Mobile e-learning
Design a new mobile e-learning platform to be launched on both Android and iOS.
Brief
We are planning to launch a new product for self-paced learning on the go. We intend to generate revenue based on subscription fees associated with access to content. We want to start by launching a minimum viable product, but considering this is a competitive market to enter, we probably cannot compete solely on price—instead we need you to help us add value to the experience so that users may start adopting our platform.
You will be designing a new app to be launched on both Android and iOS. For the sake of this exercise, assume that both apps will be built using a tool like React Native. It’s your job to:
- prototype a key flow of the app
- develop a visual identity to accompany it
- develop the design to be appropriate for both platforms (iOS and Android), highlighting any important design differences between the two platforms
Proto-personas
To help you get started, we have already identified a few proto-personas that represent the market needs we would like to meet.
Sofia
- 25 years old
- Consultant
Sofia recently started working for a big company as a consultant. Typically she travels whenever she has a chance, but hasn’t been able to with current travel restrictions. Recently she’s been looking for ways to bring the world into her home, to make the best of situation.
“I love hiking with my family, I’ve done that since I was 5 years old.”
“I bury myself when I read a good book, it’s like living in different adventures.”
- Status: In a relationship
- City: Madrid
- Tech: Android user
- Traits/personality: Ambitious, outgoing, always happy, athletic
Wants to learn
How to prepare meals from different cultures
Goals
- Find her happiness
- Meet new people, learn different languages, be in different cultures
- Cook more meals at home from different cultures and cuisines
Frustrations
- She likes to travel to learn about different places and cultures, but this year has been limited to staying in Madrid due to travel restrictions.
- A big part of her experience while traveling in the past has been to try new foods.
Matthew
- 39 years old
- Digital Nomad
Matthew has been freelancing and living a digital nomad lifestyle for the past 3 years. Most recently he has been based in Singapore while the pandemic has put a pause on his usual frequent travels. As a freelancer, he’s a jack of all trades: helping out small companies with marketing and advertising campaigns, and occasionally doing illustration work. Many of his clients request his help launching new websites, and in the past he’s either turned these clients to other freelancers he knows, or made small projects in Squarespace or Wix. As work has been slow the past months, he’s decided he’d like to build on what he knows by learning to make websites for his clients in Wordpress, to expand his service offering.
- Status: In a relationship
- City: Singapore (but keeps on moving)
- Tech: iOS user
- Traits/personality: Independent, ambitious, confident and outgoing, curious about other cultures.
Wants to learn
Wordpress
Goals
- Gain more independence as a freelancer
- End up settling in the dream city after all his moving
- Expand the services he can offer to prospective clients
Pain points
- Stressed about finances as he doesn’t have stable source of income
- The tools he’s already comfortable using to make websites for clients, like Squarespace and Wix, lack flexibility in design and features
- He’s never really coded much before, apart from writing a little custom CSS here and there
Alicia
- 31 years old
- International Buyer at Mango
Alicia originally studied fashion which is how she wound up at Mango. As she’s learned more about the business, she’s become increasingly interested in moving onto the marketing team. She studied a bit of marketing at university, but hasn’t used it, and her manager told her she would need to improve her skills with digital marketing tools like Google Analytics and other platforms in order to be considered for a new role at Mango.
- Status: Single
- City: Barcelona
- Tech: iOS user
- Traits/personality: energetic, ambitious, hard working, sociable and hard in negotiations
Wants to learn
Digital marketing and growth hacking
Goals
- Move to the marketing team at her company
- Fit things into her busy schedule without throwing off her work/life balance
- Have something tangible to show her manager to demonstrate her new skills
Pain points
- Spending too much time looking for good resources to learn from
- Unsure of the quality of information that she’s getting, and whether it is up to date
- Can’t dedicate a lot of time to learning new skills with her existing commitments and schedule
Using these personas as a starting point, it could be a good idea to do a bit of original research to flesh them out in more detail. Our goal will be to provide a product that is useful to all of these personas, but you’ll likely need to make a decision about who will serve as your “primary persona”.
Suggestions
- Make several variations on your design before deciding on a direction. Ask for feedback and input from your colleagues!
- Be careful not to rely too much on components while exploring design concepts. When you get closer to a confident final design, start cleaning up your document with a system of symbols, styles, and well-named layer groups.
Requirements
- Evaluate your design against heuristics and CRAP principles
- Digitized screens at high fidelity
- Provide evidence for key decisions through research and testing
- Show user flow
- Include at least one animation
Presentation
We should get a strong sense of:
- The problem and the user(s)
- Findings from research and how these informed your design
- Variations of your design that you explored
- Your design, including a prototype
- How your design meets the business goals
- Next steps