Emma Duval case study: Scholastic

Emma Duval UX Designer 1

Hypothetical-client GA project

Case Study

Scholastic AustraliaReading-companion tablet app

Emma Duval UX Designer 2Scholastic Australia

Define

Understanding the brief and business goal

Sprint 1 overview

Research

Competitive and comparative analysis

Ideate

Brainstorming, feature prioritisation

Test

Prototyping, usability testing, analysis

Timeframe

2 weeks

Team

Emma Duval,Toby Freestone

Tools

Pen, paper, Typeform, POP, Preview, Keynote.

Goal

In today’s increasingly digitised world, Scholastic wants take full advantage of technology to maintain reading engagement outside the classroom. They want to include positive role models to do this.

Process

Empathise

Survey, interviews, persona creation

Create

Sketching, user walkthroughs, iteration

Emma Duval UX Designer 3Scholastic AustraliaEmpathise

Survey

We created an online survey to collect quantitative and qualitative data to help us empathise with parents and students.

To make the most of the two weeks we decided to focus on students aged 8–12 years old as we had easy access to this age range and we felt that younger students would have more complicated needs.

Top rated ideas to help children read more

1. Recommended books based on student’s preferences.

2. Games related to the book.

3. A tool which enabled teachers to communicate with parents on student’s reading progress.

4. An tool which allowed students to track books they have read.

50%

Students read more than 7 x week outside school

93%

Students read physical books

87%

Students have access to a Tablet (13% read from tablet/E-reader)

50%

Students participated in the Premier’s Reading Challenge

75%

Students motivated to read by Premier’s Reading Challenge

Key Findings


Survey (continued)

Top 3 student role models

1. Parents

2. Friends

3. Teachers


User interviews

Key findings

1. An app that communicates between teacher and parent about classroom reading resonated with the teachers.

2. Students reviewing books for peers would be good for comprehension and recommendations.

3. PM have online comprehension quizzes about their books, could be done better.

4. Teachers are concerned with quality of texts and relevance to syllabus.

5. Teachers recommended studyladder.com.au as a great resource. It has reading-levelled texts but not great quality and comprehension questions could have more variety.

Chris, Teacher, yr 4

Grace, Teacher, yr 4

Parents have said ‘I don’t know what my kids like to read’.

Kids love digital and typing.


Melissa Primary School Teacher

Persona creation

Based on our findings we created three personas. These will help to drive our design decisions.

Dave Single-parent

Zoe Year 5 Student

Emma Duval UX Designer 7Scholastic AustraliaEmpathise—personas

Melissa Primary School Teacher Passionate about the benefits of reading. Loves her iPad. Moderately tech-savvy.

Often parents don’t realise what good readers their kids are.

Access to quality texts (books and comprehension tools) related to syllabus.

Connect more with parents so that they can be informed about what their child is reading in class.

Get more students engaged in reading as it has so many knock-on benefits.

Provide parents with insights on what to ask their children about their reading in class.

Reduce disruption to the classroom from bored students by providing more engaging reading experiences.

An easy way to search for quality

books related to the syllabus.

GoalsCurrent resourcesScholastic books (amongst other brands) for class reading groups.

PM readers and online reading comprehension tools.

Students have access to iPads and computers regularly.

Studyladder.com.au

Pain Points 1. Students with varied needs. 2. Frustrated with the lack of quality comprehension

resources (quizzes, activities). 3. Difficult to enlist parents’ involvement.

Business opportunities

1. Get brand front-of-mind with parents and teachers by providing a useful tool.

2. Gain more reading engagement by providing quality resources to teachers.


Dave Single-parent IT Consultant, father of 8 year old son. Loves his gadgets. Highly tech-savvy.

I didn’t grow up with a love of reading so my son could really use a good reading role model.

Increasing his son’s reading ability.

Easy way to search for books related to his son’s interests.

Clues on what goes on in class to facilitate more after-school discussion.

Finding reading role models that his son is interested in.

