Simplifying architecture and navigation to foster enhanced learning engagement.
Gojara is an e-learning platform for job-seekers, initially launched as a B2B service with job centres as its main costumer.
After its launch, the platform encountered challenges with user engagement, despite receiving praise for its content. Joining the team as a UX/UI consultant, I focused on resolving these engagement challenges, initiating strategic changes to significantly improve the user experience.
In my role as a UX consultant, I was tasked with identifying and resolving issues related to navigation and architecture.
Additionally, Gojara sought my expertise in finding strategies to motivate end-users to engage more deeply with the content.
The updated version of the project has been launched, and initial test runs with job centers have been conducted. The feedback received so far is overwhelmingly positive.
However, before we could gather sufficient data to draw definitive conclusions, the project's direction shifted from an e-learning focus to a broader platform approach.
The primary goal for Gojara users isn't just skill mastery, as seen on other platforms, but applying those skills to secure employment.
This distinction is crucial in tailoring Gojara's content and user experience, especially for users urgently seeking jobs, where practical application takes precedence.
During this project, I was hired for two stages, each with its own specific goals. Due to the client's important upcoming investor and customer meetings, everything needed to be developed as quickly as possible, leading to a tight schedule.
The project was divided into the following two stages:
Getting familiar with the platform and uncovering possible causes for users leaving.
Based on insights from the Expert Review and data provided by the client, a redesign was undertaken focusing on the structure, main flows, and key screens.
As the company contacted me, they had a hunch about what might be causing users to leave the platform shortly after joining. However, they chose not to share their suspicions until after I completed my independent analysis, ensuring an unbiased review.
In addition to seeking an expert opinion on this specific issue, they also wanted a general evaluation of the platform's current state.
Given the need for a swift review, we decided on a hands-on, streamlined approach without extensive documentation. I provided them access to my Figma file, and we collaboratively reviewed my findings and ideas.
Usability and Accessibility best practices.
Main User Flows and general structure.
Since I believed the root problem stemmed from broader issues not confined to a specific screen or element, I formulated several hypotheses to articulate this perspective.
To further assist the client, I developed an action plan outlining steps to address these issues.
Users have the option to access the same content through “My Academy” and “Etappen” in the main navigation. Additionally, this content can also be reached via home, but it is presented in a different format there.
This overlap in content access points creates confusion among users, leading them to question whether the content is the same, if there are any differences, and how they should choose to engage with it.
With Gojara, the user is free to choose the learning content and its sequence, as the individual subject areas are self-contained.
However, the way the content is listed creates an impression of a specific, sequential order. This perception is further reinforced by elements like the initial headline “Starting”.
Given the extensive variety of learning materials available on Gojara, this misconception of needing to complete everything can be overwhelming for some users, potentially leading to a loss of motivation.
The lack of a clear, descriptive overview of main topics forces users to scroll through all the content to gain an understanding of what's available. Often, the specific subject areas only become clear upon reaching a subpage.
This not only complicates the process of selecting specific content from the middle but also significantly increases cognitive load, as users struggle to remember where each piece of content is located.
Given the client's desire for a swift handover to external developers, I adopted a lean approach. This focused on rapidly generating ideas to address the "Core Problem Hypotheses" and tackling more detailed issues during the Design phase.
In collaboration with the client, we selected the most promising solutions to quickly develop a testable version.
The client had previously conducted user research, providing me with valuable insights into the circumstances, goals, and pain points of the end-users, which I could utilize in my work.
The client had previously conducted user research, providing me with valuable insights into the circumstances, goals, and pain points of the end-users, which I could utilize in my work.
In this phase, I worked highly independently, yet maintained regular, open discussions with the client to review ideas and findings.
This approach enabled me to progress quickly, explore various concepts, and have them evaluated both by myself and the client.
To initiate the ideation process, I employed the "How Might We" (HMW) method. This approach enabled me to focus on creating solutions for specific pain points, rather than attempting to address all issues simultaneously.
