Leap Case Study \\ 2021
Preparing students
for their
higher education
for their
higher education
SUMMARY
Most traditional high school education systems are not made to prepare students for higher education. Leap is a mobile application built for high school students transitioning to higher education. The platform serves as an educational resource database and networking hub for users to grow their connections.
Most traditional high school education systems are not made to prepare students for higher education. Leap is a mobile application built for high school students transitioning to higher education. The platform serves as an educational resource database and networking hub for users to grow their connections.
THE PROBLEM
Students are not properly equipped to transition to a higher education past the high school level. In 2017, over 900 campuses reported having 96% of their students requiring remediation courses.
the scope
Create a low-fidelity MVP prototype
MY ROLEs
UX RESEARCHER
• Conduct user surveys with the target audience in order to produce user personas to better understand the user base.
• Manage usability tests, on paper prototypes and low-fidelity prototypes to obtain user feedback.
• Manage usability tests, on paper prototypes and low-fidelity prototypes to obtain user feedback.
UX DESIGNER
• Translate data from user research to develop empathy maps, journey maps, storyboards, and flowcharts to understand the user processes from start to finish within the application.
UI DESIGNER
• Produce sketched wireframes, digital wireframes, low fidelity application screens and iterate them based upon user feedback.
• Produce sketched wireframes, digital wireframes, low fidelity application screens and iterate them based upon user feedback.
target audience Psychographics
Values:
• Education
• Networking
• Ease of use
• Networking
• Ease of use
Likes:
• Learning
• Socializing
• Helping others
• Socializing
• Helping others
Wants:
• Pursue a higher education after high school
• Grow connections
• Be informed on educational resources
• Gain real-world career experience
• Grow connections
• Be informed on educational resources
• Gain real-world career experience
solution
An application that would present users educational resources such as scholarships, student programs, and university information. The application would also allow users to grow a network of connections with each other. This enables users to seek help from one another and build relationships with their peers.
Discovery and Research
This is the where I began the initial brainstorming for the application. This phase focused on gaining information on the target users and understanding them on deeper levels. Taking the pain points of users and creating opportunities to explore within the application.
INitial sketching
Notes: Brainstorming features
Developing initial ideas for application features and goals with the client.
Ideas: Components for resources
Ideating the structure of how information will be shown throughout application.
Crazy 8s: Onboarding
Drafting a quick series of sketches portraying how a possible onboarding process would be executed.
Solution Sketch: News feed
Finalizing the end goal layout of the home news feed users will interact with.
T a k e a w a y s
• Set the foundation for what the application components could look like and ideas to possibly implicate
User Research
Tools Used
Google Surveys
Notion
Figma
Miro
Zoom
Slack
Notion
Figma
Miro
Zoom
Slack
User Surveys
Sample size: 24 total survey responses
Summary of results
• 78% of students do not feel prepared for higher education
• 90% of students not pursuing a higher education claim being unprepared is a leading factor
• 93% of students report difficulty gathering and understanding information for different universities.
• 85% of students report difficulty gathering and understanding scholarships they qualify for.
• 78% of students do not feel prepared for higher education
• 90% of students not pursuing a higher education claim being unprepared is a leading factor
• 93% of students report difficulty gathering and understanding information for different universities.
• 85% of students report difficulty gathering and understanding scholarships they qualify for.
T a k e a w a y s
• The application should focus on presenting the information in an understandable and digestible manner.
• The design should focus on ease of use to prevent users from feeling overwhelmed while maintaining a feeling of control over their interactions within the app.
• Implement a way to align users with resources pertaining to them specifically
• The design should focus on ease of use to prevent users from feeling overwhelmed while maintaining a feeling of control over their interactions within the app.
• Implement a way to align users with resources pertaining to them specifically
User Persona #1
Mike
Bio:
Mike is a senior at a local Detroit high school working part-time on the weekends to save money for his college tuition. He plans to apply to universities for computer science and wants to work for a big tech company in his future career. He doesn’t have much experience networking with like minded students. He wants to grow more connections and look for resources to prepare him for college.
Mike is a senior at a local Detroit high school working part-time on the weekends to save money for his college tuition. He plans to apply to universities for computer science and wants to work for a big tech company in his future career. He doesn’t have much experience networking with like minded students. He wants to grow more connections and look for resources to prepare him for college.
