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DEV SMART ACADEMY

Role:
Product Designer
Context:
Software Academy
Duration:
April 2022 - Present

ABOUT

The need for automation and information management is growing. This increases the need for software engineers. In Bulgaria, there are established academies that create software specialists, but they are narrowly specialized in this and make modern craftsmen. The purpose of Dev Smart Academy is not only to give the necessary knowledge about programming, but also how people can take care of their health, how to work in a team and how to set goals correctly.

Note: Due to a lack of resources, I did not have the opportunity to do deeper user research, which will be added later and tailored to the product.
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MY ROLE

My role as a product designer is to help make the concept of the academy a reality. As the team is well prepared technically, the only thing they are missing is me. My goal is to prepare a long-term plan for the product vision and above all to help the team translate all the ideas and functionalities into a good user journey.

RESEARCH

First, I started by communicating with all stakeholders to clarify all the minimum functionalities required for the platform to work. Because the project has two units - an informational web portal and a system accessible to every registered student. We started with the website and clarified the minimum amount of content required for the MVP. Then we clarified the minimum functionalities of the system.

COMPETITORS

SOFTUNI.BG

PROS

1. Logo dropdown that easily navigates the student what sectors of study are available
2. Active courses are seen which can attract students from the start
3. Clear description of the study program (Sequence presented by diagrams)
4. Presentation of teachers (Gains trust and transparency)
5. The fees are shown in visible place (The most important part for most users)
6. The career is in a prominent place, and this will be the most requested question for most students
7. Profile completion + payment history
8. FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS

CONS

1. Too much content
2. Too many trainings that can confuse you more instead of directing you to what you want
(Solution: Presentation of the trainings in the form of a hierarchical tree, starting from the most recognizable for newcomers to the sector.
Example: Visual part > Front-End / Design > Html/Css / JavaScript ...)
3. There are secondary links in the navigation, which are not of such importance for newcomers and it loads the navigation (Forum, Partners, Blog)
softuni-pros-cons
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KHANACADEMY.ORG

PROS

1. Simple and modern
2. Selected content
3. Section for everyone - STUDENTS, TEACHERS, PARENTS
4. Clean profile dashboard, with only the most important information
5. Progress is constantly monitored
6. Listing of internships and open positions (Convenient for users and students, possibility of additional income for the academy)

CONS

1. Customization of Khan Academy - no opt out option and a bit stressful as soon as you log in

SKILLO-BG.COM

PROS

1. Strictly specialized in QA
2. Why us?
3. Description of occupations and salary

CONS

1. Too much visual overload
skillo-bg-pros-cons
softwareacademy-pros-cons

SOFTWAREACADEMY.BG

CONS

1. Navigation tutorials are awkwardly presented
2. Focused on news
3. I don't see a brand identity

SOFTACADEMY.BG

PROS

1. Shows the graduated students
2. They have corporate training
softacademy-bg-pros-cons
telerikacademy-school-pros-cons

TELERIKACADEMY.COM

PROS

1. Modern and clean design
2. Minimalist information content
3. News subscription option
4. The benefits are presented according to age groups (grades 1-3/ grades 4-7/ grades 8-12)

CONS

1. The portal for the profile, trainings and overall information of the course is too complex and detailed

BRAND IDENTITY

TYPOGRAPHY

HEADING 1 - Rubik 70pt Bold

HEADING 2 - Rubik 60pt SemiBold

HEADING 3 - Rubik 40pt Medium

HEADING 4 - Rubik 30px Medium

Accent - Rubik 24px Regular

Paragraph - Rubik 18px Regular

COLORS

Orange
#FFAA51
Blue
#50C1E9
Green
#3BBB66
White
#ffffff
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LOGO DESIGN

Based on the ideas and wishes of the team, we decided that the logo would be with an owl, which is a symbol of wisdom and knowledge. The idea of the academy is not only to prepare successful professionals in the IT industry, but also to improve their physical health and lifestyle. The color scheme is based on competitive research, as is the audience, which is children/students.

USER EXPERIENCE

USER FLOW

The Academy will use direct marketing to attract potential participants. The target groups will be mainly secondary school students and university students. The user path to MVP will be entirely tailored to user readiness. Hypothetically, once they get to the registration process, they will most likely become members of the program. These are of course assumptions, but this is what the entire business model will be based on.
dev-smart-academy-userflow
1. Registration / Login
2. Acquaintance with the activity of the academy
3. Choosing a field of study (Front-end, Back-end, FullStack, Design, Management)
4. Choose a course (The first introductory lessons are free, to continue you have to pay)
5. Course payment
6. Starting a course
7. Solving tasks through a solution and check system
8. Share ideas and questions in a forum
9. Attaching files - homework, control or exam
10. Successful completion of the course

STORYBOARD

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INFORMATION ARCHITECTURE

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LOW-FI DESIGN

Our idea was to start with just one MVP page as a foundation and from there add additional functionality as well as build the rest of the full content pages. I re-analyzed the competition's good approaches and assessed the steps required for a clear and easy user experience.

HIGH-FI DESIGN

Everything about the interface design is in line with the logo design, but I also envisioned the assignment and exam platform to have a more operational feel, I thought about our target user group - students, and the fact that the whole platform would be in in the form of a level game that supports bright colors and illustrations.
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