We embarked on a mission to revamp edpro's evaluation tool repertory due to the growing number of assessment tools available. This case study explores our UX design journey, with a specific focus on the iterative prototyping process that led to a more organized and user-friendly solution: a unified drop-down menu for questionnaire variants and a renewal of the layout.
Understanding the Problem: Edpro faced a challenge as its repertory of assessment tools expanded. The initial design struggled to accommodate this growth, leading to difficulties in its navigation. A more intuitive and user-friendly solution was necessary.
The Iterative Prototyping Process:
In-depth Analysis: We began by thoroughly analyzing the existing system and the challenges it posed. The main problem stemmed from the multiple age variants that each questionnaire had (usually 4-5 versions) and the newly introduced short versions of some questionnaires. We knew that we had to present all of them in a way that didn’t sacrifice usability. We also had issues with the tag words. In the original design, we presented them in multiple rows on top of the evaluation tools, but as the number of tools increased, they started to take up more and more space, making the page harder to navigate. The tag words were still a useful way to highlight evaluation tools specific to a particular field, so we wanted to keep them, but they had to be adapted, since this list was becoming longer in a way we didn’t suspect at the beginning. Before we began creating wireframes, we conducted a review of existing designs by looking at other actors in the same field but also various online storefronts such as Amazon. These websites present a lot of information on various products in an effective way, so they were a good source of inspiration. We needed to fit all the information while keeping the sleek design and signature of edpro.
Ideation and Conceptualization: Through brainstorming and collaborative ideation sessions, we generated a range of design concepts. Each concept aimed to simplify navigation and enhance user experience. We began by creating black and white wireframe versions of our solutions to test them quickly.
Prototyping Variants: We selected the best wireframes from our exploration phase and refined them into a series of high-fidelity mock-ups, experimenting with various navigation structures and interface elements. By using Adobe XD’s prototyping features, we were also to create interactive versions of our mock-ups to give other members of our team the opportunity to test our concepts and give feedback.
Internal Evaluation: Our team conducted internal evaluations, scrutinizing the prototypes for usability, accessibility, and alignment with edpro's goals. This internal feedback loop facilitated rapid iteration and refinement. While conducting the evaluation, we found out that adding a picture (where the edpro logo stood previously) could be a helpful way to identify the assessment tool theme quickly. By using a colour filter that fits the design of the platform, it was possible to keep the edpro signature while differentiating the tools from each other.
Design Validation: To ensure that the redesign met industry best practices and usability principles, we conducted expert reviews and heuristic evaluations. By refining the design, we ensure that it meets the best usability standards; the interaction is clear, the content is unambiguous, and the hierarchy and style of text improves readability.
Results and Impact:
The implementation of the unified drop-down menu brought notable improvements to edpro. The new design allowed the repertory to be approximatively 4x shorter while maintaining its functionalities. Condensing the tag words in a new menu also allowed us to create more space for the evaluation tools, thus improving the main goal of this section of the site, which is to display the evaluation tools to the user. Users reported increased ease of use and efficiency in accessing assessment tools. The redesigned repertory effectively accommodated the platform's growth for now and for the future and underscored Edpro's commitment to user-centric design.
In the redesign of edpro's evaluation tool repertory, our UX team adopted an iterative prototyping approach, emphasizing internal evaluations and expert reviews. This strategy enabled us to create a more streamlined and user-friendly solution. Our design choices were guided by best practices and usability principles, resulting in an improved user experience for users on the edpro platform.
