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Design for Social Good
The design for social good by creating a dedicated mobile app and a complementary responsive website as requirement for the course of UX design certification.
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“How does designing for social good differ from designing any other product?
Every UX design project is about resolving pain points that real users are facing. But designing for social good takes that concept a step further by creating solutions that lead to “collective social good.” In other words, designing for social good is a way for UX designers to address problems going on in their communities and drive positive change in society”.
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Focusing on user pain points that lead to societal change is vital work, because it prioritizes problems that might otherwise be ignored in lieu of profitable gain or convenience. Designing for social good is often tied to equitable access, like increasing access to quality Education or health care, decreasing poverty, tackling environmental concerns, and more.”
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By Cousera.
HALALE
User Experience App and Responsive Website for Social Good
for interactions between Schools and parents.
Project overview
The product
Halale is an Angola-based organization focused on increasing the school performance of primary school students.
Schools need an online tool that helps parents learn more about their children's academic performance whenever they are unable to attend school meetings.
Halale's main target users include students, family members of students. The idea is to create a network that allows parents to contribute with attitudes that encourage their child's dedication to classes and that the school can also and would like to learn more about what they can do to reduce poor performance as much as possible.
Project duration - May-Jun 2022
The problem
In the Republic of Angola, there is a precarious education system and consequently poor student performance because parents have not followed their children's student life.
In some families parents hardly attend school meetings, children are left to fend for themselves.
It was identified the lack of knowledge of the obligations of the parents of education towards the students.
It also identified a lack of a communication channel that allows effective communication to overcome difficulties. Parents need to know if the school is also fulfilling its obligations.
The goal
Create an app and a responsive website that improves communication between schools and parents in order to improve students' school performance.
My role
UX designer leading the app and responsive website design from conception to delivery.
My responsibilities
Conducting interviews, paper and digital wire framing, low and high-fidelity prototyping, conducting usability studies, accounting for accessibility, iterating on designs, determining information architecture, and responsive design.
User research
Personas
Problem statments
Competitive audit
UNDERSTANDING THE USER
User Research -Summary
Due to circumstances I had to immigrate to Europe without my children. When we lived together I was the person who followed their school life. They stayed with mother and she hasn't been following their school performance and when I request information from their school I don't get feedback either.
Few parents accompany their children to do their homework. Due to the lack of family support, few children complete high school before the age of 18, which makes it difficult for them to find good employment and even continue in higher education.
The feedback received through the survey made it very clear that parents and schools need a tool that allows them to communicate on an ongoing basis.
Persona: Lorena Silva
Problem statement:
Lorena Is a Busy executive, who needs a tool /app to be connect to the school of his son.
Because she needs to be able to follow up remotely the scholar performance of his son when he can´t attend the meetings at school.
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Persona: Mario Azevedo
Persona: Mario Azevedo
Problem statement:
Mario Azevedo Is a Busy Engineer who needs a tool /app to be connect to the school of his son.
Because an immigrant who lives in Europe, pays the school of his son Alexander who lives in the republic of Angola and needs a means to communicate with his son's school and know about his son's performance.
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Competitive audit
An audit of some competitors' products and services provided guidance on gaps and opportunities for site Halale
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Ideation
I did a quick ideation exercise to come up with ideas on how to address the gaps identified in competitive auditing.
My focus was specifically on tracking the steps necessary for there to be effective communication between the guardians of the students and the school according to the problem presented.
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STARTING THE DESIGN
Digital wireframes
Low fidelity Protoptype
Usability studies
Digital wireframes App
After idealizing and drawing some paper wireframes, I created the initial designs for the Halale Follow me at School app.
These designs focused on providing personalized guidance to users (parents and guardians) to find the information they need according to their needs:
1 - Parents know about students' performance in schools
2 - The schools can find out how parents have guided their children to do their schoolwork each.
Digital Mobile wireframes App
Digital Wireframe Mobile Website
Low Fidelity Prototype Mobile App
Low-fidelity prototype Responsive Website
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It is a mobile version on an responsive website of a non-profit organization linked to education.
This organization has already created an interactive app, now it has a website with a lot of information and has a link for people to access the app through the website called my school.
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This link allows parents to follow the school performance of their children as well as the school can find out how parents have contributed to the school performance of their students.
Usability study: parameters
Study type
Unmoderated usability study
Location
Australia, remote
Participants
Five
Length
30-60 minutes
Usability study: findings
Finding-1
Based on the theme that: (Insigths#1_Navigation Map), an insight is: Users need a Fly out Page from Hamburguer Menu with the Navigation menu as Map to move around the website.
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Finding-2
Based on the theme that: (Insigths#2_Move inside Page), an insight is: Users need Back and forward to navigate in front and Back.
Finding-3
Based on the theme that: (Insigths#3_Editing Profile), an insight is: Users need an "Edit" button on the profile page
REDEFINING THE DESIGN
Mockups
High-fidelity prototype
Accessibility
Mockups
Based on insights from usability studies, I applied design changes such as providing a clear section of the home screen to navigate categories of information.
Just enter the home page or the flyout menu to have access to all the information that the website can provide.
Home Page - Mobile App Mockup
Home Page - Website Mobile Mockup
Before usability study
After usability study
About Page
Home Page - Website Mobile Mockup
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After usability study
Before usability study
Mobile High Fidelity Prototype Website
The high-fidelity prototype followed the same user flow as the low-fidelity prototype, including design changes made after the usability study.
Accessibility considerations
1-Clear labels for interactive elements that can be read by screen readers.
2-Initial focus of the home screen on personalized recommendations help define the primary task or action for the user.
RESPONSIVE DESIGN
Information Architecture
Responsive Design
Sitemap
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With the app designs completed, I started working on the responsive website design.
I used the sitemap of a non-profit organization linked to education that provides an application that allows schools to interact with students and families to increase student performance.
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The Site has a link to app interactions.
The organizational structure of the design of each screen ensures a cohesive and consistent experience across all devices.
Responsive design
The designs for screen size variation included mobile, tablet, and desktop. I optimized the designs to fit specific user needs of each device and screen size.
Mobile Website
Tablet Website
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Desktop Website
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GOING FORWARD
Takeways
Next steps
Takeways
IMPACT
​Users shared that the app allows families and schools to be mutually connected and all problems can be resolved proactively and so student performance can increase significantly.
A quote from peer feedback was that “the Halale-Follow up your son app helps bring a spirit of commitment to children's education and commitment from teachers and guardians and parents”.
WHAT I LEARNED
I learned that while the problem I was trying to solve was a big one, diligently going through each step of the design process and aligning with specific user needs helped me find workable and useful solutions.
Next steps
1- Conduct research on the app's success in reaching many schools and public and private in various parts of the world.
2- Add more educational resources for users to learn the benefits of engaging in children's education.
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LET´S CONNECT!
Thank you for your time reviewing my work on the Halale
If you’d like to see more or would like to get in touch, my contact information is provided below.
Email: mario.azevedo.148@gmail.com
Phone number is (+351) 930 572 904
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