Lido Learning - Quiz Redesign

Helping the e-learning startup, Lido Learning, compete in a competitive market and improve the learning outcomes of 5th-8th grade students by designing a more engaging and motivational quiz feature.

OVERVIEW

CLIENT
Lido Learning

MY ROLE
UX/UI Design Intern, Researcher, UX Strategist

TEAM MEMBERS
Chief Strategy Officer

TIMELINE
2 weeks

TOOLS
Figma, Excel

BACKGROUND
Lido Learning is an e-learning startup for 5th-8th grade students in India founded in 2019 that is thriving in a competitive market. Their personalized and adaptive learning paths make their platform unique, but are looking for strategies to increase their growth in 2020. I ran an extensive competitive analysis and heuristic evaluation to discover their quiz feature received less than 10% of overall engagement on the platform and had an inferior user experience compared to their competitors.

SOLUTION
Following a design audit of their platform and secondary research on engaging learning experiences for kids and young teenagers, I redesigned the Lido quiz feature to have the best experience in the market and improve learning outcomes of students.

SOLUTION OVERVIEW

Redesign a more engaging and encouraging quiz feature

To solve a complex design problem in a relatively short timeframe, I decided to focus on the areas where I can make the most impact with the least effort, for me and for the development team. In this redesign, I made usability and engagement improvements in the follow areas:

Added small features and gamification to provide encouragement and assistance when students perform poorly.
Increased clarity around actionable elements and quiz results.
Improved accessibility for the visually impaired by updating icons, colors, and styles.

PROCESS

RESEARCH & ANALYSIS

Competitive analysis revealed a unique value proposition, but a lackluster user experience shadowed by some of Lido's competitors.

View the full competitive analysis here.

Analysis of user interviews and testing revealed lack of engagement with Lido's quiz feature and students being discouraged by poor performance.

Reviewing previous user interviews, parents noted how their kids would feel discouraged or "give up after getting a question wrong or not understanding a concept the first time."
Analytics revealed that less than half of students take advantage of the practice quizzes. Of those students, only 10% complete the quizzes.

Lido is a startup in the rapid growth phase, looking to maximize leads and conversions by implementing a freemium model. Their primary KPI (and mission) is the learning outcome of their students, believing that with improved performance and understanding of concepts, they can attract and maintain students to their platform. With this in mind, I decided to focus on their quiz feature where enhancements could help them meet this goal and remain competitive in the market.

Secondary Research

There is various literature on the psychology of learning that reveal people are more motivated by intrinsic rewards than extrinsic rewards, as well as progress, mastery, and gamification. Understanding these behaviors, I used it to inform the criteria of my design audit.

Heuristic Analysis

I was brought onto the project like a blank sheet of paper, which gave me the advantage that I could interact with Lido's platform as a first-time user. As I explored Lido, I listed out the areas I had a hard time interacting with in addition to potential usability issues and areas in the experience where encouragement could be added or improved. My criteria was based on Jakob Nielson's usability hueristics as well as the level of encouragement and support the quizzes provide.

DESIGN

Insight 1: Lack of consistency and an accessible design.

Depending on the question-answer type (True/False or multiple choice), symbols may or may not appear indicating the correct or incorrect answer selections. This may confuse some users and present issues to those who are color blind, where text and symbols are needed to make this information clear.

Solution: Create consistency in answer feedback and add texts and symbols.

Insight 2: Lack of encouraging features and feedback.

Studies like this one show that using red to grade and mark incorrect answers can be discouraging to students, inducing a negative emotional response. Additionally, there is a lack of assistance to help students understand what they got wrong and any motivational features to encourage them to complete the quiz.

Solution: Gamify quiz experience with levels, animations, and improved feedback.

Insight 3: Poor page navigation and labeling leads to ambiguity and confusion.

Solution: Improve navigation with clear text and change placement of UI elememts.

RETROSPECTIVE

This was my first project with a real-world client and an amazing learning experience. The product team was working at a rapid pace and with limited resources, so further user interviews and usability testing were unfortunately removed from my process. One of the challenges was the conflicting timezones between India and the US which made collaboration difficult at times when feedback and responses could not be the same day. Thinking ahead, planning the meeting agendas, and further focus on preparation before our weekly meetings ensured I maximized the value of the short time spent communicating each week so I could rapidly design and deliver.

Next Steps

At this point in the project, my internship had ended. If I were to continue the project, the next phase would be to review the analytics to follow performance of the redesign after its launch. Ideally, user testing would have taken place first before an initial launch, but Lido is a lean and fast startup that was not prioritizing user testing. I plan on checking in with my point of contact to gather performance information from her so that I may learn more about the strengths and weaknesses of the redesigns.

Measuring Success

The goal of this redesign was to make a more engaging and motivational quiz feature. Important metrics to follow will be quiz completion, the ratio of students on the platform vs those who attempt at least one quiz, and if they interact with the features that help them learn (choosing to view answer explanations and recommended content at the end of the quiz) in order to gauge increased motivation to continue learning.

Takeaways

When usability tests are not an option, it is still possible to ensure a minimally usable experience by following established usability guidelines.

Always think ahead so that you can bring up questions sooner, before you even know if you need them answered yet, especially when dealing with slow response times.

Let's work together.

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