A UX/UI Designer. Artist
Student Age Forecasting Report
For this project I designed a net new feature that allows teachers to predict how old a child will be by a selected future date. The goal was to help teachers and administrators predict a child's future age to ensure appropriate classroom placement and readiness for the next level. I worked as the lead UX designer in a team of 3 over a 3-month timeline, ultimately providing a report that none of our competitors currently have.
A tool to show forecasted classroom openings and students' future birthdates for teachers and administrators.
Summary
Designed For:
Procare Clients- Enterprise and GA
Make of the Team
1 UX designer, Product Manager and Dev Lead
My Role
UX designer, UI designer, User Interviewer.
Collaborated with UX Researcher and UX Writer
High level Timeline
July 2024 to Sept 2024
Methods Used
Design Thinking model. User interviews, alignment diagrams, personas, scenarios, user flows, IA, sketches, wireframes, clickable mockups, prototyping, conceptual walkthroughs, usability tests, internal design reviews.
Prototyping and Research Tools
Figma, Microsoft Excel, Figjam, Great Question
BREAKING DOWN THE PROCESS
Introduction
Our online platform lacked a report that displayed children's names and birthdates beyond the current date. Our largest client requested an improved report to eliminate the need for manual calculations and notes on classroom placement.
Problem Statement
Users were relying on pen and paper to estimate a child's future age for proper classroom placement and readiness for the next level due to the lack of relevant information the current report offered on our online platform.
Goals
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Reduce the time and effort required for users to efficiently identify classroom openings so that they can fill spots and maximize the center’s profit.
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Allow user to be able to assess a child's age at a future date to ensure readiness for milestones and registration.
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Allow the user to determine if there is sufficient space in the next room when the child is ready for promotion.
RESEARCH AND DISCOVERY
User Research
We conducted user interviews with five owners and directors of both franchise and non-franchise schools to understand their use of the current student age report. This helped us identify their pain points, gaps in the report's information, and the creative systems they employed to meet their goals.
Personas
I created two key personas:
1. Owner or Admin – prioritizes identifying and filling openings so they can maximize their center profit.
2. Teacher – prioritizes assessing the child to ensure readiness for classroom graduation
Competitive Analysis
We learned from sales and marketing that none of our competitors had a forecasting report for ages and classroom openings which is the first step to predictive enrollment. Something our customers have been asking for over an extended period.
Key Insights
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Users felt that the current report lacked the information they needed in order to achieve their goals.
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Users wanted to know children’s birthdates so they can know when they age out of a classroom.
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Users were creating their own systems to track student birthdays and milestones.
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Users got more value when they used the report to help them fill classroom openings.
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Some users used the report for financial planning.
PROBLEM DEFINITION
Based on the research, I defined the key problem areas:
1. Report was not built with the true use case in mind.
2. Lack of information was causing users to create their own tracking systems or use pen and paper instead of our software.
IDEATION AND STRATEGY
Brainstorming
The team held an “How Might We” session followed by a solutioning session to review documented flows and brainstorm ways to add missing information and create more value. I proposed adding a PDF and Excel spreadsheet as our usual report format, along with a second table showing open spots and projected ages, which was classified as a nice-to-have feature.
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The proposed solution was brought to our dev lead to ensure that these calculations were feasible with the information already generated within the application.
User Flows
Since this was a report, we couldn't create a journey map to highlight user pain points. The platform’s user experience had no significant issues other than the missing information, which our research revealed. Therefore, I concentrated on enhancing the visual aspects of the report to improve the overall experience.
DESIGN PROCESS
Wireframes
I started by creating a mock excel spreadsheet to outline the structure report. I worked on the formatting of titles and labels to ensure that the information architecture was clear. Lastly, I worked on the layout of the two tables and how they would best appear to show how the information corresponded with each other. From there, I played around with color to highlight cells, drawing inspiration from a method one user showed us during our research.
Next, I tackled the PDF version, which posed a challenge in laying out the information across complete pages without splitting content, as often happens with standard spreadsheets. It was essential to design the table with all its options and parameters to ensure users received the same value from the PDF as from the spreadsheet while maintaining intuitive readability. These wireframes were presented to stakeholders for feedback and refined based on their input.
Prototyping
Using Figma and Microsoft Excel, I created high-fidelity prototypes ready to show to the rest of the team as well as our developers so that they could see the proposed solution all fleshed out. Key features included a spreadsheet and a PDF, both with the ability to highlight when a child reaches an age that exceeds the limit for the classroom and a new report generation modal to house the parameters.
Iterations
After several rounds of feedback on the PDF, I refined the design to ensure the new flow was intuitive, included all necessary information, and mirrored the spreadsheet format. I developed a new template for all of our platforms reports with the collaboration of two senior designers. This will be used on new reports moving forward.
UI Design
The design maintained a clean, minimalist style suitable for a report. A standard sans serif font was chosen to ensure clarity and accessibility for all users. Information architecture was utilized to verify that the correct data was presented at the right time. Cells for birthdates exceeding the maximum age range turned red, while those for recommended assessments (the month prior) were highlighted in pink. Users had the option to toggle this feature on or off based on their needs.
USABILITY TESTING
Test Plans
Based on the deadline we had, we decided to test on production and monitor user feedback, which we expect plenty of seeing that this is a new feature.
CHALLENGES AND SOLUTIONS
Key Challenge
Finding a way to predict student ages for future dates without users calculating manually to help predict the classroom the student should be placed in.
Solution
I implemented two tables: One table had the names of all of the students and their birthdates for a period of time ( 1, 3, 6 months) based on a future date which was selected in the report generation modal. This could be for the entire school or for a selection of specific classrooms. The cells would highlight when the student is nearing or has aged out of a classroom making it easy for the user scan and see when the child will need to be placed in a new classroom. The second table included a list of the classrooms and the number of openings each classroom will have based on the future date that was selected. Together the user can easily decide which class rooms are available for the student.
FINAL OUTCOME
Solution
The redesigned report enables teachers and administrators to swiftly forecast student enrollment and classroom placement, removing the reliance on pen and paper or other alternatives.
Impact
The new report is a feature that only our brand has, putting us ahead of our competitors, while keeping our current clients happy.
REFLECTIONS AND LEARNINGS
What I Learned:
This project taught me that what the client asks for isn't always what they truly need. We must understand their motivations and how they use the information to provide valuable features.
I’ve also learned that it’s vital to validate solutions with users if possible.
Next Steps:
I would like to closely monitor the customer feedback to see how we can iterate because this report has the potential to be a powerful tool.
CONCLUSION
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By redesigning the student age report, I was able to create a new feature that was a great selling point for potential Procare buyers, and improving current customer satisfaction. Feel free to reach out if you'd like to learn more about my design process or discuss potential collaborations.