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User Research & Design
UPSKLS.
Improving student referrals & engagement
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Overview
Client
UPSKLS ("UP - SKILLS")
Role
UX Research & Design
Timeline
3 Week Design Sprint
Tools
Figma, Adobe Illustrator
Challenge
UPSKLS is a small startup that matches students with short-term (5-20 total hours) paid project work. UPSKLS wanted us to explore ways we could increase both student engagement and referrals. An added challenge was how strict our technical constraints were-- UPSKLS did not have a mobile application and also wanted us to steer away from website solutions
Solution: Gamified Email Images
Given UPSKLS limited infrastructure, we concluded that automated images sent out at various points during the UPSKLS journey would help keep students engaged, improve referral rates.
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Approach: Locating "Trigger Points" within the Journey
The biggest challenge of this project was having no clue what our potential solutions would be because of how strict our technical constraints were. We agreed that a detailed journey map would be an effective tool to help us ideate solutions. Once we mapped out the journey, our strategy was to find ways to capitalize on when user experience is highest (and students are more likely to share) or help improve user experience when it's lowest (to increase the chance students are willing to refer). To fill out our journey map we interview 9 UPSKLS students to learn about their UPSKLS experience.
Research
Users found project work tedious
A majority of the students at one point during the project work felt frustrated with how tedious the work was.
The projects didn't feel significant
Although they valued the the experience, many students didn't feel that one project was worth sharing with their peers.
Motivated by experience & money
Despite the tedious work, students were willing to do more projects because of the pay and potential work experience.
Interview insights
Mapping Out the UPSKLS Experience
Support and Encourage
Find ways to support and encourage users because they are most vulnerable when they are working on their project.
Emphasize the Bigger Picture
Emphasize the “bigger picture” of gaining experience rather than just the project itself may improve student engagement
Celebrate!
Getting the user excited they just finished the project may encourage them to share, or be motivated to start another project
Key opportunities
As mentioned before, we strategized that journey mapping would be our main research tool in helping us ideate solutions. With all the interview insights synthesized, we took our research and filled out our journey map. We then defined key opportunities in each phase that would help us ideate solutions.
Ideation Approach: Quantity Over Quality
To make sure we were within our technological constraints we used a framework of generating ideas based off the opportunities + technology uncovered in our journey map. We went with a quantity over quality approach in case some of the solutions ended up not actionable enough. Thus, instead of making robust sketches, we created rough concept sketches where the goal was to just focus on getting our ideas out to discuss later with our stakeholders.
Ideation
Client Collaboration Part 1: Presenting Solutions
To get feedback and see which solution our stakeholders were interested in, we presented our solutions and discussed the potential impact as well as "effort vs value". After discussion, our stakeholders eventually ended up being most interested in gamification. We concluded that automated images which gamified the UPSKLS experience would be the most effective solution given UPSKLS current infrastructure.
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After our stakeholders chose their favorite solution (gamification), we discussed as a group of how we could incorporate gamification within the UPSKS experience. To generate design ideas, we had a remote workshop where we looked at various applications to see all the potential ways we could gamify the UPSKS experience. Below are some ideas we discussed:
Client Collaboration Part 2: Gamification Workshop
Duo Lingo
Progress Wheels
Progress wheels can keep students engaged by showing them how close they are to their goal.
Lyft
Badges
Badges are a good way to show all the skills students have earned and can serve as rewards as well.
Fitbit
Yelp
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Overall Progress
Showing overall progress can remind students of all the hard work they've completed.
Checklists
Checklists could be used as a way to let students see the light at the end of the tunnel.
Design
Creating Wireframe Templates
We held a remote design Studio in Figma where we all created block sketches / low fidelity wireframes and shared our ideas. In the end, we decided to create two templates. One could be used for showcasing a users overall achievements and the other as a checklist while a student is in a project. Creating these templates allowed for flexibility when going into high fidelity and would allow UPSKLS to easily create new images based on their future needs.
Template #1
Overall Summary
Gamify the students overall UPSKLS progress. Seeing the culmination of experience, earnings, and different skills will have more significance and increase chances students share.
Template #2
Checklist During Project
Gamify a single project by breaking it down into a checklist, this lets users feel supported during their project and lets them see the light at the end of the tunnel.
Outcomes: Final Deliverables & Handoff
After finishing our final designs, we had one last client meeting where we presented our final designs and explained the potential impact of each design. After, we handed off our Figma file consisting of all the different templates they could use to make new images. We also discussed more ideas they could potentially explore in the future. UPSKLS was very happy with the final designs and would get to implementing the solution!
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Overall Summary
Total Progress Report
Showcasing user's total projects, earnings, hours and badges is more "worthy" of sharing compared to one project itself.
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Single Project
Sent After First Check-In
Students are most vulnerable during this phase of their journey. Find ways to support and encourage the students to improve the chances they share UPSKLS .
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Single Project
Sent After Project Completion
Students felt a sense of relief and accomplishment immediately post-project. Get the student excited they just finished!
Single Project
Sent During Payment Processing
Students don't think one project is a significant achievement. Emphasize the valuable experience they can put on their LinkedIn / resume.
Reflection.
At first, we all felt very lost and discouraged when we realized how strict our technological constraints were, and had no inkling of what our potential solutions could be. This project really showed me how powerful the UX process is and how effective certain UX research tools can be (in this case, Journey mapping) when used effectively. Also, Having constant communication with stakeholders and keeping them involved helped us ideate more ideas and improve our designs. This ended up being one of my favorite projects thus far given our unique solution and how enjoyable the team was to work with.
Thank you, UPSKLS!
Reflection
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