Improving visual hierarchy in EdTech Dashboards and overall Design System components
Create personalized dashboards that allow students to track their progress, set goals, and receive tailored feedback, making learning more focused and student-driven.
Project Overview
I worked as the lead UX UI designer for the Design system team focusing on the creation and implementation of comprehensive design systems components :
Create personalized dashboards that allow students to track their progress, set goals, and receive tailored feedback, making learning more focused and student-driven.
Ensuring consistency, scalability, and efficiency in product design and development.
Maintaining & updating visual UI components within the design system
Crafting icons and UI patterns that creates visual hierarchy and follow accessibility guidelines
I partnered with a lead design architect, lead design researcher, 2 project managers, 1 content designers, a team of engineers, engineering lead, and the VP of Education and finance.
Understanding & identifying the Problem
As education increasingly moves online, many EdTech platforms struggle to create digital learning environments that are truly effective, inclusive, and engaging for all students. Key challenges include:
Lack of Personalization: Many EdTech platforms fail to cater to the diverse learning needs and paces of individual students. Without personalized learning paths, students can feel disengaged or overwhelmed, reducing the effectiveness of their education.
Inefficient User Experience (UX): Poorly designed interfaces, confusing navigation, and inconsistent user flows make it difficult for students to focus on their learning tasks. Complex interfaces often result in wasted time trying to understand the platform instead of focusing on the actual material.
Accessibility Barriers: Many platforms do not adequately meet accessibility standards, making them difficult or impossible to use for students with disabilities (visual, auditory, cognitive, or motor impairments). This lack of inclusivity further widens the education gap.
Engagement and Motivation: Online learning can often feel isolating and lack the social and motivational aspects of in-person education. Many platforms fail to incorporate features that promote collaboration, community, or gamified learning experiences that motivate students.
Overwhelming Information: Students can be overloaded with content, assignments, and notifications, which can cause stress and reduce the quality of their engagement with the material.
Lack of Integration with Existing Tools: Many EdTech platforms operate in silos and are not well integrated with other digital tools and platforms that students already use (such as LMS, productivity apps, and cloud storage), resulting in fragmented learning experiences.
Defining & aligning on project goals :
Personalized Learning Paths: Develop AI-powered adaptive Dashboards that tailor the content and pace to each student's needs, helping them learn more effectively by receiving the right content at the right time.
Streamlined User Experience: Design a user-friendly interface with clear navigation and intuitive user flows. The goal is to reduce cognitive load and make it easy for students to find and engage with learning materials, track progress, and access support.
Accessibility Improvements: Ensure compliance with WCAG and ADA standards, implementing features like screen reader compatibility, keyboard navigation, text-to-speech, and high-contrast modes. The platform should be inclusive for students with diverse needs.
Enhanced Engagement Features: Incorporate social learning tools like discussion forums, peer collaboration spaces, and live study groups. Gamified elements such as badges, points, and leaderboards can motivate students to stay engaged with the content.
Focused Content Delivery: Implement smart notifications and content filtering to reduce information overload. Students should only receive essential information and assignments at relevant times, helping them focus on learning without distractions.
Seamless Integration with Other Tools: Enable smooth integration with popular educational and productivity tools, such as Google Classroom, Microsoft Teams, and LMS platforms, to provide a cohesive and uninterrupted learning experience.
Aligning on project Solutions :
AI-Driven Personalization via User Interface in Dashboards & across the Design system:
Use data analytics to identify gaps in student understanding and recommend additional resources or alternative learning methods (e.g., videos, quizzes, or reading materials).
Create personalized dashboards that allow students to track their progress, set goals, and receive tailored feedback, making learning more focused and student-driven.
Improved UX/UI Design:
Conduct user research to understand student pain points and design a streamlined, intuitive interface that simplifies navigation, reducing the time spent searching for materials or instructions.
Use responsive design to ensure the platform works seamlessly across devices (mobile, tablet, desktop) to accommodate different learning environments.
Consistency in UI components (buttons, menus, etc.) across different sections of the platform to ensure a unified experience.
Accessibility Enhancements:
Integrate assistive technologies such as screen readers, text-to-speech options, and keyboard navigation.
Offer multiple learning modes like captioning, sign language interpretation, and audio descriptions for students with hearing or visual impairments.
Provide customizable options for font size, color contrast, and text spacing to cater to students with cognitive or visual difficulties.
Regularly conduct accessibility audits to ensure compliance with standards like WCAG 2.1 and proactively identify areas of improvement.
Gamification and Social Engagement:
Incorporate gamification elements like progress badges, leaderboards, rewards, and achievement points to encourage regular engagement and make learning more enjoyable.
Introduce peer-to-peer learning features, such as group projects, discussion forums, and real-time collaboration tools to foster a sense of community and allow for collaborative learning.
Build interactive quizzes, challenges, and live competitions to drive engagement and motivation.
Smart Content Delivery & Notifications:
Implement an intelligent notification system that uses machine learning to deliver only essential notifications based on urgency and relevance. For example, upcoming deadlines or relevant feedback, rather than overwhelming students with unnecessary alerts.
Use modular learning pathways to break up content into digestible chunks, with a clear progression from one module to the next, reducing cognitive overload.
Allow students to set focus modes where non-essential notifications are minimized, helping them to concentrate on their studies without distractions.
Seamless Integration & Cross-Platform Connectivity:
Integrate the platform with widely-used LMS systems (such as Google Classroom, Canvas, and Microsoft Teams) to create a seamless experience where students can access assignments, grades, and study materials all in one place.
Ensure that the platform connects with productivity tools (like Google Docs, Dropbox, and OneDrive) to allow easy submission and collaboration on assignments.
Implement single sign-on (SSO) systems to reduce friction for students logging in and accessing multiple platforms.
Data-Driven Insights and Analytics for Educators:
Provide real-time insights for teachers and administrators with learning analytics dashboards that track student progress, identify at-risk learners, and suggest interventions.
Offer detailed reporting tools that educators can use to adjust curriculum pacing, content delivery, and individualized support based on student performance.
Enable educators to quickly identify patterns and trends in learning behavior and outcomes, helping them personalize instruction and provide timely feedback.
Discovery
Crafting user user persona
Design Exploration
Product Design strategy ( P1 )
Mockup V1.0
In Mockup V1.0, With the help of product partners, we have explored many design directions that helps us identify the design strategy and direction with the P1 goal in mind is :
Design dashboards for students and educators that offer personalized insights, allowing users to track progress, set goals, and receive tailored feedback.
How might we design an intuitive Information architecture that easily guide user to view personalized insights, allowing users to track progress, set goals in easy steps?
