User Experience and Product Designer
Coding-for-Kids classes
Helping parents make a decision about their child's education
TechSmart Kids asked me to help design their process to inform and invite parents to
enroll their children in a new
High-fidelity prototype utilizing existing branding.
We needed to first determine what the site would include:
Card sorting for priorities and minimum viable product features.
Role, scope, schedule...
The designer's role: A one-person team for research, design, prototype and test... This was a fast-moving project with a tight budget. With minimal resources for research, recommendations and advisement based on general best practices would be provided.
Task flow sketch for navigation, order and content.
Requirements and constraints
A key requirement was to display only the necessary information and no more, for the customer to make a decision to go forward. Development and maintenance were also factors, so we'd need to keep it technically simple, but still look professional.
Research
Quick proto-personas were created (prototypes of personas base on what we know at the time.)
Empathy maps for both
Methods also included: Stakeholder interview, competitive analysis and
Customer experience vs. user experience... Quick journey maps were prepared to address both roles and how they overlap:
Ideation, design phase
Quick storyboards were used to capture the over-all process and key tasks:
A "happy path" sketch, from viewing an ad to viewing the site, and inquiring more info.
Design decisions
Focus was mostly on information architecture, how much to show, when and where. And the balance of visual imagery with textual content...
The customer and the user may not be the same person.
The design for the sake of ease of development would be kept straightforward, using existing plug-in mechanisms for contact and sign-up.
Additional details:
Wireframe for how the initial content would display on a phone.
Prototype and test
Cognitive walkthrough exercises with lo-fi and hi-fi prototype screens helped de-bug the flow. The proto-personas were reviewed, then recruited test subjects "role played" through prototypes.
Test results and refinement
Steps were reduced to get key info in front of there eyes more immediately. With each step there's opportunity to bail out. (Interestingly, parents often bail-out before kids.)
High-fidelity mock-up screen for
Final results,
A successful product shipped. Customers began calling.
Surprises and learnings: