I’m Fe, a Product Designer with 12 years of experience as a Visual Designer chasing insights, crafting visuals and looking for opportunities☺
CLIENT
The School of Life helps people develop their self-knowledge and emotional intelligence all around the world. Their lessons can take shape in a number of ways, such as books, workshops and a popular YouTube channel with over 4.5 million subscribers.
APPROACH
Using research methods, such as usability testing, card sorting and user interview to discover website pain points and to understand the users’ motive to seek The School of Life content, services and products
Surveying and talking to SMEs in order to validate and quantify first stage of research
Based on user behaviour pattern define personas and scenarios that they would interact with the website
Research techniques were implemented in the first stage of the project. The goal was to pain point current website that are playing a toll on the overall experience. features that are not working to its best potential was implemented in order to clarify current website aspects that are letting the e-commerce experience down
APPROACH
A research was implemented in order to clarify which aspects of the website were impacting the e-commerce experience. Based on it’s findings, ideation, prototyping and usability testings were put into place to validate the changes.
based on the research findings.
and usability testing were put into place.
implemented
DISCOVER
We facilitated 2 types of activities with users in order to work it out current website pain points.
We asked users to perform tasks, such as book a workshop on the current website and organise 50 products into existing or new categories in a way that made sense to them.
The goal was to discover pain points related to user flow and information architecture, that are negatively impacting the online shopping experience.
USABILITY TESTING findings
Users felt frustrated by the lack of search bar at the top navigation
Users found filters vague and not helpful
Users felt disengaged with copy heavy product description
Users disagreed with certain products’ location
“It looks pretty but is hard to find specific services and products” – User
CARD Sorting findings
Users strayed from current categories and created new ones, such as ‘Accessories’ and ‘Gift Ideas’
Users felt mislead by certain images and descriptions
Users felt skeptical about how certain products would increase their self-knowledge, felt like pseudo-psychology??
Users didn’t subcategorise products based on current filters
“I thought this was a book, not a card set” – User
Opportunity #1: Simplify website navigation, add more search features, deepify filters, user clearer product images and descriptions to avoid users misinterpretation and consequently mistrust. Give users more context of how those products are efficient
After discovering what could the current website do better from a usability perspective, it was time to investigate how can it perform better from a user perspective.
The goal was to talk to users about topics that The School of Life promotes and understand how do they engage with it and what motivates them to seek and practice.
do the users engage with the topics, services and products that The School of Life promotes
After discovering
Different ways users came across and engaged with the curriculum promoted by The School of Life
Five users were asked about their emotional intelligence journey and aspirations. The intent was to discover the Whos, Whats, Wheres, Whys, Whens and Hows and apply the lessons learnt into the new website.
All users were looking
### KEY TAKEAWAYS
Why do they seek?
Change or improve some aspect of their lives (work, love, mental health, etc)
When do they seek?
* Reactive = crisis dependant
* Proactive = crisis control
* Hybrid = mix of Re and Pro
Learning preferences
* Visual - online videos / books
* Auditory - therapy / podcasts
* Kinesthetic - workshops / exercise**
Interviewing and learning
Five users were asked about their emotional intelligence journey and aspirations. The intent was to discover the Whos, Whats, Wheres, Whys, Whens and Hows and apply the lessons learnt into the new website.
KEY TAKEAWAYS
Why do they seek?
Change or improve some aspect of their lives (work, love, mental health, etc)
When do they seek?
- Reactive = crisis dependant
- Proactive = crisis control
- Hybrid = mix of Re and Pro
Learning preferences
- Visual - online videos / books
- Auditory - therapy / podcasts
- Kinesthetic - workshops / exercise**
DEFININE
Validating first stage of research findings
SMEs and learning
Could these behaviour traits be personas?
It was time to validate it through SMEs and Surveys.
Key TAKEAWAYS
- Confirmed Reactive and Proactive personas
- Added the Spontaneous persona to the mix
- Website could be better
- TSOL could be more flexible and accessible
Surveying and confirming
86 surveyees
Key TAKEAWAYS
- Majority wants to gain more self-knowledge (79.5%)
- Seeker Types: Reactives (221 counts) Proactives (49 counts)
- Learning preference: Visual (69.7%) Auditory (37.8%) Kinesthetic ( 42.4%)
PERSONAS
Delving into Andrew and Janes’ self-knowledge journey
Value Proposition Canvas
Understanding their pains and gains when interacting with The School of Life services and products
POSSIBLE FEATURES
Based on research feedback and personas profiles
Home
Before
After
Using a few research methods, we tested the current website with users. The goal was to discover which aspects of it are taking a toll on the e-commerce experience.
Researching the website and its users in order to discover current pain points that are taking a toll on the overall experience
the users needs