MyTown is a service concept and mobile app designed to support international students during their first weeks in Finland by centralizing practical guidance, local discovery, and peer support.
Role: UI/UX Designer, Product Designer
Timeline: Oct 2025 – Dec 2025
Tools: Figma, Microsoft Whiteboard
Behance Link: https://www.behance.net/gallery/242359771/MY-Town
What I worked on
This was a collaborative group project, and responsibilities were shared across the team. I co-hosted the user workshop, participated in analysing interview data, and worked closely with the team on affinity mapping and synthesis. I contributed to creating the user journey map and persona, and was involved in defining the service concept, sitemap, and design direction. I also contributed to the design system and high-fidelity prototype to help translate insights into a clear solution.
International students moving to Finland face a complex and fragmented settling-in process. Essential tasks such as university registration, DVV appointments, bank account setup, transportation, and housing often happen at the same time, with limited step-by-step guidance.
Most information is scattered across university websites, emails, social media groups, and word-of-mouth. As a result, students rely heavily on peers, tutors, and trial-and-error to understand what to do and in which order. This creates stress, uncertainty, and a strong feeling of being overwhelmed, especially during the first weeks.
The challenge was not a lack of information, but the lack of clarity, order, and emotional support during the settling-in process.
To understand the challenges students face when relocating to Finland, we used a qualitative, user-centered research approach focused on lived experiences.
We conducted semi-structured interviews with international students from different backgrounds, including both EU and non-EU students. The interviews explored early settling-in experiences, practical challenges such as bureaucracy and navigation, emotional stress, and how students currently find information and support. These interviews helped us identify recurring issues but were not analyzed using formal affinity mapping at this stage.