KobeCityJets is a centralized web platform designed to simplify how Assistant Language Teachers (ALTs) and Coordinators for International Relations (CIRs) access essential resources, forms, and city information in Kobe. This project aimed to streamline communication and reduce confusion caused by fragmented information systems.
Client:
Kobe JETs Community (in collaboration with CIRs)
Background:
Former ALT (Kobe) → current Advisor, working directly with CIRs
My Role:
UI/UX Design, Research, Visual Design, Prototyping
Year:
2025
Tools:
Figma, UX Pilot, Claude, Photoshop, Clip Studio Paint
— Kevin Basilio
1st year ALT (Nada ward)
With essential city resources scattered across multiple sites, PDFs, and outdated channels, new and current ALTs often struggled to find accurate information about their contracts, leave processes, and daily life in Kobe. CIRs, in turn, faced repetitive inquiries and time lost on administrative support.
KobeCityJETs introduces a centralized web platform designed to unify essential resources, reduce time spent searching, and support both new and veteran ALTs in Kobe. The interface prioritizes clarity, accessibility, and fast access to essential information, bringing fragmented information into one cohesive dashboard.
To understand how Assistant Language Teachers (ALTs) and Coordinators for International Relations (CIRs) in Kobe currently access and share information, I conducted qualitative interviews, content mapping, and workflow analysis. The goal was to uncover patterns of inefficiency and identify opportunities to centralize information in a way that fits existing habits.
To better understand the challenges ALTs face when accessing important work information, I conducted a short survey focused on how they currently find, share, and manage official documents and updates.
I specifically targeted Assistant Language Teachers (ALTs) working in Kobe City, as they represent the main user group for this project.
Type: ALTs (Public Schools)
Responses: 42 participants
City: Kobe, Japan
Demographic: 24 females | 18 males | Ages 22–38
Interviews with current ALTs and CIRs revealed recurring pain points: difficulty finding official forms, uncertainty about outdated procedures, and heavy reliance on informal LINE chats. Most participants mentioned frustration with inconsistent access and unclear document versions.
“
I usually know what form I need, but actually finding it is the hard part. Sometimes it’s in the Teams drive, but that’s only accessible on the school computer. Other times, someone sends it in LINE, but the file is outdated. I end up double-checking with the CIR just to make sure I’m using the right version. It wastes a lot of time for something that should be simple.
"
— Erika Low
2nd Year ALT (Kita Ward)
“
When I started, I didn’t even know there was a Teams server for ALTs. Most of the things I learned were from other ALTs in LINE group chats. There’s so much information spread between different places—LINE, email, printed sheets—that it’s hard to know what’s official or current. It makes the first few months really overwhelming.
"
— Kevin Basilio
1st Year ALT (Nada Ward)
The current communication flow between the Board of Education (BOE), CIRs, and ALTs is a fragmented, multi-step process involving emails, LINE groups, Teams files, and PDFs with no central ownership. across multiple disconnected tools. Each platform functions in isolation, forcing ALTs to check multiple channels for updates.
This mapping visualizes how the same message must travel through multiple unlinked channels before reaching its recipient. The result is duplicated effort, delays, and inconsistent access to crucial information.
I kept the figures illustrated by hand rather than stock icons, to keep the frustration feeling human rather than abstract.
To highlight inefficiencies, I mapped a common scenario: an ALT requesting and submitting a leave form. The process exposed redundant steps, lack of status visibility, and reliance on outdated communication tools like fax and email.
Through mapping and interviews, recurring patterns revealed the need for a unified, transparent, and easily searchable system. These became the foundation for the redesign strategy.
The wireframes organize each section around the information ALTs search for most often. The goal was to create a predictable structure where resources, tasks and support pages can be accessed quickly without unnecessary steps.
After cross-referencing the opportunity areas and identified insights, I first established a design system that could communicate the concept clearly. I then used UX Pilot for quick iterations, allowing me to explore different directions and quickly anchor the concept before refining it further.
After running through the initial iterations, I brought the next phase into Figma to further refine the system. I chose to keep the left menu panel for navigation, but found that the initial colour system needed more development to improve hierarchy and visual cohesion. I refined the colours in Figma rather than keeping the AI-generated palette as is.
I created seven core sections, built for both desktop and mobile. Here's what each one does and the reasoning behind it.
CIRs gain a secure management panel to upload documents, post updates, and manage access permissions — designed so that whoever inherits the site can maintain it without touching code.