GoalsCurrent resourcesBooks at home that were gifts from friends and family.

Access to an iPad and a computer at home.

Studyladder.com.au

Local and School library.

Pain Points 1. Time-poor. 2. Feels out of the loop with son’s school progress. 3. Wants his son to be a better reader. 4. No ready access to good reading role models.

Business opportunities 1. Increase reading engagement by providing easy

access to quality reading role models. 1. Get brand front-of-mind with parents by providing

a useful reading-support tool.


Zoe Year 5 Student In the lowest class reading group. Loves her iPad. Likes to play App games.

I want to be a better reader so I can join my girlfriends.

Move up from the lowest class reading group to be in her friends’ reading group.

Access to recommended reading appropriate to her level.

Build ability in reading to improve confidence in all learning.

Not feel so dumb.

Ability to manage and see her own progress.

Wants to be able to review and rate books she reads.

GoalsCurrent resourcesBooks at home that were gifts from friends and family.

Scholastic books (amongst other brands) for class reading groups.

Access to an iPad and a computer at home and in class.

Studyladder.com.au

Local and School library.

Pain Points 1. Struggles to find books of interest at the right

reading level. 2. Low confidence in learning. 3. Feels left out of peer group.

Business opportunities 1. Increase reading engagement by providing access

to levelled-reading recommendations. 2. Reaffirm brand’s leading edge by offering market-

wide book recommendations.

Emma Duval UX Designer 10Scholastic AustraliaResearch

Goal-setting, avatars, awards and games

Ages 5–18

Website and App

Teacher–parent communication

Ages 5–18

Website and App

Govt reading engagement program, goal-setting, and awards

Ages 5–18

Website

Ages 5–18

Website and App

Teacher, parent and student communication

Reading recommendations

All Ages

Website and App

Ages 18+

Website and App

Reading recommendations and book buying

Competitive and comparative analysis

Key finding

There does not seem to be a website or app that recommends levelled-reading books for school students, based on their interests.

Emma Duval UX Designer 11Scholastic AustraliaIdeate

As Parents and teachers were the highest ranked role models our solution will focus on assisting them to collaborate to support students to get more engaged in reading.

We will design a tablet app that:

1. Connects parents and teachers to allow regular communication about student reading progress.

2. Provides a recommended list of books for children to read based on their interests and reading level.

Student

Teacher Parent

Emma Duval UX Designer 12Scholastic AustraliaIdeate

Feature Prioritisation

Features for the app were brainstormed and then prioritised for the Minimum Viable Product (MVP).

MVP

1. Separate Logins for Teacher/Parent/Student.

2. Recommendations on similar books at appropriate reading level.

3. Teacher to parent communication.

4. Teacher to assign Student reading level.

5. Student-created Reading/Wish-to-read list.

6. ‘Tick off’ books as read.

7. Communication between students, follow other reading lists.

8. Threaded Comments on books.

9. ‘Favourite’ and star-rate books.

10. Parent and teacher access to student reading list.

Nice To Have

Essential

Hig

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Low

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Way to ‘get’ rec. book from Role Models

Way to follow Role Models

Way to add authors to Reading List

Self-created Student Reading List

Way to ‘Follow’ other Reading Lists

Way to catagorise books into levels

List of books read in class

Way for Teacher to communic-ate with Student

Way for Teacher to communic-ate with Parent

Historic view of Student’s reading

Threaded comments on books

Recomm. books at approp. reading level

Way for Teacher to assign a reading level Separate

Logins for Teacher/Parent/Student

Student Profile details

Parent/Teacher access to Student’s reading

Analytics for Scholastic

Way to ‘Tick Off’ books read

Future Reading Wish List

Reward for Student’s achieve-ments

Star-rating reviews

Way to ‘Favourite’ books

Way to create Discussion topics on books

Tips to encourage better reading habits

List of Class ‘Library Stock’

Way for Teacher to see what Student is reading

Class ‘Library Stock’ comprehension Qs

Way to make updates when on the move

Emma Duval UX Designer 13Scholastic AustraliaCreate

We focussed our ideas and walked some potential users through sketched wireframes.