Ultimately, this allowed me to review all generated ideas and determine which ones could be integrated into a comprehensive concept.
How might we...
To enhance my comprehension of e-learning platform structures, along with motivation and guidance patterns, I carried out a lightweight analysis of both direct and indirect competitors.
This resulted in a curated collection of screenshots and notes, encapsulating key insights.
I generated numerous smaller ideas, quickly sketching them for further clarification when necessary. For concepts involving structural changes, entire flows, or significant features, I delved deeper, sketching out multiple screens to explore these ideas more thoroughly.
After sketching some promising concepts, I conducted a rapid self-assessment, refining the ideas or setting aside the less viable ones.
Ultimately, I presented the most promising sketches to the client, and together we decided on the final approach.
In the subsequent phase, I developed detailed sitemaps, flows, and wireframes, meticulously outlining all decisions, both major and minor.
In the section below, I will highlight some of the key decisions made during this process.
The current structure of the platform was one of the main concerns that derived from the Expert review and the collected data.
At first glance, the platform's original structure seemed manageable, but it presented several issues:
The focus of the redesign was on enhancing content discoverability, which applied to both general structure, navigation and content presentation.
To reinforce the new hierarchy, another main focus was the redesign of “My Academy”.
As already mentioned for the sitemap I restructured the content with the main focus on making the content discoverable as well as easy to scan.
In the previous design, downloading certificates was not prominently featured, and a single main topic could encompass several certificates or was scattered over multiple sub-topics.
The lectures within a single main topic are interconnected, and although each is independent, it often benefits users to progress through them sequentially.
Previously, these lectures were displayed in a grid format, complicating the quick scanning of headlines, particularly when a sub-topic included more than three lectures.
Additionally, users could navigate between main topics using an extra navigation bar on the top. While this was intended to be helpful, it creates confusion on how to progress through the content.
This was supported by data showing that users rather navigated to another main topic than exploring a lecture, before they got lost.
To evaluate the effectiveness of our updates, we carried out five moderated-remote usability tests.
Our test was a combination of explorative and goal oriented tasks. If applicable we used SEQs (Single ease Question) to get a general impression of Easiness to use across attendants, with 1 being extremely difficult and 7 being extremely easy.
A primary goal was to enhance motivation for engaging with more content.
A usability test is not the most reliable method for obtaining meaningful results in this area, but we assume that we will gain more robust insights through future data analyses.
Nevertheless, certain aspects of our Usability Test do impact motivation, as they are aimed at minimizing frustration, intimidation, and confusion.
Apart from a few minor issues, we identified several problems with wording and icon usage. The primary concern, however, was that the presentation of the main topics came across as overly impersonal.
Consequently, we chose to represent each topic not only with an icon but also with images, aiming to create a more human and positive appearance.
For the concluding meeting and to facilitate the handover to the remote development team, I compiled an overview of all my findings.
Locating suitable images of everyday people can be challenging.
Because we increased the main topics from four to eight, we were in need for some new header images for the concerning pages.
After I searched quite a while for images of poeple that suited our needs I decided to use Midjourney, a generative AI tool, to create the images.
Since the completion of this initial project, Gojara has evolved beyond its roots as an E-Learning platform. The founders of Gojara are now dedicated to shaping it into the ultimate resource for job seekers, enriching the platform with a variety of new tools tailored to their needs.
Additionally, they have shifted their focus from the initial B2B service, which primarily targeted job centers, to directly engaging with end consumers.
Working on this project was a really great experience, and it was made even better by having such a great client to collaborate with. We clicked right from the start, and our hands-on approach was just what was needed, especially considering the tight deadline we were working with.
This project really highlighted how important content structure is to the user experience. It's not just something for content-heavy projects like e-learning platforms; it matters in all kinds of projects.
I wish there had been more time to devote to the final visual design. Initially, it wasn't included in the brief, as the primary focus was on restructuring and developing concepts.
But I'm pleased that the client was happy with my work and has brought me on for more projects. I'm excited to see where Gojara goes from here.
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