Riipen Case Study:
Riipen: An ed-tech platform that seeks to connect future graduates with real-world working experience to enhance their resume.
October - November 2023
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Overview:
This case study is a research project for the ed-tech platform, Riipen. Riipen works with colleges and universities to connect students with companies that offer internships - giving the student real-world experience to enhance their resume.
The Challenge:
Riipen tasked my internship team with the assignment to complete research to see why their users were experiencing friction during the onboarding process on the desktop version of their website.
The Solution:
Riipen’s goal is to reduce friction during their onboarding process. My internship team will accomplish this goal by conducting appropriate research, synthesizing the research and by making relevant suggestions for an easier, more intuitive onboarding experience.
My Role:
I completed this project as an internship with the ed-tech company, Riipen - facilitated by my Springboard UX/UI Design course. My internship team consisted of 3 people. We worked together to conduct research, synthesize our findings and to suggest application improvements based on our discoveries.
The Process:
Empathize - heuristic analysis
Test - screener survey, usability tests
Define - affinity map, persona, empathy map
Ideate - how-might-we statements
Prototype - sketches, high-fidelity prototype
Empathize
Heuristic Analysis
Together, the team spent time using the website in a testing environment as a learner, onboarding to an internship experience. Using this method allowed us to identify usability issues. We noted any problems we had, along with the corresponding Nielson Norman Usability Heuristic the specific usability issue had violated.
Test
Screener Survey
The group assembled a screener survey - we sought out participants who identify as a student, so we asked for potential users in the appropriate Springboard Slack channel. We received 9 responses, and of those 9 responses, 7 of these users went on to take the usability test we had moderated.
The screener survey asked users if -
They would be interested in participating in a 30 minute usability test
If they were currently taking their Industry Design Project (IDP)
This is relevant as Riipen is the platform that Springboard uses to connect their students with the company they are participating in an internship for
Usability Testing
The team worked together to establish what tasks the users should be asked to complete in the usability test.
The tasks were as follows -
View the first screen after you sign up and log in, and voice your thoughts.
Select project*
Start project and create a team, send intro message*
Go to Dashboard.
Send a message to your company contact*
What is the overall ease of use?
*For every asterisk, we then asked the participant to rate the ease of the task on a scale from 1 to 5, with 1 being very difficult and 5 being very easy.
Testing
Once we had established the tasks we would ask the users to complete, as well as the script for the usability test, we conducted 7 thirty-minute usability tests with 7 of the 9 users who participated in the screener survey.
Once the user completed the usability test, Riipen sent $25 gift cards to the users as a “thank you.” for participating.
Testing Takeaways
The usability test results uncovered issues users encountered while using the Riipen web application. The issues that the participants experienced were consistent, and also reminiscent of the issues found during the heuristic analysis.
We synthesized our research, and recognized user issues in four categories and summarized the experiences and quotes that led us to creating the aforementioned categories.
Dashboard UI
“Why is “my experiences” relevant to the dashboard?”
User unable to toggle between multiple projects they are currently involved in
Overall Navigation
Projects vs Teams - “I would expect that the project would be clickable”
Messaging - “I think they should have a [conversations] tab that doesn’t show a preview because it’s kind of confusing”
Terminology/Taxonomy
Projects vs Experiences - “i’m not really sure what [experiences] is”
Labeling - “I can’t find anything that says company contact”
Copy - “When I click on ‘complete survey,’ I’m expecting it to be at the end of the survey”
Project Actions
Project Matching - “I see the project, but I don’t know what to do to select the project”
Milestones - “The date information gets lost, I would have expected something visual like a check mark or something to know that it was complete”
Define
Affinity Map
To synthesize our findings, we created a draft of an affinity map using Figma’s FigJam board.
Then, we consolidated the research to offer a neater, more focused affinity map.
Persona
The team created a persona of a potential user of Riipen, to reference while making relevant design suggestions.
Empathy Map
The team created an empathy map to summarize and further categorize research findings - specifically user’s feelings and frustrations while using the website. Some critical feedback we got were categorized accordingly:
Says: “I’m confused,” “I’m not sure”
Does: scrolls up and down, toggles between pages
Pain: stress around navigation and comprehension
Ideate
How-Might-We Statements
To further define the design goals brought to light by our research, we produced 3 How-Might-We statements, to keep in mind while iterating the app’s design.
How might we help new learners navigate the platform more intuitively?
How might we reduce user confusion around platform terminology?
How might we help learners more easily engage with milestones?
Prototype
Sketches
Though design was not required by our company contact at Riipen, the team thought that making up some would better convey the suggestions from our research.
Our company contact at Riipen said that they were already working on solutions for their Dashboard, however we got so much feedback concerning the Dashboard’s UI, we wanted to provide a solution from our research. We included 2 different sketches that offered the same solutions.
Before starting the sketches, we prioritized the usability issues founded during our research.
Sketches, continued -
Though design was not required by our company contact at Riipen, the team thought that making up some would better convey the suggestions from our research.
Our company contact at Riipen said that they were already working on solutions for their Dashboard, however we got so much feedback concerning the Dashboard’s UI, we wanted to provide a solution from our research. We included 2 different sketches that offered the same solutions.
Current Dashboard Design
Sketches for Iterated Dashboard Design
After synthesizing results from our usability tests and heuristic analysis of the existing website, our sketch focused on making the following changes -
Focused view of project with easy access to others
Single, clear progress bar
Clear, visual indicators for complete vs incomplete tasks
Clear, easy access to company contact information
“My Experiences” and “My Achievements” would be moved under user’s profile page
High-Fidelity Mockup
Another screen that users had trouble navigating was the project page within the Riipen interface, so we made some changes in two high-fidelity mockups, based on the results of our heuristic analysis and usability testing.
Current Project Page Design
High-Fidelity Mockups for Iterated Project Page Design
The team focused on making the following changes in the high-fidelity mockups -
Reduce left-hand navigation menu and move to top icon bar
Highlight project instead of team
Visual cues for milestone order
Clear milestone completion visuals and copy
Expanding milestone for submission
Clear company contact label and message button
Project scope preview visible at top of page
Current project progress bar “sticky” bottom navigation bar
Next Steps
The Industry Design Placement internship within the Springboard curriculum lasted about 5 weeks, so unfortunately my time with Riipen has concluded, however our company contact said that we are able to reach out if we have any future suggestions.
As far as my next steps go, I look forward to continuing working on collaborative projects within a team setting. This project has brought me experience of collaborating on a design team, and for that I am grateful! I can honestly say I am excited for my next opportunity to contribute to a design team.
I feel like my team worked hard to suggest relevant design changes that will help Riipen meet business metrics - I can not wait to make more positive impact through design.