We also came up with the working title of Reading Owls. This came from an early idea of naming class reading groups after bird species.

Emma Duval UX Designer 14Scholastic AustraliaCreate—user feedback

Shannon, Marketing Manager and Mother 13 YO & 8 YO girls

Susan, IT Consultant and Mother 9 YO son & 7 YO daughter

I want to be able to mark off Premier’s Reading Challenge books more easily.

I can’t believe no one has thought about this before!

Christen, School Teacher and Mother 2 YO girl

Mimi, Office Manager and Mother 8 YO son

I don’t want more to do, I want less

I don’t want my kids anywhere near social media

Emma Duval UX Designer 15Scholastic AustraliaTest

Key usability test findings

1. Parent-teacher nights are only once a year, it’s not enough for parents to keep up to date with reading progress.

2.Parents find the PRC site difficult because it is poorly designed and not user-friendly.

3.We didn’t have sufficient search and filters.

4.Parents don’t like the idea of having a picture of themselves in the app due to privacy concerns.

5.Parents want snippets of advice on how to encourage children to read.

6.Everyone is busy and they want less to do.

Possible solutions

1. Providing a structured way for communication between parent and teacher.

2.Develop a solution which will be linked to the PRC register.

3.Allow searches and filters by author.

4.Remove parents photo from the app.

5.Create a reading engagement ‘Tip of the day’ on the parents homepage.

6.Keep it user-friendly and efficient.


TestScholastic

Launch app

Melissa Send message to parents of class reading group to respective parents.

Select Group 2

Type message Send message

Launch app Select mail icon

Read message Type reply message

Launch app

Login

Login

Login Select Role Models

Select Guy Sebastian

Read about Guy’s rec.s

Send message

Add book to reading list

Dave Receive message from students’ teacher about class reading.

Zoe Look up Role Model’s reading recommendation and add book to Reading List.

User scenarios and final happy paths


TestScholastic

Interactive low-fidelity prototype

Teacher scenario


TestScholastic


Teacher login features

Class reading groups

Teacher can set up of groups different levels of reading within each class.

Group messaging

Teacher can send group messages to parents of each reading group about classroom reading.

Classroom library

Teacher can manage classroom library and related activities.

Class roll

Teacher can have each student’s details (reading level, parent email, reading list) in a sortable list.


TestScholastic


Parent login features

Home screen

Parents can get a ‘tip of the day’, an overview of their child’s/childrens’ reading engagement and message notifications from teachers.

Book details and recommendations

Parents can access book details, comprehension activities and recommended reading that is at the appropriate reading level.

Child’s reading library

Parents can access their child’s reading library to see where their child’s interests are and how their progress is going.

Messaging and information

Parents receive messages from teachers about classroom reading, keeps parents in the loop and ready to take opportunities to discuss texts with child.


TestScholastic


Student login features

Home screen

Students can access an overview of their reading progress and create their own avatar.

Role models

Students can access book recommendations from celebrity role models that is at the appropriate reading level.

Guy Sebastian’s recommendations

Students can get reading inspiration from their role models.

Student’s reading library

Students can keep track of their interests and Premier’s Reading Challenge progress with their own reading library.

Emma Duval UX Designer 21Scholastic AustraliaTest—users

Andrej, Year 4 Student & avid App Game Player 8 YO boy

Rhian, Office Manager and Mother 11–15 YO sons & daughters

I like quizzes, especially when I feel like I will know all the answers

This app makes sense

Sonicka, Year 5 Student & avid App user 10 YO girl

Laura,Lawyer and Mother 16 MO son

Role Models are people you look up to and you want to see what they have read

I would like to be able to direct kids to books they would like, authors etc

Emma Duval UX Designer 22Scholastic AustraliaTest

Key usability testing findings

1. Users wanted to be able to buy a book straight from the app.

2.Users didn’t understand the symbols on the reading list.