Goals:
• Apply and start a student summer program before starting college
• Grow a student network to learn with
• Research different universities to know what program best suites him
• Search for scholarships he can be accepted for
• Apply and start a student summer program before starting college
• Grow a student network to learn with
• Research different universities to know what program best suites him
• Search for scholarships he can be accepted for
Motivations:
• Getting a head start into his future career
• To be best prepared for college
• Have more people to grow with through his education
• To get into a college best for him
• Help his peers with their college transition
Frustrations:
• Wasting time researching information
• Stressing out over not feeling ready for college
• Struggling to gather student resources pertaining to him
• Gathering information on universities and which ones are best for him
• Getting a head start into his future career
• To be best prepared for college
• Have more people to grow with through his education
• To get into a college best for him
• Help his peers with their college transition
Frustrations:
• Wasting time researching information
• Stressing out over not feeling ready for college
• Struggling to gather student resources pertaining to him
• Gathering information on universities and which ones are best for him
User Persona 2:
Steve
Bio:
Steve is a junior at a local Detroit high school focused on preparing for the upcoming SAT test. He wants to go to college but is not sure if he can afford it. He is the first generation in his family to have an education in the United States. He’s not sure what he wants to pursue as a career.
Steve is a junior at a local Detroit high school focused on preparing for the upcoming SAT test. He wants to go to college but is not sure if he can afford it. He is the first generation in his family to have an education in the United States. He’s not sure what he wants to pursue as a career.
Goals:
• Score high on his upcoming SAT test
• Apply to as many scholarships as possible
• Explore different career paths before college
• Connect with other students in the same situation as him
• Score high on his upcoming SAT test
• Apply to as many scholarships as possible
• Explore different career paths before college
• Connect with other students in the same situation as him
Motivations:
• Get into college
• To be able to afford a college tuition
• To save money and time if he does go to college
• To learn and grow from other students’ experiences
Frustrations:
• Unsure what he should aim to score on the SAT test for colleges near him
• Struggling to find scholarships he qualifies for
• Lack of resources to obtain real-world experience in different careers for students
• Feeling alone navigating his education
• Get into college
• To be able to afford a college tuition
• To save money and time if he does go to college
• To learn and grow from other students’ experiences
Frustrations:
• Unsure what he should aim to score on the SAT test for colleges near him
• Struggling to find scholarships he qualifies for
• Lack of resources to obtain real-world experience in different careers for students
• Feeling alone navigating his education
Empathy Map
T a k e a w a y s
• Presented key pain points that our users commonly feel to keep in mind for the MVP
Journey Map
T a k e a w a y s
• Presented opportunities for the design and features of the application to implement for the MVP or in the future
Information Architecture
After developing a deeper understanding of the target users, I moved into developing the ways the user will interact with the application. Understanding the goals of the users and applying that into the structure of the application. Then finally developing an initial prototype.
User FLows
User Flow 1
User Flow 2
User Flow 3
User Flow Goals
• User Flow 1: Apply to a student program as a new user
• User Flow 2: Add new interest tags to an existing profile
• User Flow 3: Post a question to your network as an existing
• User Flow 2: Add new interest tags to an existing profile
• User Flow 3: Post a question to your network as an existing
T a k e a w a y s
• Helped confine the scope of the application to better focus on the MVP while also giving direction to how the application screens/features are expected to function.
Wireframes sketches
Initial brainstorming of application screens on paper. This enabled a quick rudimentary idea to form for the navigation and relationship between screens.
Home Screen Wireframe Sketch
Resources Screen Wireframe Sketch
Profile Screen Wireframe Sketch
Digital Wireframes
Taking the initial paper sketches and recreating them in Figma. This allowed me to have a better understanding of spacing within digital parameters.
Home Screen Digital Wireframe
Resources Screen Digital Wireframe
Profile Screen Digital Wireframe
T a k e a w a y s
• Less is more. Keep in mind that white space is very important not to overwhelm our users and maintain digestible information on the screens at all times
PAper Prototyping
Sketched application screens of a specific goal to accomplish then having a user map out their ideal way of navigating between the screens to accomplish the task given. This allowed me to have a better understanding of the user expectations for the relationships between screens.
Task:
How would you apply for a student program as a new user?
How would you apply for a student program as a new user?
Early Paper Prototyping for Onboarding
Prototyping
Home Screen Wireframe
Resources Screen Wireframe
I developed a digital prototype within Figma with the information obtained from the paper prototype. Implementing what users expected navigation between screens to be.
T a k e a w a y s
• The resource icon should be changed because the user can mistake it for bookmarks/saved section.
