International Summer Courses
Your gateway to the future. Guiding your next steps.
Key Skills
Secondary Research, Competitive Analysis, Persona, User Flows, Sketches, Wireframes,
Hi Fidelity Prototypes
My role
UX Researcher
UX Designer
UI Designer
Team
2X UX Designers
Timeline
April - May 2021 (5 Weeks)
Project Overview
International Summer Courses is a start-up that aims to partner with institutions worldwide to bring users the best summer academic courses in Europe, Latin America and North America. Their unique platform lets users explore multiple programs at the same time, contact the institution directly, and submit their application in just one click.
The Problem
Being a newly launched company, International Summer Courses is in need of a user friendly website. They asked us to create a unique experience for students and parents to find international summer camps/courses in a simple and efficient way. Some specific things they asked us to focus on:
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Basic filtering options on the home page
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Advanced filtering options that will help users find courses more easily
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Separate sign in options for students/parents and institutions
Design Process
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Secondary Research
- Competitive Analysis
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Personas
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User Flows
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Wireframes
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Visual Design
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Usability Tests
Design Research
For this project we decided to do secondary research and a competitive analysis. Although user research in the form of interviews is extremely useful, we decided to skip it due to the project's time constraint. We decided to get user feedback during usability testing once we create the wireframes.
Methods used:
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Secondary Research: articles, studies, videos
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Competitive Analysis
Secondary Research
First, we conducted secondary research to better understand the target market, the existing products and the market space. We read articles, studies and blogs as well as watched some videos.
During the secondary research it became evident that taking international summer courses has many academic and social benefits for students.
“As an international student in a summer study abroad program, you’ll have the opportunity to experience life in glamorous new surroundings. If you want to properly immerse yourself in the unique art, culture, nightlife, cuisine, fashion, and dynamic entrepreneurial environments of another country, then what better way than to spend a few weeks there as a (temporary) local? ” (S.M. Audsley)
“A number of studies show that, if you study abroad, you’re more likely to find a job, and more likely to find it soon after graduating. It’s not just about employability, though; from making new friends from all over the globe, to being introduced to a diversity of new ideas, to the simple joy of seeing the world…”
“Research shows that students coming from lower income families have higher chances of successfully enrolling in a highly rated university after taking an international summer school course. Taking a summer course will help you access your true potential, silence your self-doubts and give you the confidence to pursue your dreams.” (Alexandru Pop)
Another thing we learned is that summer classes / camps are very popular and it is a rapidly growing industry.
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The market size of the summer camps industry in the United States is $3.8 billion in 2021.
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The market size of the summer camps industry is expected to increase 1.4% in 2021.
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The market size of the summer camps industry in the US has grown 2.3% per year on average between 2016 and 2021.
Competitive Analysis
To better understand the market space and competitors, we analyzed three websites that are commonly used for searching summer courses.
1. Oxford Summer Courses is one of the most popular summer course programs. They have 1, 2 and 4 week academic and English Language courses for students aged 9 to 24. However, they only provide their own summer classes. They don’t list any courses from any other institutions.
2. Keystone Academic Solutions is a place that connects students with higher education institutions. They list courses for different areas of higher education such as masters, bachelors, summer classes, online courses, etc.
3. International Studies Abroad (ISA) provides college students in the United States and Canada with different types of study and internship opportunities abroad.
Oxford Summer Courses
Likes
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Home page is clean and easy-to-use.
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Filters are simple but effective.
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There is detailed information about the classes, accommodation, price, location, etc.
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Application process is easy and clear.
Keystone Academic Solutions
Likes
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Provides various types of programs from all around the world.
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Home page is clean and easy-to-use.
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Filters are simple but effective.
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Advanced filters make it easier to search for a specific course.
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Sign in flow is easy and possible with social media accounts
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Add to Favorites’ and ‘Add to Comparison’ functions help users to save, compare and come back later.
International Studies Abroad
Likes
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Provides various types of programs from all around the world.
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Advanced filters make it easier to search for a specific course.
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Sign in flow is easy and possible with social media accounts
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‘Add to Favorites’ function helps users to save and come back later.
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You can find the eligibility and requirements for each program.
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There is very detailed info about each program and direct contact info to ask your questions.
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Application process is easy and clear.
Dislikes
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Only provides their own courses
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No login-signup option / no personalization
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No ‘save’ or ‘add to favorites’ option
Dislikes
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You can’t find all the information about the programs on the website. You have to contact them and ask for more info.
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You can’t directly apply to the programs.
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Most programs are for college level students. You can’t find anything for younger students.
Dislikes
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All programs are for college level students. You can’t find anything for younger students.
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It is only for the students in the US and Canada.
Key Insights from the Research
Based on secondary research and competitive analysis, we identified the following key insights that would allow us to move to the next phase of the design process.
