The Brilliant Club (TBC) is a UK non-profit organisation aiming to widen university access for students from underrepresented groups.
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Problem statement:
How can we keep students engaged in our program to improve their chances of getting into a top university?
Users and audience:
Four types of users: younger pupils (11-14 years), older pupils (15-17 years), tutors, and teachers.
Roles and responsibilities:
The team consisted of a front-end developer, a back-end developer, the head of digital, a project manager, and myself in charge of the UX/UI design.
The scope:
The goal was to build a more inclusive, mobile-first educational platform that was light, engaging, and gamified. Budget constraints forced us to change our scope, resulting in an MVP to improve the platform for both students and tutors.
The process:
•Research Analysis and Persona Creation Sessions
•UI Design and Design System Creation
•Interaction Design
•User Testing
Outcomes and lessons learned
User testing feedback was overwhelmingly positive, and a Content Designer and developers are currently working on the project. The VLE is set to launch by the end of June 2022.
Things that I would do better next time
Perspective Grid
To better understand the customer's goals and barriers, I should have held a workshop or created a collaborative perspective grid. This would have provided me with the necessary information to map the customer journey in a more concrete way. Without this step, communication was hindered, and I had to work extra hard to explain certain aspects of usability.
Documenting Design Decisions
In the future, I need to document design decisions in a more structured way so that I can explain to stakeholders why I chose one thing over another. One of my weaknesses is that I work intuitively, and I need to make these decisions more consciously. This makes explaining my process to others difficult at times. I am working on this aspect.
Agreeing on Ownership of the User Testing
When my contract was ending, the client mentioned running the user testing without my assistance. However, their plan didn’t seem very effective to me. I knew I had to offer my help to ensure the best possible outcome. So I proposed some revisions, which took quite a lot of time.
Feedback after implementation shared with me by The Brilliant Club
“I have to say that The Hub is already a huge improvement on the old VLE. The students certainly seem to be coping with it much better.I have worked through many different versions of the VLE/Hub and this one seems very intuitive and easy to use.” (Tutor)
“ It is really easy to use and i think it is laid out so that everything is really easy to access ” (Pupil)
“ The hub seems accessible and it is laid out well in useful manner…linking back to what I said earlier, empowers the user. Overall, it is very well laid out and it is amazingly useful.” (Pupil)
"Anna was a delight to work with - open, conscientious, and communicative. She helped us to design a more inclusive, mobile-first version of our pupil-facing platform, taking into account the findings of a recent user research report. I really look forward to working with her again!"
Nikki Labrum, Tech & Product Director at The Brilliant Club
