Knowing your audience is always a good place to start.

My own experience volunteering as a tutor helped inform my investigation, as I had seen how scheduling and availability was often a major pain point for informal education, especially in the post-COVID world.

After completing initial user research, to ensure I was focusing on the user, I created three personas to highlight main requirements of the userbase. Each persona helped define diferent areas of need that the app would address.

After a quick competetive audit, it was time to ideate designs.

For art and design, I like to start on paper.

Then onto the digital wireframes.

With the user journey established, core nav components and features quickly emerged.

A usability study helped me make critical course corrections.

After creating a low-fidelity prototype, I was able to begin user testing. I ran an unmoderated usability study that produced several key findings. A major step was to pivot away from a class-like structure, and to focus entirely on scheduling meetings between tutors and students.

In another example, testing revealed users wanted more information about their tutors before making a selection. It seems obvious in retrospect, but I had initally provided only a simple name selection.

The last step was a high-fidelity prototype.

While finishing the project in Figma, additional user feedback helped build out a roadmap for future improvements, including integration with existing video conferencing apps or calendars, and connections to other educational hubs.

Overall, the reaction was positive. While I initially envisioned a broad, all-encompassing service, this process helped me see how a more narrow approach can strengthen your end result. Focusing on a few essential tasks greatly improved the concept and functionality of the app.