better school choice

flatiron school

ux/ui product design bootcamp

parenting is already hard
searching for a school should be easy

Parents often face a fragmented and overwhelming school search process, relying on scattered data and part-time efforts. The goal was to create a unified platform that streamlines this journey, making it more efficient and less stressful.


Better School Choice enters with the goal to alleviate these challenges by carving a niche corner of the current marketplace at the intersection of community engagement and informative school searches. The platform offers parents a robust school search database, the ability to schedule tours and on-site meetings, connect with other parents, faculty members, and academic professionals for their insights, while joining communities of other parents in their child’s school.


As the UX/UI Designer, Researcher, and Writer I synthesized raw data and leveraged it to design the Better School Choice app that tested well with parents who are currently in the midst of the school search.

introduction

Role

UX/UI Designer, Researcher, & Writer

Tools

Figma, User Interviews, Prototyping, UX Writing

Objective

Design an intuitive platform to assist parents in finding the right school for their children.

Dec. 2023 - April 2024

Timeline

Client

Better School Choice (Flatiron School Case Study)

research & insights

  • Community Importance: Parents prioritize schools that offer a collaborative environment for long-term success.

  • Value of Opinions: Insights from other parents, faculty, and school admissions are highly valued.

  • Early Start: The school search often begins well before a child is ready to attend, typically taking close to a year.

  • Desire for Connection: Parents seek a product that not only aids in the school search but also connects them with other parents for feedback.

Through analyzing provided interview transcripts, several key insights emerged:


I extrapolated the following key takeaways:

competitive analysis

  • Strengths: Competitors offered a secondary real estate function, but evidence showed our target users had no desire to relocate.

  • Weaknesses: Competitors’ platforms lacked key community engagement features.

  • Opportunities: Integrating multimedia content and community forums

  • Threats: Entering an already saturated field without differentiation.

With a better understanding of our target audience, we used the SWOT (Strength, Weakness, Opportunities, Threat) method to identify how competitors service or address their needs. From five of the top marketshare holders we uncovered the following:

the design process

ideation & user flow

I began my design process by sketching user flows using the Crazy 8 Method. My goal was to ensure a seamless experience from start to finish, focusing on the number 1 need to have features: search for schools, connect with schools, and schedule tours with the schools. The secondary function was the community aspect; connecting with faculty and other parents.

prototyping

After landing on a user flow I believed to best serve my target audience, I designed interactive prototypes on Figma to visualize the user journey and gather feedback during usability testing.

usability testing

I recruited five couples with children currently undergoing the school search. Success metrics included:

  • Completing tasks in 15 seconds or less.

  • Finishing tasks in less than 5 clicks

  • Experience no more than 3 unhappy paths

The result:

  • Majority of users (90%) tested well below the clicks and time of completion for their tasks.

  • Testers liked the familiar layout and design of the product.

  • They found it easy to complete tasks because the home page had everything they required to find schools and other users.

high fidelity design

With the users testing well, the design remain the same, the final design emphasized:

  • Community Focus: Highlighting parent ratings and community insights

  • Personalization: Allowing users to set criteria and compare schools against them

  • Concise Copy: Implementing clear and informative language with all copy under 280 characters to facilitate quick reading and decision-making

reflections

The best lesson I learned throughout this case study was trusting the user. With so many of life’s stressors bearing down on us, we often don’t want to add any extra brainpower to tasks.

However, one note stood out to me during the user test process. How would I redesign this product so that the school search function was front and center? At the moment, a user would have to click on the search bar in the main navigation and type in their parameters. Alternatively, they can view a list of schools and users from the side navigation cards. But what if the product opened to just the search function, leaving the connectivity functions as secondary?

With enough time, I believe I could come up with a redesign that works well to that note. For now, I walk away from this project with the utmost respect for the people I create these solutions for. By listening to them, the design comes forth with no extra added effort.