Pipe Dream Academy
“Design is about three dimensions and the five senses.” – Danielle Sacks

Client

Pipe Dream Ventures

Pipe Dream Ventures’ founder envisions an eLearning platform where job-seekers can learn about roles, acquire the skills they need to succeed in them, and gain experience through VR simulations of the projects they might tackle in those roles. In its fully developed state, the platform would analyze users’ performance in these simulations and display their skills and aptitudes on their profile, and the platform would facilitate matching job-seekers with employers and recruiters in need of candidates with those attributes.

Project Overview

Pipe Dream Ventures connected with myself as a UX Designer and Researcher, and 3 other team members from the Prime Digital Academy's UX Design and Research program, to develop a new product that helps job seekers develop new skills towards a career in tech.

The process included conducting user research and iterating through prototypes and evaluations of how well the new designs meet the needs of the users.

For a conclusion, we were asked to present our findings in the form of a client presentation and deliverable package for Pipe Dream Ventures stakeholders.

Primary Users:

  • Dislocated tech workers seeking a new job opportunity or new job trajectory within tech

  • People not in tech seeking to transition into tech

Story of Approach

In this group sprint, we were given the chance to work on a new product by Pipe Dream Ventures. In our UX role, we conducted the development, research, prototyping, and evaluations of this new product. To begin the process, we partnered with a stakeholder from Pipe Dream Ventures to develop a Client Overview that encompassed history, present state, and future plans. This involved gaining an understanding of the products purpose, its target audience, key user tasks, competition analysis, and any other relevant resources.

After obtaining a comprehensive understanding of the Pipe Dream Ventures landscape, we created a scope of work based on the agreed upon deliverables. When that was approved, we conducted a deep dive to gain a deeper understanding of the products marketplace. Those insights and data obtained led to Directed Storytelling and Interviews seeking direct user research. This research was used to create a strategy statement which helped identify the themes and key insights to concentrate on and develop into a Mid-Fidelity prototype. With a prototype in place, new feedback and insights were gained through Usability Tests which eventually led to an evolved Higher Fidelity Final Interactive Prototype.

The project culminated in a Client Presentation Video and a Final Deliverable Package that included a Summary of Key Findings, Read Me File, High- Fidelity Annotated Wireframes, Digitized Architectural Diagram, User Journey Map, and an Elearning Interactive Prototype.

My Role

As a designer & researcher for this project, professional goals were:

  • Define the scope of a UX project engagement 

  • Identify and highlight unique strengths or areas of focus as a UX professional

  • Conduct research in order to understand pain points and opportunity areas.

  • Synthesize research findings to identify meaningful insights.

  • Create prototypes that address opportunity areas

  • Refine prototypes through evaluation methods

  • Visually present design recommendations that support key goals

  • Follow up goal, to present a professional portfolio showcasing my UX process and resulting work.

Design Toolkit

Notion - Tracking Projects & Sharing Documents
Figma - Wireframing & Prototyping Web Layout
Adobe Creative Cloud - Photoshop, Premiere Pro Video Production, & Creating PDF’s
Apple MacBook Pro - Case Study Computer
Zoom - Online Meetings
Google Suite - Scheduling & Meeting Coordination, Internet Data Searching, File Collection, Text and Script origination, Emailing & Participant Communication

Competitive Audit

Approach:
As part of the UX design process for Pipe Dream Academy, a competitive audit was conducted to evaluate similar products or services in the market. The goal of this audit was to gain a comprehensive understanding of the competition's strengths and weaknesses, which would inform design and development decisions for the client's product. The audit involved analyzing their features, workflows, processes, and visual design elements.

Outcome:
The competitive audit identified strengths, weaknesses, and opportunities for a new foundation in the market, informing the design and development decisions for Pipe Dream Academy.

Key Findings and Insights:

  • Human connection element exists even with popular elearning (mentor moments, student-to-student relationships etc.)

  • Trust can be built by showing success metrics, by having clear affiliations with well-known companies

  • There are an abundance of free and inexpensive resources, so the value proposition has to be pretty clear. Reputation matters for a paid service.

  • Some interest in soft skills in VR.

  • Disconnect between hard tech skills training and VR.

  • Accessed through computers

Directed Storytelling/ Research Interviews

Directed Storytelling/ Research Interviews

Themes Established During Interviews

  • Trust - Transparency, user reviews, testimonials, and data privacy.

