MyCoach AI
A genAI-powered coach transforming support for first-generation college students through research-driven, user-centered design.
PROJECT SNAPSHOT
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Beyond 12 is an education nonprofit that uses tech and coaching to help underserved students graduate college.
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UX & UI Designer
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March 2024—November 2024
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This was one of those projects that checked ALMOST all the boxes: super challenging, research-heavy, and just fun to work on. My job was to figure out how to take Beyond 12’s really personal, human coaching model — and basically provide insights to dev team to teach it to an AI that could live in students' text messages.
We designed and tested an SMS-based AI coach for first-gen students. I partnered with senior project manager in research, usability testing, and a ton of iteration to make it feel human without actually being human.
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A working SMS AI coach that students could actually use (and enjoy).
Tested and refined conversation flows that balanced casual check-ins with structured guidance.
Smoothed out the flow from AI to human coaches for when things got more personal or complicated.
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Senior Project Manager — Jeanette Corona
CTO + Head of Product — Chris Co
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Research and testing were a highly collaborative effort — I co-owned that process with our Senior Project Manager, and we worked closely together through every round of user testing, ideation calls, and feedback loops.
Once we gathered insights, I led the design response — translating findings into refined flows and interaction updates — and together we communicated those decisions back to our engineering partners to ensure implementation aligned with both user needs and technical feasibility.
It was a tight feedback loop — research directly informed design, and design decisions always circled back to what we were hearing from students.
PROJECT TIMELINE
DESIGN CHALLENGE
Problem
First-gen students have enough on their plates — navigating school, life, work — often without built-in support systems. Beyond 12 had a solid human coaching model already, but scaling that 1:1 support? Not easy (or cheap).
Goal
Design an AI-powered coach that could meet students where they already are — on their phones — and make support feel approachable, helpful, and personal.
Key Constraints
AI couldn't sound like a bot. It needed to sound like a real person who cares.
Whatever we built had to work across a ton of different schools, with minimal setup required.
And if students needed a real human? That had to be seamless.
DESIGN PHILOSOPHY & APPROACH
What We Prioritized
Scalability & Simplicity
We designed MyCoach AI to play nicely with any school system. No fancy integrations. Students fill out a quick form, we grab their info, and then the AI pulls personalized resources based on their school.
We also standardized core features to make sure every student had the same baseline experience:
Text #human → Talk to a real coach.
Text #flag → Let us know when something feels off.
Regular proactive check-ins → Because sometimes students don’t know what to ask for.
Human-Like Conversations
We put a lot of care into writing responses that felt warm, empathetic, and non-robotic. The idea was simple: sound less like a chatbot, more like someone who’s got your back.
Future-Proofing for Web
We didn’t ditch the web entirely — we tested web prototypes early on — but the SMS experience outperformed across the board. That said, the web will likely make a comeback when Beyond 12 is ready to expand the experience.
Tone sensitivity & empathy without being overwhelming.
USER-CENTERED RESEARCH
What We Wanted to Learn
We spent a lot of time talking to first-gen students to figure out:
What makes them actually engage with a digital coach?
What’s frustrating or unnecessary?
When would they want a real human involved?
What We Heard (Loud & Clear)
SMS is king. Logging into a web portal is a guaranteed engagement killer.
They want advice — not interrogation.
The AI needed to feel friendly, not scripted.
This shaped almost every design decision we made.
SOME OF OUR FAVORITE QUOTES
SMS Preference & Engagement
“I always see my texts, but I rarely check emails from my school. If I have to log in to get help, I’ll probably just put it off.”
— Student from usability testing
“I'm the kind of person that likes using the phone a lot. So as long as the digital coach is compatible with my cell phone, I'm good with it.”
— Student from usability testing
“Texting is really easy to use, it’s like a conversation with another person even though it is a digital coach.”
— Student from usability testing
On Accessibility & Barriers to Web
“Some students in my program don’t have their own computers, so everything is done through their phones. Texting makes sense for them.”
— Student Advisor Feedback
“SMS works on basic mobile phones and in low-data environments, making it more inclusive for students from varying socioeconomic backgrounds.”
— From stakeholder insights
On Proactive Outreach Impact
“The text reminders actually help me keep up with deadlines. If it were in an app, I’d probably just forget to check it.”