• The pop-up to apply for a program should change the screen to only show the pop-up to not overwhelm users with information.
• The pop-up to apply for a program should change the screen to only show the pop-up to not overwhelm users with information.
Usability Tests
Through the user surveys I was able to obtain volunteers to test the first iteration of the application to obtain user feedback to implement into the application. By giving the volunteers tasks to accomplish this tested the viability of navigation and usability of the application.
Home Screen Wireframe
Profile Screen Wireframe
Tools Used
Figma
Zoom
Zoom
Screening
• Current high school student
• Age: 17-18 years old
• Survey participant wants to or is planning on going to college
• Age: 17-18 years old
• Survey participant wants to or is planning on going to college
Tasks
1. Create an account and add “Coding” as an interest
2. Navigate to the research screen and apply to the “Project Intern” position at Amazon
2. Navigate to the research screen and apply to the “Project Intern” position at Amazon
T A K E A W A Y S
• Recommended to change the information showcased on the initial resource listings to prioritize the key information
• Finished the first task very quickly without any problems but recommended to focus on adjusting the resources navigation to make it better guide the user through the search process
• Recommended to adjust the filtering for resources to prompt the user earlier for which type of resource they are searching for to better constrain the search results
• Noted that the checkboxes for filtering resources should be single select radio buttons instead to indicate to users they get to select a single option
• Finished the first task very quickly without any problems but recommended to focus on adjusting the resources navigation to make it better guide the user through the search process
• Recommended to adjust the filtering for resources to prompt the user earlier for which type of resource they are searching for to better constrain the search results
• Noted that the checkboxes for filtering resources should be single select radio buttons instead to indicate to users they get to select a single option
Iterations and revisions
Through the feedback of the user tests I was able to iterate the application with the necessary changes to improve the usability of the application to accomplish the user goals.
Prototype Evolutions
BEFORE:
Resource Screen
Resource Screen
• The resource screen displayed if a resource was a profile match, the GPA requirement, paid or unpaid, and the application deadline.
• Resource screen maintained the chat button that was on other screens.
AFTER:
Resource Screen
Resource Screen
• The resources screen only displays if a resource is a profile match and the deadline to apply. The change to remove features is to help the users feel less overwhelmed while still receiving the important information.
• Removed the chat button on the resources page to replace it with a filter button to allow users to filter the information they want after their original search. This change allowed users to narrow their searches to find resources better fit per user.
BEFORE:
Resource Screen
Resource Screen
• Users could only filter what resource type they were searching for after searching for something.
• Resource screen maintained the “view bookmarks” button that was on other screens.
AFTER:
Resource Screen
Resource Screen
• Added a screen before you get to the search results that forces users to select the resource type they want to receive results for. This change helped constrain the users searches to be more specific to reduce the amount of time for each search.
• Removed the “view bookmarks” button on the resources page and replaced it with a back button to allow users to return to the previous screen they were on. This change was necessary to allow users to quickly go back to the resource type chosen on the previous screen and toggle between them.
BEFORE:
Filter Screen
Filter Screen
• To select a certain resource type to search for was shown as checkboxes.
AFTER:
Filter Screen
Filter Screen
• To select a specific resource type to search for is now shown as radio buttons. This change improved the functionality for users by communicating that only one resource type can be searched at a time.
Final thoughts
Successes
• Having a network of high school students to reach out to improved survey response results by quickly obtaining them.
• Taking user feedback to withdraw some of the original ideas helped maintain the MVP.
• Taking user feedback to withdraw some of the original ideas helped maintain the MVP.
Lessons Learned
• Constantly keep track of the MVP scope throughout the process to maintain
• Conduct more usability test in order to improve application functionality and accessibility
• Conduct more usability test in order to improve application functionality and accessibility
The future of Leap
A feature to compare resources against each other to allow users to prioritize which ones are more valuable to the them
Different account types
• Parent
To allow parents to view updates on applications to resources of a linked student account.
• University Faculty
To better inform students on information about their university or answer specific questions
• Mentor/Advisor
To give better direction and individualized answers to student questions
Different account types
• Parent
To allow parents to view updates on applications to resources of a linked student account.
• University Faculty
To better inform students on information about their university or answer specific questions
• Mentor/Advisor
To give better direction and individualized answers to student questions
Support more higher education resources other than universities/colleges
• Trade schools
• Bootcamps
Be able to let others view your applications before submitting them to receive feedback on possible revisions