  • Flexibility - User control and learning resources available.

  • Clarity - User friendly interface and clear instructions.

  • Value - Reputation, accreditation, and high quality content.

Approach:
With the scope of work in place, we needed to gather insights from users, so we utilized Directed Storytelling and Interview Questions. This approach aimed to understand focused needs, goals, and expectations and covered topics such as the target audience, current pain points, and potential goals.

Outcome:
The insights collected from the Directed Storytelling and Interview Questions were instrumental in shaping the design and development of the recommended product features.

This approach ensured that the final product met the expectations of the users and provided an effective and valuable solution. The interviews proved to be an invaluable method to collect crucial information and guide the design and development of a successful product.

Feature Concepts and Kano Analysis

Approach:
To ensure that Pipe Dream Academy product met the needs and expectations of its target audience, we employed the Kano Analysis method. We was seeking the specific knowledge of what features to prioritize and get a deeper understanding of customers needs and expectations.

Outcome:
We were able to evaluate the significance of 13 different features and their impact on customer satisfaction and overall product functionality.

This analysis allowed us to make informed decisions about the future development of the product, ensuring that the direction of development remained very user centric.

Survey Feedback:
”Hard skills might qualify you for a job, but soft skills will actually get you the job.”
- Hard/ soft skill content

“If we're talking VR headsets, I get major motion sickness, so that's a hard pass on that feature for me.”
- VR educational units

“Games sound fun in theory but most educational games I've experienced aren't actually that fun, so I'm a little skeptical”
- Reward/ point system

Detailed results of Kano analysis

  • Users consider these features as necessary for a tech career eLearning platform: 

    • Outlined curriculum of coursework for a given career

    • Training in hard skills

  • Users consider these features as attractive and valuable:

    • Training in soft skills

    • Shareable certificates of completion

Persona’s & Strategy Statement

Strategy Statement:
All user experience touch points for Pipe Dream Ventures will help job seekers to feel supported and/or confident so that they are able to increase skills to get a job.

We will do this by focusing on trust, value, flexibility, and clarity. As a result, we hope to see a change in users' ability to get jobs.

Approach:
To guide the project direction, personas and an initial strategy statement were developed based on insights and themes that were coming to light. The statement included the brand, specific user groups, emotions, goals, themes or approaches, and metrics. The statement was a constant reminder of the project's direction and was subject to modification as the project evolved and the approach was refined.

Outcome:
The statement was critical to the success of the project. It provided a daily clear and concise direction to follow, ensuring alignment on the project's goals and objectives.

Additionally, reflecting on the project allowed for valuable follow-up reflection moments, such as evaluating the approach taken and how success would be measured. Overall, the strategy statement served as a valuable tool throughout the project's lifecycle.

Future User Journey Map

User Journey Map

Approach:
To evaluate the effectiveness of design changes, a Future User Journey Map was created to provide a before-and-after comparison. This comparison helped identify areas of the user experience that needed improvement and enabled us to assess the success of the changes in enhancing the user's experience.

Outcome:
The use of a Future User Journey Map enabled us to effectively validate the impact of our design efforts and showcase them to stakeholders. By comparing the before and after maps, we gained a clear understanding of the impact of the changes made, and were able to make informed decisions for future product development to ensure a seamless user experience.

Digitized Architectural Diagram

Digitized Architectural Diagram created on Figma

Approach:
We created a computer-generated UX architectural diagram that visually displayed the screen flows and interaction model of the design, which was presented to stakeholders during a strategy meeting. This meeting allowed for a collaborative discussion around stakeholder goals and ways to measure success. The resulting confirmed design vision and UX strategy ensured that the app had good usability for users.

Outcome:
This established a shared understanding among stakeholders and the team on the app's structure and functionality, which helped to align everyone towards the same goals.

Additionally, the UX architectural diagram provided a roadmap for development and testing, which helped to identify potential usability issues and improve the overall user experience of the app. Ultimately, the approach resulted in a well-designed app that met the needs and goals of stakeholders and users alike.

Low Fidelity Wireframe Sketches/ Brainstorming

Approach:
To showcase our proposed features and user experience for the Pipe Dream Academy app, we started by sketching and brainstorming through low-fidelity work. After getting feedback through a Mid-Fidelity usability test we went deeper and created a higher fidelity Figma prototype and annotated wireframes.

