how the program works and what participants can expect.

From there, users enter the Nova Portal, a dual-sided platform designed to support both early-stage founders and their mentors. For students, the portal provides a structured roadmap that breaks the venture-building process into manageable phases, helping them move from idea to execution with confidence. Personalized task boards, timelines, and progress views allow founders to plan their work in a way that feels productive and intuitive while staying aligned with mentor-defined deliverables.

For mentors, the portal offers a centralized view of their cohort and individual student progress. Scannable dashboards and detailed student profiles make it easy to review work, track milestones, and provide timely feedback. By aligning student autonomy with mentor oversight, the platform creates a shared workspace that streamlines collaboration, accountability, and support throughout the program.

View prototype

Laying the Groundwork

90% of startups eventually fail - How can we empower early-stage founders with an intuitive, mentorship-driven platform that increases startup success rates?

I kicked-off this project by doing some white paper research and user / stakeholder interviews. I was given a 6 month timeline to carry out research, build insights, design, and deliver.

White paper research

We reviewed trends in edtech, youth entrepreneurship programs, and self-paced learning environments to better understand the expectations and motivations of our audience. We found that:

Gen Z learners expect intuitive, modern interfaces and are quick to disengage with clunky tools.

Many youth-focused startup programs lean heavily on in-person support, leaving room for asynchronous, digital-first approaches like Nova’s.

High schoolers often explore entrepreneurship through passion projects, so flexibility and autonomy are key.

Our goal was to create a digital experience that reflects the Nova Project’s mission: to inspire, inform, and activate young entrepreneurs. The portal needed to clearly communicate the program’s value, while guiding users to explore resources, join the community, and take action.

90% of startups eventually fail - How can we empower early-stage founders with an intuitive, mentorship-driven platform that increases startup success rates?

I kicked-off this project by doing some white paper research and user / stakeholder interviews. I was given a 6 month timeline to carry out research, build insights, design, and deliver.

White paper research

We reviewed trends in edtech, youth entrepreneurship programs, and self-paced learning environments to better understand the expectations and motivations of our audience. We found that:

Gen Z learners expect intuitive, modern interfaces and are quick to disengage with clunky tools.

Many youth-focused startup programs lean heavily on in-person support, leaving room for asynchronous, digital-first approaches like Nova’s.

High schoolers often explore entrepreneurship through passion projects, so flexibility and autonomy are key.

Before users can dive into the program, they need to know what it is—and why it matters. The Project Nova landing page was designed to clearly introduce the initiative, highlight what participants can expect, and make it easy to apply or get in touch. It's the first step in guiding potential founders toward the resources, structure, and community Nova offers.

The landing page

Shaping the Experience

Project Nova

Gotham

While the landing page was primarily a UI-driven deliverable, the UX research and usability testing played a much greater role in shaping the Project Nova portal. That’s where the bulk of our user insights and feedback loops were applied.

To gain a deeper understanding of the challenges young entrepreneurs face, I conducted workshops with stakeholders and in-depth interviews with high school students aspiring to start their own businesses. These sessions provided valuable insights into their needs, expectations, and pain points, allowing us to shape The Nova Portal into a truly user-centered platform.

In addition to primary research, I conducted a competitive analysis of existing entrepreneurship platforms targeted at young people. This secondary research revealed gaps in the market—many platforms focus on adult entrepreneurs and fail to provide the simplified, age-appropriate resources needed for high school students. This informed our design decisions, ensuring that the Nova Portal offers both structured learning and mentorship that is specifically tailored for aspiring young founders.

Founders need a structured yet flexible platform that reduces organizational friction, keeps them motivated with visible progress, and provides easy access to community support when challenges arise.

During the research process, we identified that young founders need a balance of structure and flexibility, with a clear path forward that doesn't overwhelm them. The portal must reduce organizational friction, offer visual indicators of progress to maintain motivation, and provide easy access to community support to help users overcome roadblocks.

Insights

Young founders want structure, but not hand-holding.

They need a clear path forward, with the flexibility to move at their own pace.

Visibility into progress is motivating.

Visual indicators of task completion or startup milestones can help students feel momentum and stay engaged.

Organization is a major barrier.

Community access is expected.

Students often struggle to juggle school, startup responsibilities, and life — the portal needed to reduce friction, not add to it.

Even self-paced founders crave peer support and quick access to mentors when they hit roadblocks.

Founders need a structured yet flexible platform that reduces organizational friction, keeps them motivated with visible progress, and provides easy access to community support when challenges arise.

Insights

Young founders want structure, but not hand-holding.

