Enhancing the Usability of Knowunity for High School Students in the United States
Project Type:
Usability Evaluation
Product Type:
Application
Client:
Knowunity
Timeline:
March - May 2023
Team:
Shaelynn Hickey (me)
Josie Xu
Tharani Prabu
Alexis Li
Xinru Wen
My Role:
UX Designer & Researcher
Usability Evaluation
Product Type:
Application
Client:
Knowunity
Timeline:
March - May 2023
Team:
Shaelynn Hickey (me)
Josie Xu
Tharani Prabu
Alexis Li
Xinru Wen
My Role:
UX Designer & Researcher
Context
Knowunity is an innovative EdTech platform based in Europe that integrates social learning with user-generated, verified content across various school subjects, making it an excellent resource for high school students to enhance their learning experience. On the platform, users can exchange resources such as notes, study sheets, and materials for exam preparation.
Knowunity approached our team of researchers to conduct a usability study of their mobile application and investigate how the platform is perceived by high school students in the United States.
My Contributions:
- Recruited participants
- Designed the study & conducted 2 (out of 6) sessions
- Analyzed data, identified issues, and proposed recommendations
- Prepared presentation slides & report
- Presented the research findings to the client and addressed their questions
Project Scope
📲
APPLICATION’S USABILITY
Identifying mobile application usability issues prior to the U.S. launch
🧠
ICON COMPREHENSION
Assessing icon, button, and label relevance for U.S. high school students
👁🗨
VISUAL IMPRESSIONS
Discover users' impressions of the Knowunity application's various features and pages
Research Process
Testing the Knowunity Application Remotely
Testing of the Knowunity application was conducted via Zoom, using the moderated user testing method. This method, which is often considered the gold standard in usability testing, involves target users as participants and UX researchers as moderators, working together in a controlled setting. By utilizing this method, the study facilitated the collection of a large volume of high-quality data by the UX researchers.PARTICIPANT RECRUITMENT:
6️⃣
participants were recruited for this study using social media, personal contacts, and guerrilla recruiting. The target audience for this study were U.S. high school students above 18 years of age, as mandated by legal restrictions. Given the niche profile of our target users, recruitment proved to be the most challenging step in the research process.
Test Development
Pre-Test Questions
- What is your favorite subject at school? Why do you like it?
- How do you normally study for tests?
- What resources do you use to help you with schoolwork? Do you prefer to study by yourself or with a group?
- What do you think would make learning more fun for you?
- What is the biggest challenge, if any, that you face while studying?
Test Tasks
Content Creation - You have a lot of great notes from school that you’d like to share with other students. How would you go about sharing them on the platform?
Content Search - You are preparing for your AP Chinese exam. Look up content on Chinese Geography and capture it so you can refer back to it later.
Social Engagement - You are looking for a note on the topic of “Late Modernism”. When you find it, get in contact with the person who posted it to say thank you.
Post-Task Questions
- On a scale of 1-5 (1 - very difficult, 5 - very easy), how easy was it to complete this task?
- Did you meet any difficulties? If so, please describe them.
- What are your thoughts on *function/feature used during the task*?
Post-Test Questions
- What did you like the most about using the Knowunity application?
- What did you like the least?
- What was your favorite feature on the Knowunity application?
- What other aspects of the experience could be improved?
- Do you have any comments for the owner of the Knowunity?
- Could you please use 3 words to describe the application?
User Testing Sessions Conducted Via Zoom
Before conducting the test with our recruited participants, I conducted 2 pilot tests to verify our testing plan and make adjustments if necessary. The pilot tests were successful and we finalized our testing plan accordingly.
During the participant sessions conducted via Zoom, I moderated 2 testing sessions using a prepared script. Participants were asked to share their screen and “think aloud” while performing application-related tasks.
Data Analysis
After every testing session, I carefully reviewed the recording, took detailed notes, and documented them in a shared Google spreadsheet.
To organize the findings efficiently, the entire team used The Rainbow Spreadsheet method, which allowed us to sort and categorize the data effectively.
Through in-depth analysis and discussions with other UX researchers on my team, we identified the key usability issues in the application and formulated recommendations to address them.
Our team's Rainbow Spreadsheet analysis
Overall Findings
83.3%
of participants commended the app for its extensive learning opportunities and user-friendly interface
66.7%
of participants encountered navigation difficulties and issues with the app's structure
83.3%
of participants appreciated the app's interactive design and clear, well-organized layout
Participants expressed positive sentiments toward their experience with the app and its mission.
💬️ - "Everybody should know about it [Knowunity]. I would recommend it to my friends."
💬️ - "Keep up the good work, this is a really good invention."
Although users reported an overall positive experience, we identified 18 usability issues total. We prioritized these issues based on their frequency of occurrence and severity and developed practical recommendations to address them.
Recommendations:
1️⃣ - Consolidate and clarify buttons on the “Notes” page
2️⃣ - Make the coloring of the homepage customizable
3️⃣ - Provide an on-demand tutorial for users on how to use the features of the app
4️⃣ - Enable users to upload note photos from albums with a user-friendly editing process
5️⃣ - Add a drop-down menu with options to "Edit" and "Replace" when scanning documents
6️⃣ - Add the input box to the comment function
Recommendation 1 - Consolidate and clarify buttons on the “Notes” page
The Problem
Upon reaching the “Notes” page, three out of six participants encountered confusion regarding the icons and their corresponding labels. Specifically, they found it challenging to differentiate between the “Save,” “Like,” “PDF,” and “Download” functions.
💬 - “I'm confused by the buttons on the bottom of the Note screen, it seems like they all do the same thing?"
