About Amotions

A B2B and B2C platform with over 15 coaches helping 1K managers and team members learn soft skills.

Amotions wants to develop a dashboard where customers can learn skills, receive coaching, watch educational content, and track progress. They want to offer customers a personalized experience rather than a static GoDaddy website, which the company had before my arrival.

My Role

MVP's main feature: designing a dashboard for learning soft skills.

As the first designer hired to work on the dashboard, I set the UX standards in the company. From synthesizing existing research to designing the MVP's primary feature: the soft skill practice flow, my work was instrumental to the start-up's earlier days and enabled future growth.

User Research

Managers and executives want a catered learning approach.

To understand the customer, I analyzed the interview notes of 5 managers and other executives and created an affinity map to formulate a persona that reflected the research.

Flow Diagram

The skill practice flow diagram revealed core functionalities.

I collaborated with the team to create a flow chart based on the product’s specs and to ensure I was on the same page as everyone else.

Sketching

Brainstorming generated ideas for the flow.

The Challenge

3 rounds of design critiques saw the initial mockups change without addressing the problem.

Most of the team’s feedback was on the practice homepage. Despite defending my design choices and iterating a lot, I wasn’t progressing.

Cause & Resolution

After adjusting communication methods, the problem was solved.

Instead of understanding the root cause of statements like “I think that’s awkward” and “It needs to look better,” I assumed I knew what the team was thinking, and it caused me to go on tangents, trapping me in a cycle.

I had 3 weeks left to deliver my final designs for the MVP launch in mid-August. I quickly broke the cycle by asking follow-up and clarifying questions in the following design critique.

Journey Mapping

The critique was framed around simulating managers' pain points.

Although understanding each team member’s thoughts was a starting point, I realized we might lose sight of the customer. Unfortunately, I faced customer feedback restrictions. So, I walked through my mockups with the team using the persona as a proxy.

Ideation

Critique insights led to information hierarchy and Hick's law usage.

I put my attention on the practice home. I kept the UI simple by using 2-3 font sizes and not overwhelming the user with too many images and interactions. Initially, I experimented with the layout by imagining that the user had only selected one skill.

The Prototype

The final designs were delivered 1 week earlier than expected!

Design System

A design system created a smooth development process.

From colors and fonts to buttons and text fields, I wanted to be as comprehensive as possible so the development team could focus on coding the product.

Usability Testing

Post-MVP launch: tested with 12 customers and made 2 iterations.

Practice set titles were longer and messier than expected. As a result, I created a more flexible layout that will allow for lengthier titles. The back button was also redundant, so I implemented breadcrumbs for greater navigation efficiency.

Results

After 2 weeks, user retention rose by 400%.

Due to better product navigation, customers could view more content, prompting more interest in the company. Thus, there were 15 more customers who became daily visitors, adding to the 5 people who were already regulars.

Responsive Design

Mobile mockups lightened the development team’s workload.

I showcased the desktop version of the product because the company knows most customers would use the platform on a personal computer.

Reflections

Overcoming design critiques requires understanding and communication, not assumptions.

I needed to be open and speak up if the feedback caused me to assume. Additionally, I was surprised and worried about the low user input during the project. Only towards the end were my designs seen by people outside the company. Not all processes are as rigid as what I’ve learned in university.