We will continue to be the lead UX agency for My GUIDE from DAAD!

This means we will be continuing our close collaboration for another four years...

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...and we are delighted to be able to move this important project forward.

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My GUIDE as an orientation tool for international students

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My GUIDE is the central platform for international prospective students who want to study in Germany. It offers them intuitive and reliable guidance through a complex application process:

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• Find degree programs and check whether your foreign degree is recognized for them
  

• Discover scholarships that are tailored to your chosen course of studyStipendien entdecken, die individuell zum gewählten Studium passen
  
  
• Use checklists that guide you step by step through the process of studying in Germany.
  

• Direct contact with universities to clarify questions in an uncomplicated manner
  

• And much more, from counseling options to digital services that make it easier to move to Germany.

But it's not just prospective students who use My GUIDE; it's also an indispensable tool for German universities and advisors at DAAD offices around the world:

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Universities receive over 5,000 qualified inquiries every month, which they can now respond to efficiently thanks to automated services and AI-generated text modules.

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DAAD counseling centers actively use My GUIDE in their personal on-site study counseling services.

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In short: My GUIDE connects people worldwide with universities in Germany.

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From MVP to established platform

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When we first won the pitch four years ago, My GUIDE was still a technically complex and anything but user-friendly MVP. The project had actually already been awarded to another agency, but the DAAD was dissatisfied with the results and therefore repeatedly put it out to tender across Europe.

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Together with the DAAD, we completely redesigned the platform: visually youthful, clearly structured, intuitive to use, and accessible.

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What we achieved so far?

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My GUIDE is now a central, neutral, and reliable point of contact for prospective students worldwide. It has always been important to us to work not just as a service provider, but as an equal partner.

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Together with DAAD stakeholders and technical service providers, we are developing a product that equally meets political requirements, data protection standards, neutrality, and user needs. At the same time, we have succeeded in making the high technical complexity invisible to users and offering them a digital product that is completely simple and intuitive for them to use.

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Why this pitch was not a sure-fire success

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Even though we have already shaped My GUIDE for four years, winning the contract again was not a foregone conclusion. Quite the contrary: since we were already part of the project and wanted to remain so, we probably invested more time and effort in our pitch than our competitors.

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Since this was an open competition with impartial evaluation of all entries, we are all the more proud that our mix was once again able to impress the judges:

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Experience in developing complex products, passion for the project, and a deep understanding of the specific conditions in the public sector.

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The highlight: The current call for proposals was two and a half times as extensive as before, and expectations were correspondingly high. For us, this means not only continuing to develop My GUIDE in the coming years, but also the opportunity to contribute our expertise to further DAAD projects.

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What we learned about UX in the public sector thanks to My GUIDE

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My GUIDE is a prime example of how UX design works in the public sector and what particular challenges it faces there:

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• Neutrality: Neither universities nor study programs should be favored—equal treatment is a must.
  
• Accessibility: Think ahead from the start, test regularly, design inclusively.
  
• Data protection: UX, texts, and tools are always created in accordance with strict data protection regulations.
  
• Political framework conditions: Legal changes or funding logic are directly incorporated into content and processes.
  
• Other measures of success: This is not about conversion rates or profitability, but rather about whether people find suitable courses of study, how long they need, and where they need support.

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All this makes My GUIDE one of the most exciting projects we have worked on in recent years – and a real beacon for digital services in the public sector.

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Would you like to learn more about our work for My GUIDE? Then read our case studies on My GUIDE and the DAAD Network Advisor.

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