They need a clear path forward, with the flexibility to move at their own pace.

Visibility into progress is motivating.

Visual indicators of task completion or startup milestones can help students feel momentum and stay engaged.

Organization is a major barrier.

Community access is expected.

Students often struggle to juggle school, startup responsibilities, and life — the portal needed to reduce friction, not add to it.

Even self-paced founders crave peer support and quick access to mentors when they hit roadblocks.

With the groundwork laid, I shifted focus to designing the actual portal experience.

From this point, I knew that I had to create a user-centric, streamlined solution with features that prioritize structure, access to resources, and meaningful connection while seamlessly integrating mentorship across key features throughout the platform. The design purposefully incorporates opportunities for students to engage with mentors at every stage of their entrepreneurial journey.

The Nova Portal

Notifications & Resources

Built-in updates keep users in sync with their teams and tapped into the tools they need to move forward.

Resource Hub: A curated feed of relevant livestreams and articles to keep users inspired and informed.

Calendar View: Everything scheduled in one place — deadlines, meetings, and personal tasks.

Notifications: Smart reminders and updates to help users stay on top of tasks, deadlines, and team activity.

Dashboard Overview

The customizable dashboard offers a centralized view of key widgets and information, helping users quickly assess their progress and next steps.

Nova Dashboard: A clean, centralized view of each student’s journey — from weekly to-dos to long-term goals.

Task Management

The roadmap, board and calendar features help users break larger goals into manageable tasks and schedule their time effectively.

The Nova Roadmap: The core structure of the Nova program, broken down into key milestones and deliverables.

Task Board: A flexible space for users to plan their own to-dos based on what’s outlined in the roadmap.

Financial Tracking

A lightweight tool that allows users to monitor their startup-related expenses, stay within budget. and reach their goals.

Finance dashboard: A clear, visual snapshot of budget use — helping students track startup-related expenses at a glance.

Designing for Project Nova was as much about collaboration and adaptability as it was about creating intuitive, student-focused experiences. Working in an agile environment allowed me to iterate quickly, gather feedback early, and make meaningful refinements throughout each phase of the project. From defining user flows to building out detailed wireframes and high-fidelity prototypes, the process was deeply rooted in user needs and responsive to stakeholder input.

Establishing a flexible design system was key—it ensured visual consistency while leaving room for the platform to evolve. Whether developing components for the dashboard or planning interaction patterns across modules, every decision was guided by clarity, usability, and intention.

Conclusion

Next project

Mentor Dashboard

Mentor View of Student Profile

A centralized view of all mentees, enabling mentors to track progress, prioritize tasks, and stay organized across multiple students.

A detailed view of an individual student’s progress, tasks, and milestones, giving mentors the context they need to provide meaningful guidance.

This view consolidates the student’s roadmap, task completion status, and recent activity in a single glance, helping mentors make informed decisions, highlight blockers, and support students effectively.

Designed for scannability, the dashboard uses color-coded progress indicators, quick filters, and action cards so mentors can efficiently review submissions, schedule meetings, and provide timely feedback.

Mentors needed a scannable, actionable view of their cohort to reduce cognitive load and ensure no one fell through the cracks.

To address these challenges, I designed a platform that provided mentors with a streamlined, scannable view of their cohort and gave students a structured roadmap through their entrepreneurial journey. The solution balanced two complementary experiences: simplifying oversight and reducing cognitive load for mentors, while offering students clarity, accountability, and confidence.

Key design principle

Actions on one side always prompt clarity and action on the other.

Founders need a structured yet flexible platform that reduces organizational friction, keeps them motivated with visible progress, and provides easy access to community support when challenges arise.

Insights

Young founders want structure, but not hand-holding.

They need a clear path forward, with the flexibility to move at their own pace.

Visibility into progress is motivating.

Visual indicators of task completion or startup milestones can help students feel momentum and stay engaged.

Organization is a major barrier.

Community access is expected.

Students often struggle to juggle school, startup responsibilities, and life — the portal needed to reduce friction, not add to it.

Even self-paced founders crave peer support and quick access to mentors when they hit roadblocks.

Key design principle

Actions on one side always prompt clarity and action on the other.

Mentors needed a scannable, actionable view of their cohort to reduce cognitive load and ensure no one fell through the cracks.

Key design principle

Actions on one side always prompt clarity and action on the other.

Mentor Dashboard

A centralized view of all mentees, enabling mentors to track progress, prioritize tasks, and stay organized across multiple students.

Mentor View of Student Profile

A detailed view of an individual student’s progress, tasks, and milestones, giving mentors the context they need to provide meaningful guidance.