Improving User Experience for digital study books platform

User Research, UX

Design problem

Case brief

Lix platform aims to help students stay on track with the books for their studies by providing a subscription based service, that keeps all the books in one place.

Target audience: students studying different programs in different universities.

Tasks

  • Investigate and identify dilemmas that students face in studying and in their study life.
  • Prioritise and addresses identified dilemmas.

Prototype

Clickable prototype created during this project can be found online on Figma platform.

Users

“Sometimes it is good for me to study here at the library, because I think I’m very productive when I’m here. It’s because when I’m watching all the other students studying it inspires me. It makes me study as them.” (Interview)

“I do what I call it weekly reporting, where I spend two hours every Sunday lookingthrough all of my email, all of the social media networks, to see if there’s anything I’ve missed. I would plan out my calendar for that week, so I know precisely where I need to be when, what tasks I need to do in order to be prepared for those things and then know how to allocate time what is free.” (Interview)

Addressed pain-points

  • Time management
  • Content organizing

User research

Insights were gathered using qualitative and quantitative research methods. Findings from user interviews were supported by data collected from online survey and desk research.

Design process

The mental model is one of the main tools used during the design process. It was build based on outcomes from conducted user research, focused on students perceptions and attitudes in relation to their pain-points.

Based on the extreme attitudes and behavioural patterns revealed by the mental model and the insights from research, two user personas were created:

  • Karen is the over achieving student, who is always conscious and trying to be fully prepared for her studies
  • Joel is the skimmer student, who seeks to focus only on the essential part needed to pass.

Solution

Motivating students to complete their readings on time by highlighting their progress and allowing to compare it with the progress of other students in the study group.

Social pressure & social proof

“Prime users to do what you want by showing how other people have already done that thing”. (Chris Nodder, Evil by Design, 2013)

Semester overview screen

 Usability

Progress bar showing estimated time left to finish their reading is helping students to manage their time more accurately.

Book view with progress bar