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MILESTONES
Client: Student Project at Designlab Academy
Sector: Education, Design, Skill Development
My Role: UX/UI Design
Project Overview
Milestones is an application created to help users learn or improve a skill, support in tracking progress, and to help you quickly achieve your goals. It was designed to especially aimed at a group of users who face challenges when learning a skill independently.
About the Project
Problem
Solutions
Milestones is an application created to help users learn or improve a skill, support in tracking progress, and to help you quickly achieve your goals. It was designed to especially aimed at a group of users who face challenges when learning a skill independently.
Many individuals engaging in online skill development face persistent challenges in maintaining motivation and achieving their learning goals due to a lack of personalized guidance and motivational support. Without a structured system that addresses these issues, learners often struggle to navigate the learning process effectively, leading to decreased engagement and a higher likelihood of abandoning their educational pursuits.
Milestones was created to help self-learners, online course participants, and skill enthusiasts enhance the online learning experience by providing personalized guidance and motivation, ultimately empowering individuals to overcome obstacles and achieve their skill development goals.
Objective
Research Plan
To Identify challenges that users face when learning new skills, with a focus on time management, motivation, and guidance.
Methods: Conducted user interviews, competitor analysis, and affinity mapping.
Research Questions: What challenges do users face in managing time while learning? How do they maintain motivation?
Research Goals
Understand the unique motivation challenges
Identify the obstacles and difficulties learners encounter in reaching their learning goals
Investigate the various learning styles and preferences of self-learners
Uncover the factors that serve as effective motivational triggers for users.
Research Questions
What challenges do users face in managing time while learning?
How do they maintain motivation?
Competitor Analysis
Research Goal: Analyze competitors to find gaps in tools related to time management, motivation, and goal-setting.
Main Competitors: Goals Won, My Fitness Pal, Goals on Track
Findings: The competitors are platforms that offer goal-setting features. My Fitness Pal focuses on health and fitness, while Goals Won and Goals on Track focus on personal development. All three platforms recognize the importance of user motivation and support through community and peer interaction. Progress tracking features align with the primary goals of each platform. A personal coach is a key feature of Goals Won.
Interview Overview
Participants: 4 professionals with diverse skills and goals, ranging from store managers to real estate agents and social workers.
Questions: Focused on motivation, learning challenges, time management strategies, and progress tracking.
Approach: Interviews were conducted to explore the pain points around learning new skills.
Interview Insights
Time Management:
Participants frequently struggled to balance learning goals with personal and professional commitments, often feeling overwhelmed by their busy schedules. One user noted, "I always plan to study after work, but something always comes up," which led to procrastination and frustration.
Key Insight:
The absence of flexible time management tools caused stress and slowed users' progress.
Motivation:
Many participants found it hard to stay motivated, especially when progress was slower than expected. Without short-term wins or external support, they often lost enthusiasm, as one user stated, "When I didn't see results right away, it was hard to stay motivated."
Key Insight:
The lack of milestones and peer encouragement led to a motivation gap, causing users to abandon their goals prematurely.
Guidance:
Participants often lacked direction in their learning journey, feeling lost without a mentor or clear path. Conflicting advice from various sources further added to their confusion.
Key Insight:
The need for personalized, consistent guidance was a significant barrier to user success, leading to inefficient learning.
Affinity Mapping
Process: Grouped interview data into themes around motivation, time management, goal-setting, and learning strategies.
Key Themes: Inconsistent time management, lack of goal-setting structure, difficulty staying motivated.
Personas
Pain Points: Struggles with time management and lacks a structured way to track progress.
Goals: Wants to improve her skills but needs motivation and consistent progress-tracking tools.
Expectations:
Personalized learning experience tailored to her skill level, pace, and preferences.
A well-defined and structured learning path with clear goals, milestones, and a roadmap to guide her through the skill development journey.
Access to mentorship or guidance from experienced individuals in the field, offering insights, advice, and encouragement.
Timely reminders and notifications to keep her on track, reminding her of upcoming lessons, goals, and milestones.
Ideation
I’m showcasing how my ideas evolved from initial concepts to more refined solutions. This section should highlight the brainstorming and exploration phases of your design process, where you took insights from research and started translating them into tangible design ideas.
