Evolving Platzi Agenda: A Design Challenge Quest
Product Design / Web Design / Design Challenge
Platzi offers a plethora of activities each week, from course launches and tutorials to talks, Platzi Live, and Platzi Talk, all centralized on the Agenda page (platzi.com/agenda). However, as the volume of live events increased, the current schedule struggled to promote, accommodate simultaneous sessions, and effectively communicate the wealth of live content to students. It was in this context that the Design Challenge emerged as an opportunity to solve these issues, aimed at a job position within Platzi.
The Challenge: Enhancing Platzi Agenda
The challenge at hand was clear: propose an iteration for Platzi Agenda that keeps users updated on everything happening at Platzi. This task encompassed research, the design process, user interface creation, and handoff. Given the challenge's constraints and objectives, the Design Thinking framework was adapted to streamline the process effectively, aligning with remote and asynchronous work dynamics.
Design Methodology: Simplifying Design with Agile Efficiency
After grasping the brief, I aimed to develop a strategy rooted in Design Thinking. However, given the time constraints of the challenge, I opted to streamline the process. Enter Design Sprints, a time-based methodology that involves cross-functional teams in designing or redesigning a product. While facing constraints such as an incomplete team and incomplete context, I fused the strengths of both methodologies into my design process. Establishing realistic deadlines, I structured a five-day plan to achieve the challenge's objectives efficiently.
Understanding the User: Usability Testing and Empathy Mapping
Thanks to the chosen design methodology, I could employ valuable tools such as usability testing. This testing aimed to understand users' experiences when interacting with Platzi Agenda. Additionally, empathy mapping, an essential tool employed at the outset of any design process, helped categorize interview notes. The insights gathered were illuminating:
Users found the calendar attractive and appreciated the functionality of adding events to their personal calendars.
Users noted that the "Last Launched Courses" list was overly long, suggesting the need for filters based on interests or recency.
Users initially believed that adding an event to the calendar was free, emphasizing the importance of clarifying payment requirements for certain events, such as courses.
Differentiating between "PlatziConf" and "Platzi Live" events was confusing for users.
In essence, users acknowledged that Platzi Agenda held potential but found it somewhat challenging to use.
Defining the User: Crafting User Personas
As the interviewed users had limited experience with Platzi, I created a user persona named Alejandro Sánchez. He embodies characteristics shared by users with little or no prior experience with Platzi but possesses personal objectives and goals that could be met through interaction with the platform.
Benchmarking & Heuristic Evaluation: Learning from Others
Benchmarking research sought to understand how startups, e-learning platforms, and other websites introduce new events and webinars to their users. Key findings included the consistent use of landing pages with introductory sections, card-based UI elements, chronological lists for promoting future and past events, and various calls-to-action (CTAs) to view content or learn more.
Additionally, a heuristic evaluation was conducted based on Jakob Nielsen's and Rolf Molich's principles, assessing the current state of Platzi Agenda's interface. Significant discoveries included multiple areas for improvement that would enhance the user experience.
The Result: A User-Centric Interface
After sketching potential solutions, generating specific ideas through a "Crazy 8's" session, conceptualizing wireframes, the final result was a user interface that:
Maintained consistency with Platzi's visual language.
Leveraged Platzi's Design System components.
Introduced new features, including a calendar for simultaneous sessions, additional course information, and filters for recently launched courses.
This redesign addressed issues identified during evaluation and research, such as the addition of a status bar, calendar filters, marketing for events like Platzi Live, and the ability to subscribe to a calendar. In summary, a new interface designed with the user in mind, while also aligning with business objectives.
Key Learnings
The Platzi Agenda Design Challenge provided a rich learning experience across multiple facets of UX design. I learned to adapt and thrive in an agile development environment, mastering the art of quickly gathering and validating design ideas. Conducting user testing and data gathering became second nature, offering essential insights into user preferences and behaviors. Furthermore, I honed the skill of creating comprehensive front-end documentation, ensuring a seamless handoff to the development team. In essence, this challenge sharpened my ability to iterate rapidly, gather meaningful data, validate design choices, and effectively collaborate in a dynamic, user-centered design process.
