embark labs

Date: 2015               Team: 4 UX designers              Tools: Sketch, Invision

Challenge
Embark Labs is an after school program for kids to learn problem solving skills using the framework of computer science.  Students work together to build meaningful projects. My team was tasked with designing a place where parents can view their children’s projects.

Solution
We developed a concept design of a secure project gallery, where students can aggregate their projects online from different sources. It serves as the foundation of an online collaborative community that captures Embark’s core values.  

Role
Interviews, personas, affinity mapping, spider diagramming, user flow, sketching, clickable prototype, user testing

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research
After our initial meeting with our client, I made a mind map to collect my thoughts on Embark Labs and what it entails.
We conducted on-site interviews with Embark students and instructors. Being on-site helped us realize that what sets Embark Labs apart is how they establish a sense of personal identity among the students as well as being a member of a bigger community.
We gathered information from interviews with over 20 parents and kids to learn about their online interactions, habits, and tech savviness.
ideation
We synthesized all of our research into 3 personas and used it to guide our design decisions. We focused on the user flow of Heather, an ambitious mother who wants to see the project her child has built to ensure she is doing well.

This is a user flow showing the different ways a parent can enter the project gallery. It was important to our client that we create a safe space for parents and kids to view project work. Therefore it was important we consider how their private gallery would be accessed.
We made an affinity map to organize ideas on the main user flow by grouping similar items and giving them categories. By doing this, we were able to flesh out the core features of a project gallery. Core features included access points, student profile, class gallery, project detail page, sharing capabilities, and filtering.
Design
After understanding what our core features were, we began to sketch.
We did several rounds of user testing using paper prototypes to test our concepts and validate that our layout and overall feel made sense to our users.

We then started wireframing.
Security and privacy was a important factor when it comes to displaying student work and profiles. What is the best way to give access to the gallery?
Keeping in mind Embark’s need to emphasize the importance of community,  all student profiles are displayed in a “Meet the Students” portion.
Parents wanted to see their children's work above all else, so the first thing they would see upon entering the gallery is their own child's projects.
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