Initial Wireframe Concepts
User Flow
Wireframe Evolution
Test Findings
The usability test for the Milestones app focused on evaluating the "Mentor Search" and "Book Mentor Session" features. Here's what we discovered during the testing phase:
Key Metrics:
Finding a Mentor:
40% of participants found it easy to search for a mentor.
60% struggled, mainly due to issues with understanding how to filter and navigate through the search.
Most participants didn’t immediately notice the filter button or understand how to begin their search.
Booking a Mentor Session:
100% of participants were able to book a session without much trouble.
However, 40% felt the process could be more efficient and suggested fewer steps.
Observations:
Navigation Issues: Participants had trouble finding where to start searching for a mentor, and the filter function was not intuitive. Many struggled with the search process, with 4 out of 5 needing guidance.
Visual Feedback: Several participants mentioned that they couldn't easily tell which options they had selected because buttons in the filter screen were not highlighted.
Filter Placement: The filter icon was hard to spot for most users, leading to confusion about how to narrow down mentor options.
Success in Booking: While the mentor search feature was challenging, all participants could book a session once they had selected a mentor, and most found the process clear.
Task Success:
Finding a Mentor: 80% of participants struggled with this task, mainly due to unclear search instructions and filter placement.
Booking a Mentor Session: All participants successfully completed this task without additional guidance.
Task Completion Time:
Participants spent between 8 and 10 minutes completing both tasks, with the majority of the time spent on searching for a mentor.
Error Analysis:
Common errors included confusion over how to begin the search, failure to notice the filter button, and not seeing highlighted selections.
User Satisfaction (on a scale of 1-10):
Finding a Mentor:
20% rated the experience a 4.
60% rated it an 8.
20% rated it a 9.
Booking a Mentor Session:
20% rated the experience a 7.
60% rated it an 8.
20% rated it a 9.
Key Usability Issues:
Filters and selections are not easily visible.
Buttons in the filter screen should provide clear visual feedback (highlighting).
Navigation between screens could be smoother and require fewer steps.
Recommendations:
Improve the visibility and labeling of the filter option (e.g., include the word "Filter" near the icon).
Ensure that selections are highlighted to provide visual feedback to users.
Streamline the mentor search process by reducing the number of clicks and screens needed to complete the task.
Final Design
Mentor Search
The user can search for a mentor by a subject in the search bar. The tester can also click the heart next to their favorite mentor. Once the user finds a mentor, they can check their availability.
Book a Session
The user can request a meeting with a mentor after selecting a date and time. The user fills out the form to request the appointment. The user will have the ability to change/ modify appointments.
Conclusion
Project Summary
Purpose: The Milestones app is designed to help users achieve their learning goals by connecting them with mentors for personalized guidance and support. The goal is to improve users' time management, motivation, and overall productivity.
Design Process Overview: The project began with research on user challenges related to goal setting, followed by competitor analysis, ideation, wireframing, and usability testing. This process allowed for the development of a user-friendly platform aimed at addressing key pain points.
Key Insights
From Research: Time management, motivation, and guidance were major challenges for users. Insights from interviews showed that users struggled to balance learning with daily responsibilities, lacked short-term wins to keep them motivated, and felt lost without structured guidance.
From Usability Testing: Participants found the mentor search feature to be the most difficult part of the app, as filters were not easily visible and navigation was confusing. However, the booking process was generally well-received, with most users able to complete it smoothly.
Challenges and Solutions
Challenges:
The primary challenge was creating an intuitive mentor search function. Many users were unclear on how to filter results and struggled to find a mentor.
Another issue was ensuring that users had clear visual feedback, like highlighting selected options.
Solutions:
I added clearer filter labels and made the filter button more prominent.
Visual feedback was incorporated into the design to highlight selections and provide users with confirmation that they had successfully chosen options.
Impact of the Design
Usability Improvements: After addressing the usability issues identified during testing, the final design made it easier for users to search for and book a mentor. Filters were more accessible, and the booking process became more efficient.
Positive Outcomes: These changes are expected to enhance the user experience by improving time management through better navigation, and increasing motivation by making it easier to connect with mentors.
Next Steps
Future Enhancements: Based on the usability tests, further refinement of the mentor search feature could be implemented. Such as, adding more filter options.
Additional Features: Possible future iterations might include adding a progress-tracking feature to help users stay motivated by showing their journey through milestones and accomplishments.