The lack of dashboard and confusing navigation of the LMS of my University motivated me to create Ascend LMS. A Personal Design Project.
Role
- Product Designer
- Full-Stack Developer
Team
- Solo
Skills
- Web Design
- Web Development
Timeline
- 9 Mar, 2024 30 Aug, 2024
Defining the Problem and Vision
I identified this issue after hearing multiple classmates express frustration over the confusing and inefficient navigation of our University's Learning Management System (LMS).
The inital problem statement:
"Students, teachers, and school administrators frequently encounter obstacles that hinder effective learning and management. The current LMS is unable to help."
The Solution
A well-structured, intuitive and user-friendly online Learning Management System can help manage the educational growth of all students, teachers and school administrators. Ascend LMS has the same vision.
The Design process
To address the issue and create the solution, I adopted with the User-Centered design framework. This structured approach ensured that every design decision was validated and tied directly to user needs, minimizing guesswork and focusing on creating genuine value.
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Discover: Conduct research to identify the problem and its root causes.
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Define: Analyse the root causes and propose a solution using storytelling.
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Design: Create the user interface of the web app to implement the solution and solve the problem.
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Deploy: Bring the design to live.
User Research
The research process for this project intailed user research, online surveys, in-person interviews with teachers, and competitor analysis.
As a sole designer on the project, I developed a research approach that combined new and known approaches to practice and learn new skills. I reached out to some of my classmates for usability tests.
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Leverage findings to inform strategy and design decisions.
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Research best practices within our domain and discover how we can differentiate our design from the existing one.
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Assess the current LMS of the University to identify usability issues that conflict with known best practices.
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Capture the user's voice so that it can be used to inform the design process and strategy.
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Discover hidden issues or complexities and determine the stakeholders' view of success.
Based on the research data, we found out our main areas of focus.
Collaborative environment
Calendar
Gamification badges
Friendly UI
Progress tracking
Customization
Dark mode
Mobile responsiveness
Intuitive navigation
Comparative analysis
I evaluated the strengths, weaknesses, content design, UX design, and potential opportunities for improvement in each of the learning management systems. I also walked through the flow of each LMS, step-by-step, to understand the user journey.
| Company | Talent LMS | Moodle | Blackboard |
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| Seamless Navigation |
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| Progress tracking |
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| Customization |
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| Badges |
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| Friendly UI |
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User Flow
To understand the navigation of the app, it is very important to have a user flow to ensure the app solves the confusing navigation problem. So I created the general user flow for all types of users. This helped me create seamless and intuitive navigation of the app.
Sketches & Wireframes
Wireframes are the first visual drafts of our solution. After defining all the things for the product, I started creating rough sketches to visualize the product.
The Final Product
Wireframes are the first visual drafts of our solution. After defining all the things for the product, I started creating rough sketches to visualize the product.
Student's Dashboard
Instructor's Dashboard
Admin's Dashboard