— Student from usability testing
“Learning strategies, internship opportunities, budgeting advice, wellness reminders… I would love little nudges throughout the week to stay on track.”
— Feedback from Ideation Call Participants
On Personalization & Empathy
“Maybe if the person was more relatable… the responses are pretty self-generated. Those are all great strategies but I feel like anyone could have said that.”
— Student feedback on coach interaction
“When I asked for app suggestions, the coach listed real apps and explained how to use them — that’s what I wanted.”
— Student from usability testing
DATA DRIVEN DESIGN VIA A/B TESTING
How We Figured Out What Worked
We ran a bunch of A/B tests to get clarity on tone, flow, and response structures.
Web vs SMS
No contest — SMS had way higher engagement. Web was fine for heavy-lifting tasks, but SMS was where students naturally lived.
Proactive Outreach
Casual check-ins got more responses ("Hey, how’s it going?") — but structured follow-ups led to better conversations. So we blended both.
#Human Escalation
Originally, we sent the Calendly link immediately after a student typed #human. Turns out — that felt pretty cold. So we added an empathy-driven message first: “Sounds like you’ve got a lot going on. Let’s get you connected with someone who can help.”
This small change massively increased coaching session attendance.
EXAMPLE OF CONVERSATION FLOW VARIATIONS & OUTCOMES
#Human Escalation Flow
This diagram demonstrates before-and-after improvements in conversation flows following A/B testing.
Outcome Metrics
Version A attendance: 40%
Version B attendance: 85%
BUSINESS CASE FOR CONTINUING SMS VS WEB
Strategic Justifications
This wasn’t just a student preference thing — SMS made sense for the business too.
It was faster and cheaper to build.
No school IT involvement needed — share a phone number and students are in.
Text messages get read (98% open rate), while web notifications? Not so much.
It worked better for low-income students who might not have laptops or reliable internet.
Basically: SMS made it easier to reach more students, faster, with fewer barriers.
Lower Barrier to Entry & Higher Engagement
SMS is frictionless, requires no logins or installations, and boasts a 98% open rate.
Higher daily engagement and retention due to ease of access.
Student Quote
"I always see my texts, but I rarely check emails or school portals."
Faster MVP Development & Lower Costs
SMS facilitated quicker development cycles and reduced long-term maintenance costs compared to web.
Ongoing improvements centered around AI logic, not expensive UI/UX updates.
Project Manager Quote
"Our goal is to scale quickly. Web platforms introduce maintenance overhead and higher costs per student."
Institutional Scalability & Easy Deployment
No IT integration needed; institutions could instantly adopt the system by providing students a phone number.
University Partner Quote
"With SMS, there’s no IT hurdle. We simply share a phone number, and students immediately have access."
Higher Accessibility for Under-Resourced Students
SMS supports students with unreliable internet access or limited technological resources.
Advisor Quote
"Many students don’t have laptops; SMS ensures coaching is accessible to everyone."
Effective for Behavioral Nudging
SMS excels at reminders and proactive behavioral reinforcement compared to web notifications.
Student Feedback
"SMS reminders help me stay on top of deadlines. I’d forget to check a web app."
ITERATIVE PROTOTYPING & TESTING
Web Prototypes
We tried. The web format was solid for complex tasks (like saving important message exchanges), but friction points like logging in slowed everything down.
Prototype of the Explore web feature.
Prototype of Saved Collections web feature.
SMS-Based Design
This is where the magic happened — structured conversation flows that felt personalized and supportive.
We tested a lot:
Onboarding flows
Proactive check-ins
Escalation to human coaches
Crisis detection flows
Each round of feedback helped us smooth things out and make the AI feel less like a script, more like a supportive guide.
User Flow
#human
Proactive check-ins.
PROJECT IMPACT & RESULTS
Student engagement went up significantly with SMS-first.
The coaching experience became more accessible for students with limited resources.
We launched a scalable, research-backed pilot that set the foundation for Beyond 12’s digital coaching approach moving forward.
REFLECTION & FUTURE ENHANCEMENTS
Continuous Improvement
There’s still plenty of room to grow here. The next phase might re-introduce web components for students who want to go deeper — but SMS will stay at the heart of the experience.
Lessons Learned
Biggest lesson? Build for where students already are. Meet them there. And design like you’re talking to a real person — because that’s what builds trust.