End-to-end process
B2B2C
0-1
2023
Minders is a startup providing professional educators with tools to help course participants maximize their learning. They aim to design learning experiences with high engagement and completion rates, utilizing spaced repetition, active learning, and social elements setting them apart from their competition.
I owned end-to-end design process of the complete app following tight deadlines.
My role
Solo UX/UI Designer
The team
+3 devs
Timeline
10 months
User impact
%
Raised user satisfaction
I raised user satisfaction by 29% from first shipped version through testing and redesigns for optimization.
Feature adoption
Course participants engaged with all features including polls, journals, and buddy discussions, showing robust engagement across the app’s features.
Business impact
%
High completion rates
We achieved a high completion rate by industry standards which is a main competing factor for customers.
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Effective design
I created an atomic design system from the ground up with variables, variants for effective documentation and consistency in the design.
Problem
Course participants
forget
75% in a week
This is especially true of complex information delivered in long, passive learning sessions. Interviews with customers supported that they struggle to help course participants retain what they learn in the long term. Course participants expressed that “life takes over” and that finding time to practice between physical sessions and after a course is difficult.
Eventually, this results in costly knowledge getting lost.
Design
Designing spaced-repitition for bite-sized learning
Course participants needed a learning structure that fit their busy schedules while reinforcing learning. To support this, I designed learning journeys using spaced repetition, a proven method to combat memory decay. The learning journeys were a series of activities combining short texts, images, or videos, and ended with interactive engagements to support active learning.
This gave participants flexibility, allowing them to complete tasks during short breaks in their day and reinforcing learning without overwhelming them.
Avoiding endless flows
In an early iteration of the design flow, each activity had a primary and a secondary action; The primary action prompted the user to begin the next activity, and the secondary action to exit to the journey overview. This (of course) resulted in users continuing to the next activity. This caused two issues:
Users continued for several activities, going against the principle of spaced repetition.
Users struggled to maintain an overview of their progress because they rarely visited the journey overview.
I chose to continually guide the user back to the journey overview, enabling them to track their progess.
Before
After
Smiley engagement
A quick reflection allowing for fast feedback while keeping the momentum going.
Scale engagement
Similar to smiley but more versatile use with custom labels.
Poll engagement
Shows previous answers to give participants perspective and social proof.
Journal engagement
Gives users a moment to think critically about their learnings and saves it to their journal.
Buddy engagement
Users share their reflections with their buddy groups establishing social commitment and collective learning.
Designing interactive features that drive user engagement and retention
I designed a range of interactive features that encouraged course participants to stay actively engaged with the content and made learning fun and personalized. Course participants were encouraged to reflect on and share what they learned, helping to reinforce their learning.
By designing diverse engagement types, I ensured that learning is active and varied, and kept users motivated.
Testing
Users were uncertain if they were sharing with buddies
I knew the designs were shipped too fast, and I was particularly concerned about the buddy engagement. During testing (in production), users responded positively to the buddy engagement as a feature and the variety in engagement types emphasizing some requiring less mental effort and others requiring deep reflection. However, some users were uncertain if their answers were being shared with others or kept private in their journals. Adding to the confusion, there were technical issues with lagging messages in the buddy chat.
This issue was cemented further when I did a co-design workshop, where most groups focused their work on the buddy engagement flow.
Design
Diversifying buddy and journal engagement.
To resolve the lagging messages and the uncertainty around buddy vs. journal engagements, I kept both engagements within the activity screen avoiding the buddy chat altogether. I gave the engagements the same format but with distinct colors and labels making it easily distinguishable and accessible. Instead of using the minders bot message to confirm to the user where the answers are saved, I used a snack bar. A snack bar that is colored and moving is more likely to catch attention.
As a bonus, they could now see the activity content while typing with only a scroll, and the issue was resolved within a single sprint.
Retrospective
Scoping is key
Working closely with the CTO and the engineering team, I learned that they make great allies when it comes to helping non-tech leadership understand feasibility and managing expectations of what is possible.
It's not what they say, but why they say it
Stakeholders tend to come with very specific suggesestions, and while some can be better than others, it's important to peel off a layer to understand why they are suggesting it. Often there is a better solution to the concern.
I can only give my highest recommendations to Ebru, who asks the right and difficult questions, thinks independently, works thoroughly, and delivers outstanding results.
Ebru places great focus on understanding what the user thinks and does, and she takes on the task from start to finish. She takes on more responsibility than asked and isn’t afraid to dive into the deep end, tackling new challenges with confidence. She is well-liked by everyone, communicates clearly and on time, and isn’t afraid to step up to facilitate workshops or present new ideas and solutions, both internally and externally.
If Minders hadn't closed, I would still be working with her! :)
Mikkel Gade Larsen
CEO & founder of Minders
Ebru is an absolute pleasure to work with, combining a sharp analytical mind with a strong aesthetic sense. She understands the details of complex user needs with an intuition matched only by her ability to actually explain it back to everyone involved.
I’ve had the privilege of watching her tackle ambiguous, convoluted tasks and transform them into elegant, intuitive workflows and wireframes. Her attention to detail, meticulousness, and patience in the UX process result cannot be overstated, and the results speak for themselves. Not to mention the excellent communication with both technical and non-technical team members, keeping everyone aligned and on the same page.
Beyond her technical and creative skills, Ebru brings a brightness and joy to any environment, making her a great member of any team.
Nimish Gåtam
CTO, Minders