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ISC website should definitely have a mobile friendly version.
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Home page should be simple and clean. There shouldn’t be many filters which make the users feel overwhelmed on the homepage.
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There should be advanced filters options which will provide an easier experience for the users to look for specific programs.
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There should be enough info about each specific program (such as requirements, price, length of time, school info, etc.) on the website.
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Users should be able to contact and ask for more info or apply to the programs easily.
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Sign up / sign in flow should be easy with social media choices to speed up the process.
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Sign up / sign in should only be necessary after the users decide to personalize their experience, for example, when they want to save a program or apply to a program.
Personas
Thanks to the secondary research we made and the feedback we got from the company about their users, we tried to empathize with the potential users and we created two personas.
Defining the Problem
In this stage of the process we translated all our insights into problem statements in order to clarify and point out the problem we wanted to solve. We generated one basic ‘How Might We’ question that guided us throughout the whole process.
How might we help users search for and find the best summer programs/ courses in a simple and efficient way?
User Flow
Then we created a user flow based on our red route: Searching for programs.
Sketching
After we created the user flow, we started to sketch our ideas on paper. Sketching helped us gain an insight on what page settings would work before designing it digitally.
Wireframing
As the next step, we prepared the low fidelity wireframes of both the desktop version and mobile version of the website using Sketch.
(Home page)
(Advanced Filters)
(Filtered Courses)
(One Specific Course)
(Advanced Filters)
(Parent / Student Sign Up)
(Parent / Student Sign In)
Prototyping and Usability Testing
After we prepared the wireframes, we used them to create an interactive prototype for the desktop version of the website.
We conducted moderated usability tests with 5 potential users to get some initial feedback on designs. The stakeholders helped us recruit the test participants. All of the participants have had experience in looking for and finding summer courses. The tests were held remotely via zoom. The sessions captured each participant’s navigational choices, task completion rates, comments, overall satisfaction, and feedback.
Before each test we asked the participants some questions about their previous experience in looking for summer courses. We tried to learn:
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which websites they used to find a summer course
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how their experience was
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what they liked about their experience
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if they found anything frustrating or hard
In order to test our prototype, we asked the participants to do some basic tasks such as searching for a summer course, using the advanced filters, choosing one of the courses, applying to the course they liked, etc. Moreover, we asked them about their overall experience and ideas about the website.
Most of the participants said they spend a lot of time finding a summer course. They either do this by google search or by the recommendations of their teachers, friends, etc.
During the tests we saw that the overall design of the website works well. In general, all the participants found the website to be useful, clear and easy to use. The participants could complete most of the tasks easily and smoothly.
Here are some main findings of this test and recommendations:
Key Findings
Before
1) Advanced Filters
We used a text button for ‘advanced filters’ on the homepage just below the primary filters (age, subject, location and price). However, none of the participants paid attention to it and attempted to use it until we told them to click on it.
After
Recommendation
Remove the text button for the advanced filters from the home page. Instead, use the advanced filters on the left side of the filtered classes page which opens when the users type in the search filters on the home page (age, subject, location and price) and click search.
Before
2) Add to Comparison
We designed ‘add to favorites’ and ‘add to comparison’ buttons for each specific course to enable the users to save the courses they like in order to compare or to go back later. However, some of the users found the ‘add to comparison’ button confusing and didn’t understand the purpose.
After
Recommendation
Remove the ‘add to comparison’ button completely from the website and leave the ‘add to favorites’ button.
3) ‘Gender’ in the Filters
We used gender as one of our filters but most participants told us that they haven’t seen gender as a filter in any of the courses/programs.
Recommendation
Remove ‘gender’ as a filter on this website.
4) Requirements
Three of the participants told us that they would love to see the requirements of the program (such as Toefl grade, transcript, reference letters, GPA, etc.) at first. We didn’t have that information on our website.
Before
5) Dates
We provided the dates as months. Three of the participants said they would love to see a calendar to choose specific dates.
After
Recommendation
Use a calendar for users to choose specific dates.
UI Design
The feedback from the usability testing fed into the high-fidelity screens. Considering the user feedback, we incorporated some changes as we designed the high-fidelity screens.
Again we prepared high-fidelity screens for both the desktop and mobile versions of the website. You can see the final prototype here.
(Desktop version)
(Mobile version)
Prototype
Lessons Learned
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When you have limited time or budget, it is important to choose the most efficient research techniques for the project. You have to get the best results despite the shortest possible time and with a limited budget.
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Competitive analysis is a cost-effective and time-saving research method to understand the best practices. It also helps you understand the expectations from your product.
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Usability testing is an important way to understand the problems of your product and find possible solutions.
Next Steps
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As a next step, another round of usability tests with the high-fidelity screens might be carried out with some other potential users in order to get more feedback and gain more insights about the website.
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Testimonials and user reviews can be added to the site after some time.