Note screen with current buttons
Notes page with updated consolidated buttons and new labelsThe Recommendation
Our recommendation was to streamline the existing icons into four easily visible ones. Once clicked, a pop-up menu would display additional action icons with descriptive labels. The four icons would be: 'Save' (which would include all the necessary options to save a note within the app), 'Export' (which would house all the options to send a note outside the app), and the existing 'Share' and 'Comments' icons."
Recommendation 2 - Make the coloring of the homepage customizable
The Problem
During our interviews, we received feedback from a third of our participants expressing their dissatisfaction with the coloring of the homepage. Specifically, they found it difficult to distinguish between sections at the bottom of the screen, and one participant even commented that the homepage reminded them of homework.
💬 - “The homepage reminds me of boring, bland, schoolwork”
Current Knowunity application homepage
Updated user profile page with customization color options and updated colorful home screensThe Recommendation
Our recommendation is to offer users the ability to customize the appearance of their Knowunity application by accessing their user profile page. To make it clear that users can customize the app's appearance, we recommend adding a paintbrush button to the upper right corner of their profile page. Once clicked, this button would display a pop-up menu of color options that correspond to different color themes for the application. By selecting their preferred color, users can easily switch to a more personalized color theme and enjoy a more customized experience.
Recommendation 3 - Provide an on-demand tutorial for users on how to use the features of the app
The Problem
We found that two-thirds of our participants expressed that they would have liked to access the tutorial again at some point during their usage of the app. Participants felt this need for additional direction when they were not sure how to carry out certain tasks on the app, such as capturing notes for further use.
💬 - “... maybe the 'capture' feature? I understood it, but I feel like if it was better, maybe explained when like you open the app for the first time and it explains how to capture something, like that would be a lot more helpful."
Current Knowunity "Privacy & Help" option
Updated settings menu with a new "Tutorial" option and Tutorial screens when the "Entire app" option is selected
The Recommendation
Our recommendation is to offer users an on-demand tutorial by adding a 'Tutorial' option in the 'Settings' menu. This would allow users to start the tutorial from the homepage or access a tutorial specific to the page they are on. The tutorial would consist of pop-up bubbles containing information about each page element, with the option to continue or exit the tutorial at any time.
Recommendation 4 - Enable users to upload note photos from albums with a user-friendly editing process
The Problem
During our interviews, participants reported encountering limitations in the system that make it difficult to upload photos of their notes. Specifically, those who have previously saved photos of their notes in their phone's photo albums were unable to upload them to the platform. This limitation may discourage users from using Knowunity to organize and share their notes since they are unable to easily upload previously taken and saved notes.
💬️ - “But I don’t know how to convert a photo to PDF on my mobile?"
Current Knowunity "Upload Study Notes" page
The Recommendation
To address this limitation, we recommend adding an option for users to upload note photos from their albums, located below the "Take a picture of my notes" option. Users should be able to view their album photos in order and select them intuitively.
Recommendation 5 - Add a drop-down menu with options to "Edit" and "Replace" when scanning documents
The Problem
The current app system has a limitation where if users miss the cropping step and reach the last step before uploading, clicking the icon leads them back to the scanning interface, requiring them to retake the photo and crop it again if they need to re-crop a note. This caused frustration and delay for participants in our study, who sought the moderator's help to edit an image at the last minute. Our user testing team also encountered this issue while developing study questions for the app.
💬️ - “How would I edit a document right before uploading it, if I already missed the cropping document page?"
Current Knowunity "Upload Know" and “Scanning” page
The Recommendation
To address this limitation, we recommend adding a drop-down menu with options to "Edit" and "Replace" on the same page. Clicking "Edit" will lead users to the editing interface, where they can make various adjustments to the original note image, such as cropping and applying filters.
Recommendation 6 - Add the input box to the comment function
The Problem
The current design of the commenting interface posed challenges for participants trying to locate the comment entry field. By utilizing a drop-down arrow to navigate to the commenting screen and simultaneously displaying the input box, an additional step is added to the commenting process, increasing the likelihood of users overlooking the entry field.
💬️ - “It doesn't look 'buttony' enough"
Current Knowunity "Comment" page
Recommended "Comments" page
The Recommendation
To tackle this problem, we proposed incorporating an input box directly into the comment section rather than the existing comments preview. It can let users notice the actionable area and will enable users who simply want to comment to complete the process quickly and with ease. Meanwhile, the drop-down arrow can be preserved to allow users to browse through other users' comments.
Conclusion
Knowunity's UX team was thoroughly impressed with the usability insights and recommendations that we brought forward. Our report and presentation provided a comprehensive overview of the key findings from the usability study that focused on American high school student's perceptions of the application. Our insights were highly valued by the client, who recognized the significant value of the new information obtained through our study. Overall, our report has enabled Knowunity's team to make informed decisions about how to enhance their application's usability and improve the experience for their users.
Client Feedback:
“You did a tremendous job with this project. I can’t wait to share these with the rest of the company. The mockups are beautiful and will really help us with implementing these changes. Great work!”Key Takeaways:
-Linda Kessler (Senior Mixed Method UX Researcher for Knowunity)
- Proper preparation and organization are crucial to the success of any process. Planning every detail carefully and having multiple contingency plans in place is essential in case of any unexpected issues.
- Recruiting participants, especially young high school students, is one of the most challenging aspects of conducting research. To overcome this challenge, it's important to leverage your personal and professional networks and to be proactive and persistent throughout the recruitment process.
- Every human action is driven by an underlying motivation, and as designers, it's essential to understand this motivation to create better products. Asking questions like "Can you tell me more about that?" can provide deeper insights into users' needs and desires, enabling us to create products that better meet their needs.