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Marivelle Solanzo

MS

Flash Vocab

Challenge: Empower people to learn new vocabulary

Duration: 1 month

Role: UX Designer

Tools: Pen + Paper, Marvel

Design Process

01

Discover

Competitive Analysis 

02

Conduct Research

Interviews

03

Ideate

User Personas

User Stories

User Flow

04

Prototype

Wireframes

Usability Testing

05

Reflect

Next Steps

Learnings

01

Discover

Competitive Analysis 

Vocabulary Builder

  • Geared toward users who are studying for standardized exams and English learners

  • Multiple choice questions, mirroring standardized test questions

  • If the user guesses incorrectly, you’ll have to try to guess it correctly until it’s ingrained in your head

  • Onboarding is quick and simple

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Opportunities 

Overall, look and feel can be more engaging. Adding more colors and exciting content will make it more interesting and captivating. Adding samples of standardized tests can help give users an overview of what to expect to help better prepare.

Money Taps

  • The app is made for most users with different backgrounds, whether you’re in school or wanting to learn a few vocab words daily.

  • Personalizable - customize the theme of the app to your liking

  • The general look and feel of the app is attractive

  • Onboarding is quick and simple - users can go straight to learning 

  • One swipe feature functionality makes it intuitive

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Opportunities 

Have the definition of the word hidden so that the answer isn’t with the word. There should be a way for the user to test their knowledge and track their progress.

Word Up

  • Have multiple definition examples

  • The app is engaging- use songs and television show to reference definitions of a word.

  • Users can set a learning goal and daily reminders.

Opportunities 

There is a lot of media that could cause users to lose focus. The app is overloaded with so much media that it freezes, and the user would have to close the app to restart it. I believe that it could be a make-or-break decision on whether the user would continue to use it. If the app doesn’t work, then I’d go hunting for another app that will work.

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03

Ideate

User Persona, User Stories, User Flow

User Persona

 

I created a persona based on my interviews: Pam Beasley, a 29-year-old working professional and student. She is a hard worker and wants to advance in her career. She works full time in human resources and constantly studies on her breaks for her project management course.

Pain points:

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  • She finds herself lost and confused when she doesn’t understand the jargon in the workplace.

  • Studying is more challenging if she can’t write it out and paraphrase it in her own words.

  • She doesn’t feel tech-savvy and doesn’t have a lot of patience for technology.

Needs and Goals:

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  • Quickly reference new jargon in the workplace.

  • Easy access to school lectures and readings to be able to study on the go

  • Needs more context and examples when learning new vocabulary 

  • Easy to use and aesthetically pleasing app to motivate engagement

To focus on what Pam needs, I created user stories:

“As a student, I want to be able to have easy access to lectures and readings so that I can study on the go.”
“As someone who is very visual, I want more context and examples when learning new vocabulary  so that I can incorporate them in daily vocabulary.”
“As a working professional who works with multiple teams, I want a way to quickly reference jargon so that I can help people get situated in the workplace.”

Task Analysis

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  • Open app

  • Onboarding

  • Login/Sign-in

  • Homepage

  • Select which flashcard set to study

  • Tap card to flip to view definition and tap again to flip back

  • Swipe up to view the next flashcard

  • Go through the flashcard set and study

After determining what pam needs, I need to think of the tasks she will be completing to accomplish her goals. One main task that she will need to do is study her flashcard set. I created a user flow to see how pam would accomplish a task.

04

Prototype

Wireframes, Usability Testing

Wireframing

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Jumping into the ideation phase, I start sketching out the tasks for my app.

I use pen and paper to brainstorm and iterate quickly. I draw inspiration from apps I conducted a competitive analysis.

Iteration 1

Onboarding

Create new flash card deck + Study

Iteration 2

Onboarding shows a tutorial on how to use the flashcard feature along with setting reminders

Create a flashcard deck - where users can create a deck for multiple subjects and add the term and definition. 

Study and learn new vocabulary words - users can use the flashcard feature for learning and studying. Users are able to hear the pronunciation, and see examples for each word.

Usability Testing

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I conduct usability testing with 3 participants, and each session is about 10-15min each using the Marvel prototyping app. The learning goals for this phase are to test whether participants can understand onboarding, create and study a new flashcard deck, and learn different contexts of word definitions.

Key Issues discovered during testing:

  • Task 1

    • The Flashcard feature in onboarding is confusing  

  • Task 2

    • Having both a “title” and “add folder” label is redundant 

    • Bottom navigation isn’t apparent to the participant 

  • Task 4

    • The word “examples” is misleading

    • The placement of the back button is off

    • The participant instinctively clicks the pronunciation button before the examples button.

Revisions

I changed the process of creating a new deck & added the “Subject” label.

Removed card display that caused confusion

Prototype

05

Reflection

Next Steps, Learnings

Next Steps

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I will continue to iterate and test new wireframes. I plan on learning how to use a design tool to create medium and high-fidelity wireframes. I want to add a login screen and more engaging content.

Learnings

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  • Don’t fixate on sketches.

    • At one point, I was fixated on my sketches and got stuck. I learned how important it is to dedicate a few minutes to work on this phase of the process. What helped me get unstuck was knowing that it’s okay to draw inspiration from similar apps and how they wireframed their pages. I worried about not being “innovative,” but that shouldn’t matter. What matters is creating a good experience for the users. 

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  • Empathy and organization is key to analyzing data.

    • Looking at all the data from the interviews was overwhelming, and I wasn’t sure how to analyze it. While I was creating my user persona, I based it only on one user interview. It was hard finding the connection between the user research and user personas. It is okay to start with one interview to give you direction, but I quickly learned that I shouldn’t ignore the rest. This is a process that takes time. Taking each statement from the interviewees and categorizing them into groups of what users are thinking, feeling, and frustrated is what helped me organize and analyze the data.

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  • Feedback is vital to great UX.

    • User testing helps improve user experience, and being open to constructive feedback is essential. It’s important to set your ego aside when picking out the errors in your design because it is not about you. It will always be about the user experience. , It helps point out the weaknesses in your designs and 

Thank you for reading!

02

Conduct Research

Interviews

I sought to interview users on their behaviors, motivations, and pain points when learning new vocabulary.

I wanted to learn specifically about people’s learning styles and methods, how people study, and the tools they use. 

 

I interviewed 4 participants in person, and each interview was about 30 min. I was looking for currently enrolled participants in school, college, master’s, vocational, or a Bootcamp. 

 

I organized all the data using the “Doing,” “Thinking,” and “Feeling” method.

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