Designed, not built. The content model behind this panel was never implemented. The reasoning why is covered in Real World Validation below.
The digital guidebook consolidates contract rules, leave procedures, and cultural orientation resources into one accessible format — structured to replace a single long PDF that ALTs and CIRs told me was hard to search and easy to lose track of versions of. Designed primarily for desktop reading, since this is longer-form content ALTs are more likely to sit down with than check on the go.
This assumes someone keeps the web version in sync when the source guidebook changes. That question is unresolved, and it connects to the same issue explored in Real World Validation.
Critical emergency information is centralized in one place. Bilingual contact lists, a hospital guide, and translated resources are designed to be reachable quickly, without digging through group chats or old printouts during an already stressful moment.
New ALTs can follow a structured checklist that covers contract setup, school introductions, and emergency preparation. Progress indicators and direct links are meant to lower the chance of missing something during the hectic first weeks. This is also where I addressed the 'onboarding lacks clarity' pattern from Key Insight 3.
Forms, templates, and handbooks are categorized and searchable. This is aimed at the version-confusion problem that came up repeatedly in interviews and in the workflow map mentioned in Key Insight 1 and 4.
Clear tags and visual hierarchy are meant to simplify navigation across the dozens of documents ALTs and CIRs reference regularly.
The homepage gives a clear snapshot of upcoming events, key forms, and quick-access resources. This was designed so the most-needed things are visible at a glance, instead of scattered across chats, emails, and old folders.
To check the usability and clarity of the experience, I walked through the prototype with CIRs Daniel Lee Chen and Elina So, focused on navigation flow, onboarding clarity, and content structure.
The curated community model I designed never got built the way I planned it. Not because the idea was wrong exactly, but because I had overestimated how much moderation capacity actually existed.
Since then, the actual information gaps that mattered shifted into focus more clearly. Mapped locations for dietary restricted dining. Listings for ALT led community groups. Newer asks like Teiki purchase locations and hospital access requirements.
When ALT representatives, liaisons, and LEAD saw KCJ's format and concept, the response was immediate. Together, they want the visual and functional quality of what I had designed applied to this real content, with easier navigation and a newsletter section run by ALT community members themselves.
That request is current and unresolved. It is the actual next step for this project, not a hypothetical one.
Working with CIRs, and drawing on my own time as an ALT, revealed how fragmented communication between the Board of Education, schools, and ALTs shaped the site's structure. The design needed to reflect real information flow rather than an idealized hierarchy.
The community model I originally designed, a curated directory managed through a CMS, assumed moderation capacity that did not actually exist. What I got right was the underlying need. What I got wrong was the mechanism. That distinction shaped how I think about designing for volunteer run systems going forward.
In emergencies or bureaucratic tasks, users prioritize clarity over aesthetics. Simplifying navigation and minimizing decision points became central to reducing stress and error.
The feedback and testing process didn't just shape the interface. It revealed deeper questions about accessibility, long term upkeep, and how digital tools can better support real people working across cultural and bureaucratic systems.
Working with CIRs reminded me that institutional systems evolve slowly. While I envisioned a unified ecosystem, the real success lay in creating a framework flexible enough for gradual adoption.
I originally designed the community section as a curated directory, managed through a CMS. It assumed moderation capacity that never actually existed. Learning that the need was real but the mechanism was wrong taught me something translating UI decisions into government adjacent systems can't teach me on its own. Good design in this context means designing for longevity and for who will actually maintain something, not for an idealized structure.
Design feedback often reflected cultural expectations around hierarchy and clarity. This experience deepened my understanding of how localized communication norms shape user perception and trust.
This project sits at the intersection of three things I've actually lived, not three roles I stepped into for research. I was an ALT navigating this exact fragmentation firsthand. I now work as an advisor alongside CIRs and the LEAD team. And I designed the platform meant to close that gap. Some of the decisions in this case study, the community model, the access approach, came from that lived judgment rather than from formal research, and I've tried to be direct about which is which throughout.
With ALT representatives, liaisons, and LEAD now asking for KCJ's visual and functional quality applied to real content, the next phase is turning that request into an actual plan.
Bring the information that actually matters, dietary restricted locations, ALT led community groups, Teiki purchase points, and hospital access requirements, into the structure KCJ already established.
Design a section ALT community members can run themselves, without needing design or technical support to publish updates.
Address the specific navigation concerns raised when the current site was shown, since ease of use was named directly as a gap.
