2024
UX/UI Design
Web App Design, Workshop Facilitation
dewey
productivity & learning app MVP design for social impact consultancy
ROLE
UX/UI Design Lead (design team of 2)
TOOLS
Figma, Miro/Figjam
PROBLEM
My clients, two co-founders of a social impact consulting firm, wanted to develop an app that helps busy learners easily curate structured learning experiences using digital content.
As part of a 2-person design team, my objectives were to:
Develop an MVP prototype from research to high-fidelity design
Manage the project, guiding the co-founders and my fellow UX/UI designer through the design process
Research and refine the product value proposition
SOLUTION
As the UX/UI design lead, I created the project plan and led an end-to-end design process to create an interactive MVP prototype that could be used for investor presentations.
This included primary and competitor research, 2 ideation workshops with the company co-founders, and 2 rounds of usability testing from wireframes to high-fidelity.
FINAL DESIGNS
No more boring links - create/save content as cards.
Organize cards into stacks that you can add to your learning lineup.
Discover stacks by other thought leaders.
Review bite-sized content from your stacks in your learning lineup.
Discover | COMPETITOR ANALYSIS
We found few direct competitors and many opportunities to combine existing features
We focused our competitor research on B2C and B2B apps creatively enabled knowledge gathering and creation. Key takeaways:
Take advantage of spaced repetition to keep fresh and up-to-date
Create a system that links knowledge elements to each other as part of a cohesive learning set
Provide structured ways to customize and organize info for easy reference
Discover | INTERVIEWS
We conducted research on young professionals to understand how they learn
We conducted 8 semi-structured interviews and a small survey with target users to understand how people gain and apply knowledge:
How do people find and organize new ideas?
How do people learn for the sake of knowledge vs. action?
How do people share that knowledge with others?
Quote highlights:
“When someone else isn’t course planning for you, you have to do it on top of what you’re already doing.”
Not all the information out there is useful…It’s hard for me to know what’s real or actually helpful vs. just an opinion.
“Being able to…keep things I’ve learned all in one place instead of separate places. Sometimes I’m reading a Kindle vs. a physical book, sometimes it’s a library book vs. a book I buy."
Define | AFFINITY MAPPING
We discovered that it’s time-consuming to collect knowledge and even harder to “do” something with it
Top Insights:
Individuals want an easier way to aggregate and catalog information that they find from various sources.
People might not consider certain forms of content “learning” (e.g., entertaining videos on Youtube, poetry, etc.).
Individuals need to do a lot of work to figure out the content they trust, but afterwards, they’re loyal to the content creator and source.
Having users understand both potential positive and negative consequences can be useful to provoke action.
Define | PERSONAS
From our research, two user personas emerged: Organized Oscar & Casual Carol
Oscar: the organized, active, and intentional “lifelong learner” who constantly seeks ways to gain knowledge and enhance their learning.
Carol: the “casual but curious” content consumer who prioritizes easy consumption and spontaneity in their learning journey.
Given our limited time frame and overall product vision, we decided to focus on the Oscar persona for the MVP.
Define | HMW's
How Might We...
…make it more enjoyable for self-initiated learners to curate high-quality content?
…make it easier for self-initiated learners to apply what they’re learning based on their context?
Develop | IDEATION WORKSHOPS
I led two ideation workshops with the co-founders to brainstorm and prioritize solutions
We invited the company’s two co-founders and two interviewees to join us in reviewing research findings and collaboratively brainstorming solutions via Crazy 8’s.
After voting on the best ideas, I guided the group through a prioritization exercise and identify features to move forward with:
User can save digital content in a visual library via links/text
Users can curate content into “stacks” for easier reference
Users can go through a “learning lineup” to learn content via spaced repetition
Users can subscribe to stacks created by thought leaders
Design | PROTOTYPING & TESTING
Over 2 testing rounds, we refined the app’s UX, visual language, and value proposition
We conducted 2 rounds of usability tests on our wireframes and high-fidelity prototypes (n=10) to assess the app's usability and desirability.
Flow 1: Create a “card” from digital content
Flow 2: Create a “stack” from cards in your library
Flow 3: Review personalized learning lineup
Flow 4 (added later): Discover other creators’ “stacks"
In doing so, we refined the interactions for creating cards vs. stacks and streamlined the learning lineup feature. We also realized the need to include a "Discover” feature to emphasize the value proposition of finding high-quality content from trusted experts.
We designed the app's color palette/UI to match client brand direction of a “simple, light, and clean” visual direction with a touch of joy.
Outcomes & Reflections
In the end, we had an interactive high-fidelity prototype for initial pitch conversations and a clearer sense of the app's target market
INTERACT WITH THE FINAL PROTOTYPE
