User research, Persona, Task flow, User flow, Prototyping, User testing, UI design
6 weeks Team project (2 members)
Figma, Illustartor, Maze, Google Form, Surveyswap, Slack, Google Drive, Miro, Jamboard, Discord
Platform
iOS Mobile app iOS Smart watch
Deliverables
User Research, Buyer Persona Canavas, User flow, Protoyping, User testing
Project duration
5 weeks
Software
Figma, Illustrator, Google Meet
overview
Learning about UX can be challenging
As a student starting out to learn UX design it can be overwhelming and daunting to find resources that are easy to comprehend, be motivated to learn and meet fellow designers along the way. With the UX design industry at its relative infancy and radical shift in the industry to accommodate for the increase in digital products and changes in the way we interact with them, a community that not only supports each other and rapidly growing industry.
Currently, UX resources are scattered and disconnected from the community, making it harder for individuals who are entering the field and experienced designers looking to keep-up-to-date in a rapidly growing industry and ever-changing technology.
Competitive analysis shows lots of resource lists of types of platforms but not many with a balance of resources and community based platforms. Although there are also a lot of general design and intro into UX topics on learning platforms, experienced designers found that specialty and advanced topics are lacking.
Most users have used an online learning course or app and liked the flexible learning schedule, variety, cost-effectiveness, ability to rewind and learn at their own pace.
User research
Gaps in learning and frustrations
Our users found various frustrations depending on their level of experience. Student users were frustrated with the method of learning and the gap between what is being taught at school versus real life at work situations.
Keeping up-to-date is just as hard
Our in-depth interview and questionnaires showed that keeping up-to-date on UX as well as having a community is just as important for continuous learning and growth especially to more experienced designers. There are often aspects outside of design, they feel that needs support or aspects they wished they knew before entering the field including diverse types of topics like cognitive psychology, gaming and technology, industry specific topics like SAAS and Fintech. Users see learning as an important aspect to becoming a good designer.
Designers are continuously curious about the world
The UX design field is ever changing as new technology emerges and we find new ways to interact and adapt to the new environment around us. Variety of mediums are used to learn and keep up-to-date on UX design.
solution
Then what are users looking for?
Bite-size learning
Each article is broken down into shorter bite-size pieces, visual examples and a question at the end to test the user’s knowledge and encourage the user to read the entire article. As you complete an article the user is acknowledged and rewarded (at a random variable interval) for their effort.
Content fitted to different type of users
User research shows that those who are new to UX would like a little guidance in what to learn whereas more experienced designers are interested in learning advanced topics in UX, topics related to the industry they are in or their interest or career.
You are in charge of your own learning progress.
We have all been there. We are passionate about learning about UX but when it comes to it we struggle to be motivated. With UX Garden users are in charge of their own learning progress and each step they take towards learning gets them closer to receiving a reward. When the user finishes reading an article a quiz is presented. Correctly answering the quiz will verify your learning progress and the user can watch their plant reward grow along with them.
Reward system revealed
The plant reward system is distributed by the variable ratio system. Variable ratio is the most rewarding – unpredictability is fun and more satisfying, but frequent rewarding is still important for the users. Completing all the articles and quizzes in the section earns you a finished plant. To motivate users to learn the next topic and to create anticipation mystery plants are introduced as a silhouette and only revealed when the user starts learning that topic. Season items and special plants also make it a fun learning experience!
Mystery plants locked and only revealed once the user start learning the subject
User testing
What the user sees may be different
User flow is not always as expected. While creating the app it’s easy to assume that users think the way we do, but rather often rely on subtle visual cues and past experience with similar applications to figure out how to use the app.
Familiar shortcuts
Users will look for something they already know how to do. Rapid testing provided some key insights to how users register to new platforms. Results show users more conventional email method as well as Google to register as a new user.
What is this garden?
Learning to use an app is not always as expected and users may need some guidance in how to use the app with onboarding. After registration users were directed to their profile where they can view their plant rewards and start their learning process. With sudden redirection from registration to profile page, users were confused as to why they were there.
Additional onboarding screens were created to explain step-by-step about the registration completion, learning progress and connection to plant rewards as well as the networking feature of the app.
Place to meet fellow designers
UX design is about people. Throughout the career and journey as a designer our users will meet mentors, co-workers and other designers in the community to work with, share and help each other while shaping the industry. Research also recognizes that people are an important part of their career and shows keen interest in wanting a mentor or a mentee and providing a way to connect and share is a key element to the platform.
Now more than ever social media, networking platforms, conferences, online workshops and events are playing a key role in creating connection and fostering online communities. The networking page is an important place to connect our users and feature community events, showcase designers and create opportunities to meet with others on the platform.
reflections
Trying out new tools
Implementing new tools and techniques can be overwhelming. However, as new tools are developed and the industry continues to evolve rapidly, new techniques and tools can provide alternative insight and discoverable that can quickly be implemented into the design process.
Qualitative in-depth interview is just as valuable as quantitative user testing. Although quantitative user testing gives us metrics it doesn't allow us to discover the reason behind their choice. Combining both qualitative and quantitative feedback can provide more comprehensive user testing results while being supported by metrics.
