Learnt
Facilitating learning for fun through design
Client
Experience Design Principles
Skills
UI/UX, Product design, Visual design, Branding, Illustration, Figma, Miro
Role
Researcher, Designer
Timeline
4 Weeks, Fall 2023
Learning Isn't Fun Anymore.
Learned originated from a conversation with a friend who was torn between taking classes they were interested in and those beneficial to their major. Intrigued by the concept of learning beyond the required course load, I conducted some interviews and discovered a recurring theme.
Students do want to learn for fun, but time constraints make it hard to enroll in courses of personal interest. Furthermore, pursuing a minor may be impractical for some—it's hard to justify investing time and money in non-career-specific courses.
However, learning for fun could uncover passions or add perspective to academic focus. Learning shouldn't be confined to graded essays but an everyday discovery sparking excitement.
“The courses outside my major were some of the most impactful classes I’ve taken.”
Maya Lalicon, 5th year majoring in mechanical engineering, Minoring in human communications and east asian studies
“I want to explore personal interests through my classes... am I wasting money on something that's not going to support my major?”
Caitlyn Cennamo, 3rd year majoring in Business administration
How Might We Facilitate Learning For Fun For Northeastern Students?
Pop-Up SurveyS
To further explore this issue, I conducted a pop-up survey with 15 of my Experience Design peers asking: What's something you've learned recently? And how did you learn it?
These are the primary takeaways:
71% of those who learned from online sources attributed it to video tutorials
73% Learned for skill improvement
27% Learned for leisure
Experience mapping
To further understand the motives behind students' extraneous learning, I turned to my friend Michelle, an avid space enthusiast, to create an experience map on how she learns about the cosmos.
"Yay, I know more than the average person now."
MICHELLE MONTENGRO, 2nd Year majoring in mechanical engineering, space enthusiast
When prompted what Michelle did what the knowledge she gained at the end of her education process, this was her response. Learnt quickly became not only about how students can absorb new knowledge, but how they might be able to share passions or hobbies they haven't had the opportunity to before.
Precedent and Analogous Solutions
I turned towards current and past designed solutions aimed at solving similar issues.
TikTok
Digestible, short-form video content
Skill Share
Collaborative platform for participants to share their hobbies
Splash
Student led program where college students sign up to teach courses on topics of interest to high schoolers
Learning + Getting Turnt = Learnt
Initial brand and concept
As I researched, I also iterated on the look and feel of Learnt. Solidifying typography and colors was another method of helping me flesh out exactly what services Learnt provides.
Brand and idea Concept Feedback
I interviewed four Northeastern students to gather preliminary feedback on initial branding and concepting. Here are some of the key findings.
Ecosystem diagram
Through my findings, I realized that the end solution may not be limited to solely an app or digital interface. To flesh out the scope of what design solutions be explored, I drafted an ecosystem diagram that allowed me to put myself in the shoes of a student discovering Learnt's services.
Designed Solutions
After conducting sufficient research, I crafted solutions using the feedback I received from others.
LearnT Social media platform
My first solution was a short-form educational video sharing platform like TikTok, but make it SkillShare (only the productive stuff) with some key features.
Key Features
Algorithmically suggests video content on hobbies and topics of personal interest
Share your hobby journey with others
Connect with peers knowledgeable on topic of interest
Resources to learn more about the topics
Learnt spaces
Students sign up to share a hobby in an engaging manner with peers at Learnt spaces around campus.
Key Features
Access free materials for topics of interest
Topics would rotate out at each space on a regular basis based on students interested in teaching
Space locations would change on a regular basis
Club Fair
Event encouraging students to bring a hobby or interest of their choice to share in an engaging manner with peers at a tabling event
Key Features
Similar to a less formal, more low-commitment club fair
Students teaching are given the opportunity throughout the event to explore other's hobby tables
Key Features
Facilitates 1-1 in person learning/mentoring sessions
Make friends with people who share your interests
peer mentoring
Program that connects you with peers knowledgeable on your hobbies you're interested.
Doomscrolling? More like Doom Schooling!
Feedback
To test my solutions, I polled Northeastern students on their initial feedback on my prototypes. Most students were interested in the App and Club Fair. With this information, I'm able to effectively enact on my peer's feedback and craft next steps.
Slides from my final presentation deck
What I Learnt
When in doubt, ask for feedback.
There were many points during the ideation process where I was unsure of how students would be receptive to different ideas. When I ran into issues like this, I immediately sought out others to user test initial reactions to my idea. This resulted in prototypes that were true to students' needs.
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Designed with <3 by Olivia Wang