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A new experience going abroad
Redesign user experience and interface for Terra Dotta
Role
UX Designer
Team
Rachel Qian
Sanae Wilson
Time
1 week
Project Brief
In 10 days, redesign for Terra Dotta, a study abroad application software company, to elevate its business by providing better user experience.
Background & Goals
Brand challenge
Terra Dotta is facing more and more competitors like Via, TRM and Horizons are emerging with better products and user experience in the relatively small market.
GSM analysis
Goal
-Attract more new customers
-Increase customer retention
Signal
-Increased usage
-Increased returning customers
-Increased application completion rate
-Increased customer schools
-Less negative feedbacks
Metrics
Research
Stakeholders
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College student
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Administrator
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Director of specific program
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Other faculty
Personas
High school
students
Administrators
User journey
By identifying our target user's journey with Terra Dotta, we discovered insights and their pain points to improve in our redesign.
2
1
phases
overall steps
detail steps and actions
Pain points and insights
Pain points
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Many students, especially high school students, find it hard to maintain good time management on application process.
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Some students claim that they find mistakes in their applications after submitting them but can not do anything anymore.
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When students are confused about certain part of the application, they have to write emails and wait for responses.
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One administrator is usually responsible for several programs. It is often times hard to keep track of all applications.
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They find it time-consuming to put up new materials for new programs.
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Administrators often times answer similar questions from students over and over again.
Design Opportunities
1
How might we make tracking of application process more accessible and intuitive for high school students?
1
How might we simplify the process of managing the system as well as shorten the time spent?
2
How might we reduce potential mistakes that high school students make before submitting the application?
2
How might we facilitate the communication between administrator and other parties?
Solutions
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Process tracking
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Parent involvement
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Guidance during application
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Mobile interface to make good use of spare time
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Prioritized and categorized information
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FAQ database
Value proposition
Student
Administrator
Design proposals & development
Information Architecture
Low fidelity wireframes & testing
Paper mock-ups to find out user's feedback on the re-designed flow
User testing round 1 feedbacks
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Confusion about app/web page
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Users prefer swiping motion
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More clear iteration on chatbot flow needed(especially when message is forwarded to administrators
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Users like the FAQ feature, but are confused about the buttons
Mid fidelity wireframes & testing
Mock-ups made with whimsical and figma that demonstrate more detailed flow and user interface
Administrator interface
High school student interface
User testing round 2 feedbacks
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Full screen mode on mobile works well because it helps concentrating on the task
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FAQ creating needs more flexibility to make it more efficient
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How much do students want to share with their parents?
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Re-think final submission flow
MVP testing with data gathering
To gather real data from user samples to analyze whether the new design reached the "metrics" we set in the beginning.
Users interact with our MVP according to their habit and real application process.
Make interactive MVP in Thunkable
and send out to a group of potential users.
We receive real-time data in Airtable spreadsheet. Data is then used to see whether our new design achieved the metrics and whether we should further improve the design.
MVP feedbacks
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Users tend to click more into the tab place on the top of the list.
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Users tend to be reluctant to upload files the first time they open the application.
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Placing completeness on top of the screen helps reminding the user to keep working on the applications.
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Showing completeness of each section and check the ones that are finished helps users to continue working on the applications.
Design system
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Young
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Travel
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Explore
Moodboard
The vibrant feeling of the interface is targeting our new stakeholders-high school students. At the same time, high contrast colors help prioritize and organize information and tasks.
Color
Typography
Button states
Iconography
Final Design
1-1 Step by step navigation and transition
By improving the mobile version of Terra Dotta experience, we provide the high school students the opportunity to make use of their spare time.
Also, as shown in the example on the right, they can easily keep track of application process on the dashboard to make them feel more in control of the process and know where they are in the application.
Value creation
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Better time management
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The directional flow helps speed up the process.
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"One-question-at-a-time" mode avoids information overflow.
Dashboard
Dashboard shows the progress of each category.
Automatically jump to the next card once an answer is selected.
1-2 New essay editing feature
High school students will be able to convert existing files and editing the text file on their mobile phone with new Terra Dotta.
The new essay editor only provides essential editing tools and has an auto-save feature to make sure student's update is always saved.
Value creation
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Better time management (allows students to better utilize their spare time to think about and work on the essays)
Essay editor
Parent/student collaboration mode is unique to high school student version.
Parents can track process, make payment and give permission for final submission.
Feature flow
2 Parent/student collaboration mode
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Avoid potential mistakes by having parents double-check materials before submitting.
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Speed up the process by loop parents into the payment section.
Value creation
Register collaboration mode
Final submission permission
3-1 Chatbot for student
Students can enter chatbot anytime during application process to get help regarding different sections of the application.
Chatbot is able to answer basic questions and initiate the conversation smartly depending on where the student is in the application.
Value creation
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Speed up the process of getting questions answered so that they can continue with their applications ASAP. (efficiency)
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No need to jump into email and send questions. (efficiency)
Auto-reply from chatbot
Forward questions
to administrators
Chatbot is a trainable assistant for administrators.
By adding frequent questions from students and other parties into FAQ database, administrator can have the chatbot reply to similar questions for him.
Chatbot is the feature that builds up long-term connection between the administrators and the software to make it irreplaceable.
3-2 Chatbot for administrator
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No need for answering repetitive questions.
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Centralized place for communications with students. (efficiency)
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Ability to build the data base over time.
Value creation
Before & after comparison
Before
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Not user-friendly interface
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Information overflow
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No guidance & assistance
After
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Intuitive interface
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Management assistance for both students and administrators
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Prioritized information and actions
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Better collaborative process
Next Step: further user testing
Feature prioritization
1. Chatbot
Uncertainty: whether chatbot really makes the process more efficient; how big a data base is needed.
Urgency: High
2. Tracking&navigation
Uncertainty: how often do students check the system; whether there should be some kind of notifications to encourage students to finish the process.
Urgency: Middle
3. Parent/children
Uncertainty: how much students are willing to share with their parents.
Urgency: Low
Plan to test chatbot
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