Learn Tech with Friends

Squads

Since the beginning of the pandemic, iDTech had to pivot from our in-person business model to online. In order to compete with our online competition and to make a product more appealing to students, my partners (PM, Director of Innovation, Design VP) and I collaborated and created a unique learning format for students to learn with friends in a more intimate setting. The student have the option of either creating their own personal squad with the ability to invite their friends or join an existing squad.

This new product aimed to combine the aspects of learning tech with creating new friendships online.

Role: Lead Designer • UX/UI

Cross-functional partners: Director of Innovation, ENG, PM, Data Analytics, Marketing/Creative

Goals of the project: Create a learning product with a social aspect to improve user adoption and retention rates to generate more revenue

Project status: Live (“Squads” was replaced with the Small Groups format)

Since being the world’s leader in on-campus tech camps, pivoting to online was a challenge, since there were already several players in the online space.

Besides all of the competition, students were experiencing “ZOOM fatigue” and taking online tech courses after regular school classes was becoming a bit difficult and uninspiring.

Students needed something new and inspiring to continue learning online.

Differentiating in a competitive online tech education landscape

THE PROBLEM

Photo courtesy of iStock

Sketching and interviewing

DESIGN PROCESS: INITIAL USER INSIGHTS

Talking to users and creating some quick sketches is a great start for mapping out the initial direction of the project.

Here are some initial user suggestions/ideas/feedback:

  • Students thought this would be a really fun idea

  • Students liked the idea of creating their own squads and inviting their friends

  • Parents wanted a way to easily share these squads with their friend’s parents

  • Parents were a bit concerned with sharing their child’s private information

  • Parents needed to know the value of the after-school program

DESIGN PROCESS: INTERACTION DESIGN FOR CREATING YOUR SQUAD

Let’s make this fun for the kids

The goal for this UI was to make it fun and engaging for the kids. Using drag gestures for creating their squad was a great way for the user to interact and visualize their squad being created.

Incorporating visual aesthetics

DESIGN PROCESS: UI/VISUAL DESIGN

Since Roblox was one of our most popular courses, I decided to incorporate the image of the Roblox characters on the home screen. Even though the color scheme was playful, I kept the UI design clean and modern.

DESIGN PROCESS: MOBILE INTERACTION DESIGN

Designed to create your Squad on the go

Making this design responsive was important so students and parents could create or join a squad on a mobile device wherever they are… after school, at a soccer game, or on the go.

The small-group Squads format boost engagement and impact revenue!

OUTCOME

The new small-group format achieved 60% adoption, directly contributing to $4.5M revenue in 2021.

The company needed to get this to market ASAP so there were a few small tweaks made to the Squads product, which resulted in the small-group class format with similar curriculum and schedule but without the friends invite feature. This is an example of how to ship sooner to meet market needs, deliver user value, and make the company money!

The Value of Strong Partnerships and Collaboration

PROJECT REFLECTION