UX Design for
Parentsmate.in Website
Parentsmate.in is a responsive website from where users get all the necessary information about schools in any state / district / city. It gives all information including admission, fees, special activities, curriculum, results and ranking. It allows users to compare between schools and premium users can directly communicate with school authorities.
My Role
As the project requirement came in and I had a clear brief, I created the Empathy map. To start with I created Personas with their user stories and User Journey Map. I had ran Competitive Audit among all competitive websites available and created a report. I followed 'Crazy Eight' ideation process to create quick rough paper sketches of my ideas on the website. I created The Sitemap the website would have based on my research. I started with 4 paper wireframes and then picked best features and created one final wireframe for the home page. Based on that final one I created Digital Low-Fidelity Wireframes in Adobe XD. I had gone through Usability Study based on the Wireframes, created Affinity Diagram, Insight-Identification and Prioritized Insights. Based on the same I made necessary changes and created High-Fidelity Wireframes and then linked all tabs to present as Interactive mockups. I had another round of Usability Study and research to further checking the Usability Aspect of the App.
The Goal
To allow users to search about schools in any location. Website will give information about Admission process, Fees, Curriculum, Extra-Curricular Activities, Faculties, Results, Ranking and many more. Most interesting part is premium uses of the website will be able to communicate with the school representatives directly, hence they can access any information which is not shared on the website.
Target Audience
As client focusing all major cities in India initially, the target audience will be parents in almost all major cities in all states who are having kids supposed to be admitted in schools or looking for a school change. We are also targeting those parents who has a geological location change due to job change or any other reason and want to admit their kids in a new school in the new city may be in the mid term.
RESEARCH
The Personas
To kickoff the project, I did a survey with a group of 6 people with diverse backgrounds and ages to empathize the frustrations they had and the goals they want to achieve when they wanted to admit their kids in the schools. From there I created 2 unique personas which represent groups of users that share similar needs, problems and thinking.
The Competitive audit
In order to know what could make this website dominate the existing ones on the market, I selected 3 different websites to analyze their strengths and weaknesses. Out of 3 companies:
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2 are direct competitors, meaning they offer very similar services to the same user base (they have only websites which provides information about city based schools only)
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1 is indirect competitor, meaning they offer fairly similar services to different user base (they have informative websites as well as they have their own chain of schools)
By identifying the gaps between the competitors, I could transform them into the opportunities that help Parentsmate.in stand out
DESIGN — TEST — ITERATE
Paper Wireframes
The design phase comprised of many drawing sessions, with both hand-drawn sketches and digital drawings in Figma. First I started wireframing 5 layout options for each screen. Thereafter the more visually appealing elements (star marks) were selected and combined into the “Final” sketches.
Paper Wireframes for Responsive Layouts
Digital wireframes &
Lo-fi prototypes
The design phase comprised of many drawing sessions, with both hand-drawn sketches and digital drawings in Figma. First I started wireframing 5 layout options for each screen. Thereafter the more visually appealing elements (star marks) were selected and combined into the “Final” sketches.
Affinity diagram for 'parentsmate.in'
Testing & Refining designs
In order to get feedback for the early concepts, I conducted an unmoderated usability study with a group of 5 people between the ages 30 and 55 by asking them to perform some tasks on my low fidelity prototype and to point out what was easy and challenging while using it.
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Then I grouped the feedback into 4 main categories: Useful, Getting Started, Tone, Confusion..
Prioritized Insights
Afterwards I came up with the actionable insights and iterated the digital wireframes as well as the low fidelity prototypes.
Priority
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Based on the theme that: Participants have suggested for a common search, an insight is: A search icon is added for instant search.
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Based on the theme that: Participants were confused for subscription plan, an insight is: Two subscription plans introduced in the subscription page.
Priority
1
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Based on the theme that: Participants were confused as schools could not be bookmarked, an insight is: From search result, schools can have an option for bookmarked.
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Based on the theme that: Participants asked if we can check all bookmarked schools from one place, an insight is: We can add a tab called ‘Bookmarkd schoos’ under My profile.
Priority
2
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Based on the theme that: Participants were confused if the search / search result can be saved under my profile, an insight is: Search history can be saved with searched parameters and respective dates.
Common 'Search' icon and functionality added
Revised Wireframes
Multiple 'Subscription' plans added as per prioritized insights
'Bookmarked Schools' tabs added in the My Account section
Mockups & Hi-fi prototypes
After modifying the digital wireframes and low fidelity prototypes I started designing the mockups and high fidelity prototypes. The whole process of selecting color palette, drawing logos, buttons, header, arranging visual elements, searching for illustrations to support my ideas was time-consuming, but it was a worthwhile investment of time and energy.