Role
Product Designer
ObjectiveImplementing multiple new products into the Crossplatform Datacamp apps, providing more value to the learning experience and certifying users ready for employment in Data Science.
Research Methods
Research Methods
Competitor audit, persona study, analytics review, A/B testing, accessibility audit, user interviews, & prototype testing
The Team
Head of Design, 2 Designers, 2 Project Managers, Head of Engineering and 3 Developers
How I helped
I worked with E-Learning Platform Datacamp to launch no coding required which allows any skill level to begin learning. As well lots of other exciting and rewarding features on the desktop & app experience.
The service has over 2 million downloads and a very large userbase with an excellent median score, so our design decisions were critical when pushing new build updates.
The app, just like the desktop experience used a very organised and functional design system within Figma, using these components and sometimes creating new ones which we researched, brainstormed and validated (using quantitate and qualitative testing) new feature sets that we can design and build relatively quickly.
The service has over 2 million downloads and a very large userbase with an excellent median score, so our design decisions were critical when pushing new build updates.
The app, just like the desktop experience used a very organised and functional design system within Figma, using these components and sometimes creating new ones which we researched, brainstormed and validated (using quantitate and qualitative testing) new feature sets that we can design and build relatively quickly.
Auditing the e-learning sector to understand how we can further push the product and create value for users
The online education sector is truly massive and one that has been around a very long time. Even myself being a prominent user of it back in mid 00's, one example being the design education site Envato Tuts+ which allowed me to be here today as a professional. So as you can imagine, it was an overwhelming task to audit this sector.
However, we dug right in and concentrated on the relevant area of data science. There were several apps and websites we really liked and disected the pro's and con's of. However, interestingly when we spawned out of data science, we noticed we loved the way practice was integrated into duolingo, a language learning platform. The truly impeccable intricacy of this service allowed us to spawn several ideas on how to improve our products experience.
However, we dug right in and concentrated on the relevant area of data science. There were several apps and websites we really liked and disected the pro's and con's of. However, interestingly when we spawned out of data science, we noticed we loved the way practice was integrated into duolingo, a language learning platform. The truly impeccable intricacy of this service allowed us to spawn several ideas on how to improve our products experience.
Insights Summary 💡
Practicing: All platforms offer some form of practice, with varying degrees of detail.
Community: Most platforms (except QPython and LearnPython) have some form of community interaction.
Certification: Coursera, Udemy, and Sololearn offer certification, usually tied to completing courses.
Jobs Board: None of the platforms provide a dedicated jobs board.
No Coding Required: Brilliant and Coursera can cater to users with no prior coding experience.
Desktop & Mobile: All platforms are accessible on both desktop and mobile, though QPython and Enki are primarily mobile-focused.
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Running ideation sessions to generate new solutions & building personas through collaborative whiteboarding
Consistently working very close with the PM, we continued to ideate and improve the overall experience in the app to increase productivity for the user. Using some data we gathered from persona workshops, shown in the examples below we streamlined the way flashcards and practicing works to constantly to keep the user on their toes and really aid their learning progress.
We also refined and simplified how questions are displayed, answers are selected and images are viewed.
We also refined and simplified how questions are displayed, answers are selected and images are viewed.
Once we synthesised enough insights from our user research sessions during discovery, I began wireframing in low & high fidelity to quickly craft potential solutions matching our assumptions.
Throughout this process, collaboration and iteration occur, refining the wireframes based on feedback from the PM and Head of Design.
At Datacamp I worked cross-platform, lead design on the native app experience & supporting design on the desktop experience. This gave me the confidence to really understand the users.
User testing our Prototypes and iterating the Design System
We created very detailed clickable prototypes using Figma, which we pushed into moderated user testing which we performed on a handful of existing Datacamp users, asking them the benefits, the cons and the overall pain points. We continued to iterate the designs to production level and worked very closely with the engineers to integrate any new components into the design system and made sure all is flawless once our work was live on the stores.
Conclusion & Project Handoff
During my final few weeks at Datacamp I was tasked in finally merging the popular workspace product into the app. I explored many routes and designs in making this a seamless transition whilst continuously keeping in mind my screen estate constraints. We worked very lean and managed to ship a simpler but still highly functional port of workspace and even had a chance to introduce unique ideas such as remixing code as shown below.
No coding required, practice with flashcards and workspaces are now thriving on the app.
We created very detailed clickable prototypes using Figma, which we pushed into moderated user testing which we performed on a handful of existing Datacamp users, asking them the benefits, the cons and the overall pain points. We continued to iterate the designs to production level and worked very closely with the engineers to integrate any new components into the design system and made sure all is flawless once our work was live on the stores.
Conclusion & Project Handoff
During my final few weeks at Datacamp I was tasked in finally merging the popular workspace product into the app. I explored many routes and designs in making this a seamless transition whilst continuously keeping in mind my screen estate constraints. We worked very lean and managed to ship a simpler but still highly functional port of workspace and even had a chance to introduce unique ideas such as remixing code as shown below.
No coding required, practice with flashcards and workspaces are now thriving on the app.
The challenges I overcame
With Datacamp each feature had it's own unique challenges in which we had to hurdle through. For example for no coding required it was establishing an entry point to get a very beginner customer confident enough to sign up and start learning. We drew up many solutions as to how this could work.
Another challenge was when I joined Datacamp the app had some moderate consistency issues with it's user experience, I spent a substantial amount of time in ideation and liaising with the engineers in bringing a recognisable structure that not only improves the UX but also makes the design system highly efficient and manageable during development.
With Datacamp each feature had it's own unique challenges in which we had to hurdle through. For example for no coding required it was establishing an entry point to get a very beginner customer confident enough to sign up and start learning. We drew up many solutions as to how this could work.
Another challenge was when I joined Datacamp the app had some moderate consistency issues with it's user experience, I spent a substantial amount of time in ideation and liaising with the engineers in bringing a recognisable structure that not only improves the UX but also makes the design system highly efficient and manageable during development.
The Impact
✓ Increased engagement & subscription with users who don't know any code
✓ Signups in the 1000s for competitions
✓ Flashcard learning received overwhelming positivity from users
✓ Workspaces engagement is in the 10's of thousands
✓ Datacamp Certified users are now getting employed using the product
✓ Signups in the 1000s for competitions
✓ Flashcard learning received overwhelming positivity from users
✓ Workspaces engagement is in the 10's of thousands
✓ Datacamp Certified users are now getting employed using the product