With the annotated wireframes, we started by focusing on the most critical and distinctive interactions that aligned with my user stories.

Outcome:
In documenting the annotated wireframes, we focused on providing context, rationale, and interaction information. For context, we provided information on the element's purpose, location in the app, and viewing context. We linked the design recommendations to research findings, user needs, and business goals for rationale.

Finally, for interactions, we described how they would behave, the different states and how they would display and work together, and what would happen after an interaction.

High Fidelity Annotated Wireframes

High Fidelity Annotated Wireframes

Usability Testing

Round 1 Mid-Fidelity Prototype Testing:

  • 5 participants

  • all 20-25-year-old POC seeking careers in tech

  • 3 of 5 had tried VR before

Round 2 High-Fidelity Prototype Testing:

  • 5 participants

  • 3 20-25-year-old POC, 2 40-45 white folks, all seeking careers in tech

  • 4 of 5 had tried VR before

Key Takeaways

  • A younger, Gen Z demographic is more keen on VR and gamified learning than previous generations

  • Users want more information about how the platform works and why they should trust it.

  • The prototype’s organization is clear and navigable

  • Users had trouble finding their job-seeker profile

  • Users wanted ways to get help from a human

  • Users found the platform flexible

Quotes

"If anyone is looking for any tech industry, or at least trying to learn anything about tech industry, I think this will be very good for any person who's potentially going in."

“I'm just looking around at the site looks very professional, nothing. Everything was very well explained and very detail oriented.”

Interactive Website Prototype

Client Presentation & Deliverables Handoff

Approach:
A client presentation video and presentation deck was created to share with stakeholders as a conclusion to this sprint. The video gave an overview and explored the entire design process including a prototype walkthrough.

Outcome:
The client presentation video proved to be an effective way to communicate the journey of the Pipe Dream Academy experience. Viewers were able to understand the potential impact of the application and the customer experience. Stakeholders appreciated the clarity and emphasis on design principles in the prototype.

This viewing helped gain buy-in and approval for the proposed features, which ultimately led to further success and development of this product.

Click video above to watch Pipe Dream Academy Presentation video

Client Feedback:
”So amazing! Thank you guys so much. I was truly impressed. I was caught by surprise!

I am still amazed that you guys did this in 3 weeks. Usually these things take a lot of time. As a project manager, it’s good to see. You were really communicating and collaborating with how to work with each other and delegating.”

- Marlaina Love
Pipe Dream Academy CEO/ Founder

Client Hand Off Meeting on Zoom

Next Steps

Based on the data we gathered, we see a few areas of focus for further development as Pipe Dream Ventures continues to develop their idea:

  • While VR simulations allow users to interact with AI avatars, users also want opportunities for human connection on the platform. We can envision this through engagements such as mentorship, live masterclasses, and live tech challenges and competitions.

  • We recommend that Pipe Dream Ventures add a bit of sample content to convey how the VR lessons or simulations could function.

  • The employer side can be built out to show how businesses can utilize the platform to search for new tech talent.

  • Finally, developing a job board would be a great way to provide opportunities for job seekers who are ready to apply the skills that they've learned and contribute to an organization.

Personal Growth

The experience of working with my team has been invaluable in my personal and professional growth. I appreciate the opportunity to have gained such valuable insights and look forward to continuing to learn and grow in my future endeavors.

As a team, this process also allowed us to improve our skills in conducting user research, synthesizing findings, and developing actionable insights.

Overall, working in a group with other UX designers led to better outcomes, greater efficiency, and a more valuable working experience.

Method Thoughts

Working in a group of four people to explore a new VR technology, I discovered the importance of integrating diverse research methods. Through this process, I gained a profound understanding of user behavior that enabled me to make informed decisions.

By aligning the final product with the actual needs of our specific user group, we were able to reduce the risk of developing something that didn't resonate with stakeholders.

Conclusion

Marlaina is one step closer to the introduction of the Pipe Dream Academy new elearning platform to the masses. This ”accessible” VR eLearning platform had users voicing that they were “Excited” and “Hopeful” when working with a product like this. This innovative platform will bring a valuable tool to job-seekers that will help them feel supported and successful.

File Index

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