What is Blue Dawn?
s a former cadet commander in the Israeli Air Force, I saw how fragmented systems undermined both leadership and support. Critical requests were scattered across Google Sheets, WhatsApp messages, and verbal updates - leading to missed needs, cadet dropouts, and a reactive, overwhelmed staff.
Blue Dawn is a solo UX/UI project I initiated during my studies to tackle this issue.
I led the entire process from research and insights to UX strategy, UI design, and prototyping -with one core principle:
Every design decision must serve the cadet directly.
The Problem
Cadet commanders were overwhelmed by ongoing bureaucratic tasks- spread across Google Sheets, WhatsApp messages, and verbal updates. Critical requests got lost, cadets were forgotten, and some even dropped out. The chaos left less time for leadership and mentorship- the core of our role.
in the picture: real screenshots of messy files we had to work with- censored due to privacy and sensitivity of the information
Research
To go beyond my own experience, I conducted 5 in-depth interviews with current and former cadets and commanders and 15-response survey to cadets from the unit I led.
I asked cadets:
What made your experience harder than it needed to be? What moments made you feel lost, unseen, or unsupported?
I asked commanders:
Did you feel equipped to support your cadets? If not, what got in your way?
I focused on uncovering:
Where communication broke down
What made cadets feel ‘unseen’
What kind of platform could provide them the support they need in order to grow
Here’s what I heard:
Key Insights & Surprises
Cadets respected us more than we realized- so much so that they hesitated to “burden”
us, even in moments of distress.
The most "quiet" cadets, who appeared fine, were often struggling the most- and dropping out unnoticed.
Most frustration stemmed from the system, not the people.
No one had the full picture- data was scattered, duplicated, or lost across disconnected tools.
These findings pushed me to prioritize centralized information flow,
emotional safety in communication and a smart alert system for academic and behavioral changes.
The Solution
I designed Blue Dawn as a system for cadet commanders- one that reduces admin overload, centralizes requests, and surfaces red flags early.
Every decision was filtered through one guiding question: Does this serve the cadet directly?
Dashboard view highlighting behavioral and academic alerts, with detected changes- marked in yellow.
UX & UI Process
I mapped the system with sitemaps and user flows, then moved from low-fi wireframes to high-fidelity designs in Figma. I tested flows with former commanders and refined based on their feedback, especially around clarity and cognitive load. A key challenge was avoiding information overload while still giving context on each cadet’s situation.
Here’s how it turned out:
An overview of all academic and behavioural changes in a specific class of cadets, showing how well they did in comparison to their own past performances. Yarin isn't doing well let’s see if we have something to worry about.
This screen shows Yarin’s average grades across all subjects. We can quickly spot areas of improvement or decline - math stands out as a concern. Let’s compare it to the class average to understand whether it’s an individual issue or just a tough exam.
In this screen, we can see that the drop in math is specific to Yarin. To understand whether it’s part of a larger pattern or simply a struggle with this subject, we’ll need to check his behavioral records.
Yarin has been showing a pattern of behavioral challenges lately. We'll need to schedule a conversation with the classroom teacher and his parents to understand what’s going on and provide the right support.
Outcome & Learnings
While Blue Dawn isn’t live yet, it's designed for measurable real-world impact:
Fewer cadet dropouts
Faster response times
A stronger support system for both cadets and commanders
This project taught me how to turn emotionally heavy, unstructured problems into clear, actionable UX decisions- and how to design with empathy, clarity, and real constraints.
Blue Dawn
Lead with insight - keep every cadet seen, supported, and on track.
Blue Dawn
Lead with insight - keep every cadet seen, supported, and on track.
