Supporting business candidates across the full arc of their career-building journey with an all-encompassing digital product.
DEFINING AN ORGANIZATION BUILT ON A LEGACY OF TRUST
For nearly 75 years, the Graduate Management Admission Council (GMAC) has supported people on their higher education journey. As a global, mission-driven association of leading graduate business schools, GMAC provides world-class market intelligence, professional development opportunities, and admissions assessments (GMAT) for the graduate management education (GME) industry.
IMPLEMENTING TAKEAWAYS FROM CAREER SKILLS BUILDER
The early-innovation precursor to GMAC Advancery laid the groundwork for the design direction of the app. We developed three core MVP features from the ground up, testing and iterating to provide value to users throughout their process.
Phase 1 of the Career Skills Builder early-innovation project established the core MVP features around a few key personas.
Phase 2 focused on the initial take of the full experience now live with Advancery.
Updates on all fronts from the UX flows, to visual language and core sections were implemented and integrated into GMAC’s consumer-facing platform.
NAVIGATING CAREER PREP IN FOUR MAIN STAGES
To best guide users through the often overwhelming process of finding the right business offering, we focused on learning not only where they are in their career but who they are as professionals and as individuals. This led to a more tailored guidance rife with personalized recommendations, starting with an editorial-style smart inquiry. This portion of the experience is light and narrative-led to help an otherwise dry practice of onboarding and skills assessment feel entertaining for users as they are encouraged to answer questions.
Using the preferences and needs gathered during the initial self-assessment, candidates can browse a wide range of business programs, refine their options, and build detailed shortlists for comparison. A dedicated planning section helps candidates take action on their choices, guiding them through the application process and connecting them to timely support and GMAC services.
Explore program recommendations with the option to refine results at any point.
Keep track of important deadlines and to-do lists. Input custom tasks and get additional helpful resources on-the-go.
TECHNICAL ARCHITECTURE
To support the data-heavy1 nature of career research, GMAC Advancery was built as a desktop-first web application with an accompanying mobile experience. This allowed the application to handle complex display of information and a feature set close to that of a spreadsheet. The underlying tech stack was carefully chosen to balance speed, quality, and long-term maintainability.
CRAFTING AN OWNABLE GRAPHIC LANGUAGE
The app’s UI was designed to easily evolve alongside GMAC’s ongoing rebranding. This involved emphasizing strong visual cues to the business world while adding pockets of authenticity, excitement and personality through a simple but witty illustration language.
Illustrator Gabriel Ebensperger’s hand-drawn textures add a human touch to instill empathy amid the challenges of making pivotal career decisions.
The design system creates contrast to help discern the conversational aspects of the application from the action items and data points.
FRIENDLY DETAILS TO SUPPORT NAVIGATION
Advancery’s overall layout is based on a highly versatile structure that allows cards to easily slot in callouts and informative blocks as needed. Combined with a simple and and precise animation language, these layout mechanisms effectively guide a user’s attention.
MAPPING THE FUTURE OF ADVANCERY
As GMAC Advancery focuses on becoming the definitive advisor and the central resource for professionals pursuing a business career, the app will continue to evolve to become the primary trusted resource and knowledge-base for professionals considering graduate business education.