3.Users were keen to see activities related to books.

Possible solutions

1. Develop back-end means to allow users to buy books in the App.

2.Create medium-/high-fidelity prototype with clearer symbol designs.

3.Work with Teachers to create activities and comprehension quizzes.

Emma Duval UX Designer 23Scholastic AustraliaConclusion of sprint 1

Team achievements

1. Utilised digital technology by creating an app to help keep students engaged in reading.

2. Involved positive role models (teachers, parents and other notable role models) in the process.

3. Validated these deliverables and our thinking through the process with ‘real-life’ users.

Next steps recommendations

1. Get Teacher feedback on Prototype.

2. Get more usability testing.

3. Create Visual Design.

4. Create some High-Fidelity mockups and prototypes to test visual design.

5. Release to beta group to test in the wild.

6. Build on MVP functionality based on prioritised list.

Emma Duval UX Designer 24Scholastic AustraliaSprint 2 overview

Define

Visual audit

Create

Brainstorm, ideate, visual design

Timeframe

1 week

Team

Emma Duval

Tools

Sketch, Illustrator, Preview, Keynote.

Goal

Create a visual design concept for the reading-companion app prototype developed in sprint 1. The design needs to fit with the existing Scholastic brand style and needs to appeal to students, parents and teachers.

Process

Research

Research comparative conventions and design trends

Test

User feedback, iteration

Emma Duval UX Designer 25Scholastic AustraliaDefine

Visual audit

I looked at Scholastic’s existing brand design style to establish what it is about and to create a foundation to the visual design of the new app.

The existing style is very busy, somewhat inconsistent and there seems to be an unwieldy colour palette.

Key elements that I wanted to build on

1. Primary red and secondary dark blue colours.

2. Primary slab font style.

3. Rounded corners on shapes.

4. Friendly and familiar character of elements.

Website homepage

1

2

3

4


Comparative conventions

I investigated some design conventions and ideas for avatars and rewards from comparative apps.

Key design inspiration

1. GoodReads My Books page had a neutral and comfortable colour palette.

2. Mathletics FaceMaker made rewards out of avatar creation.

3. Buddy Poke avatars have an individual brand style.

4. Pappa’s Freezeria showed avatar accessories yet to be earned.

1

2

3

4


Design trends

I looked at some current visual design trends for visual style inspiration.

Key design inspiration

1. Frost*’s elegant flat layout style and limited colour palette.

2. Dots’ playful and geometric design.

3. Material Design’s flat design with soft shadowing animation.

4. Origami elements, for an animation idea.

1

2

3

4


While brainstorming in Sketch I decided to revisit the working title Reading Owls because I felt that it had an inappropriate nocturnal connotation (reading needs to be encouraged for anytime of day). I came up with Book-a-burra which I liked because it sounds like kookaburra and burra can mean great or creek. Creeks are always moving forward which seems a fitting analogy for creating reading engagement.

Create


CreateScholastic Australia

Laugh Out Loud Jokes for KidsRob Elliot

Recommended by Guy Sebastian

Key design concept ideas

1. Soft background beige colour to reduce glare and to add warmth.

2. Illustrated avatars that student’s can customise (perhaps with points earned for completing challenges). These would require a professional illustrator to create.

3. Soft shadows indicate activated ‘buttons’.

4. Animated origami unfolding (eg: celebrity Role Model label when a book they recommend is added to student’s Reading List).


Parent Dashboard visual design

Create


Reading List visual design

Create

Emma Duval UX Designer 32Scholastic AustraliaTest—feedback

Looks nice and clean and easy to use.

Nice animation idea.

Miriam Classmate and former graphic designer

You seem to have hit the mark with the visual by not ‘talking down’ to children.

Maybe some elements are a bit small for touch screens.

Toby Classmate and former management consultant

Jenn Classmate and former graphic designer

Alana Classmate and former architecture student