HandmadeStories
Case Study

E- Learning Web App Design

Overview


Nowadays there are some excellent online courses to learn everything from basic mathematics to complex programming, but creative fields are often overlooked. Hence, Introducing handmade stories, HS is a place for handcraft lovers to learn, be learn, create and connect with like-minded creatives. Through this app, craft enthusiasts will have access to handmade crafts, online hands-on courses, workshops, interact with creative communities and attend forums.

Goal

To build a digital learning platform app for creative handcrafts lovers to pursue their interests and learn handcrafts from around the world.

Timeline

5 weeks

Role

UI/UX Designer (Research, Persona, UI, Usability testing, Prototyping, Visual)

Tools

Figma, Quip, Miro, Zoom, Useberry

HMW


How might we create a seamless and hassle-free online learning experience for people who want to learn creative crafts around the world?

Target Audience

Handcraft enthusiast Age 18-45
Students, working professionals, homemakers around the globe

Jump To Hi-Fi Prototype

Research

I browsed through different apps in this niche and found out the following common design patterns:

Common Design Patterns:
• Course-specific discussion forum
• Downloadable video lectures
• Do not ask for a preferred interest
• Provide social proof and syllabus of course content
• Provide one(or a few) lessons for free
• Mandatory fees payment
• Skippable onboarding
• Pre-recorded lectures
• Payments are either Subscription-based or Course-based

User Interviews

I conducted some user interviews on understanding the creative crafts process and the need to learning online.

The main insights & findings from the interviews were:
• Very difficult to find authentic techniques learning videos or resources online
• There are very few app with courses for handcrafts
• Watching tutorial videos are helpful in short-term but not effective in the long run
• Miss being a part of handcrafts community since pandamic hit
• Even though existing platforms provide room for assignment but they don’t do discussions & feedback for the learners
• Tasks that do not have a deadline are going to continue forever.
• The best way to learn anything in this niche is by following the ‘Learn-Implement-Feedback-Improve’ loop

Ideation

Before proceeding to build the wireframes, I ideated and brainwriting to prioritized features for the app.

Persona

Based on my research and user interviews, I created a persona that represents the type of customer that this app will cater to and visualized various aspects of their behaviour, core needs and frustrations.

User Flow

With Zara's current web-app in mind, I began to structure out the necessary screens needed for Zara's customers in a User Flow using the following User Stories:
'With the coldest days of the year approaching, you’re thinking about buying a new sweater/ knitwear. You came here to check out what’s available and maybe make a purchase'

Wireframes

I began with sketching lo-fi wireframes to understand how the user would interact with them. I find it easier to get all my thoughts down on paper where I can interpret things more clearly. Further I iterated on the mid-fi wireframes for the app to come up with layouts that serve the essential features of those pages without hampering the user experience.

Usability Testing

Conducted usability testing on the lo-fi prototype to get quick feedback on the screen.
The results suggested 34% mis-clicks and some confusions to find courses in user flows.

Heatmaps

I used the Heat maps generated from the usability testing to see where users clicked, how far they scrolled, and overall, how they interacted with the site. This helped me understand how users naturally interacted with the site to further enhance the navigation patterns.

Task Flow

The task flow below demonstrated the high-level steps that users performed to get to a specific goal during the usability testing.

Re-iterating Wireframes

Based on the usability testing on the lo-fi prototype I re-iterated the wireframes and its flow to serve the user with more comfortable user experience.

Style Guide

Based on the visual meaning, I created a Style guide consisting of typography, grid, colors and interface elements that communicate the visual essence of the web app

Hi-Fi Prototype

Following multiple rounds of iterative design, I made changes based on usability test results to reach my current high-fidelity prototype:

Final Prototype

I used Figma prototyping feature to bring HandmadeStories app to life.

Moving Forward

Moving forward, my next steps are to:

Takeaways

There major learnings for me during this project were: