tutorcloud
tutor management software + mobile app
Responsible for: user research + personas + user flows + sketching + wireframes + prototypes + user testing + branding
Background
Running a small tutoring business can feel like pure chaos. My background as both a learning center administrator and a tutor felt like putting out one fire after another.
Having experience in the tutoring business, I worked with a small, innovative tutoring company in Santa Monica, California to design a mock tutoring business management software solution that would cut down on time spent scheduling and communication between administrators, tutors, and parents.
Hypothesis
Having experience with scheduling clients and tutors gave me a strong initial idea of how to solve this problem. My original hypothesis was to replace the hectic back-and-forth emails and phone calls between admins, parents, and tutors with an online booking system.
Parents could go online and view a calendar to see what times were available for tutoring sessions, read tutor profiles, and schedule sessions themselves without depending on a tutoring administrator to set up the session for them.
To learn more about online scheduling as a solution, I began by conducting secondary research.
Research
In order to determine how effective online booking solutions were in increasing efficiency in scheduling, I conducted research. Results were promising.
“nearly 70% of 200 customers surveyed claim that they would prefer to book online than by phone” (Blaszkiewicz, 2018)
“... about 80% of patients prefer a physician who offers online scheduling, across both primary care and specialist physicians” (HGRADES, 2017).
“...a counseling group that began using online scheduling software immediately experienced a 75-percent drop in phone calls, which frees up valuable staff time” (Appointment-Plus, 2012).
Customers preferring online scheduling to traditional scheduling methods? A 75% drop in scheduling-related phone calls? It seemed like I was on the right track—I was certain I’d found a solution.
As my next step, I set up interviews with tutoring administrators, tutors, and parents to find out more about their frustrations and needs to see if online booking could be a viable solution.
“70% of customers surveyed prefer online booking over scheduling by phone.”
Interviews
What I learned interviewing administrators was that the culprit wasn’t scheduling itself—it was the “one-size-fits-all” tutor management software that caused administrators to patchwork together softwares and systems in order to schedule and manage daily tasks.
As one admin user explained:
“We’re using five different systems that don’t talk to each other.”
Furthermore, administrators didn’t WANT online booking. Because placing a student with a tutor is a very personalized, white-gloved service, using an online booking system could lead to a messy, impersonal experience for clients.
In the end, I had to throw my “brilliant” online scheduling idea out and dive into what I’d learned from my interviews.
How Might We…
I began asking new questions:
HOW MIGHT WE…
INTEGRATE communication, task management, scheduling, client/student information & accounting into ONE software?
STREAMLINE email, text, and phone communication between admin and clients to fulfill tutoring requests faster without errors?
CONSOLIDATE communication to reduce excess “Slacking” and communication errors between tutors and scheduling admin?
ORGANIZE the calendar view for scheduling admin to quickly add new sessions and easily “move” sessions around without error?
(New) Problem
In order to run day-to-day operations, the stakeholders were using multiple systems to handle communication, scheduling, client management, and accounting.
(New) Solution
Design a cloud-based software that not only combined but streamlined all the features necessary to successfully run a small tutoring business AND a synced app for tutors on-the-go.
User Stories
Assimilating user stories, I was able to get a vivid picture of how to organize both the online admin software and the tutor app.
Information Architecture
Utilizing my user stories, I next designed the sitemap for the web software.
User Flows
For each user flow, I made sure to keep each process minimal and streamlined.
Sketches
Wireframes + Wireflows
I integrated feedback from my guerilla testing into my wireflows and wireframes, adding suggested fields and changing the order of some of the steps, while trying to keep each process as streamlined as possible.
Visual Design
I purposefully selected blues because blues feel calm and soothing and captures the idea of a cloud moving across a serene sky. Additionally, I chose icons that were minimalist and easy to understand. Lastly, I avoided all animation and distracting design elements.
High Fidelity Prototypes
Using my high fidelity screens, I created prototypes for user testing.
Usability Testing & Iterations
I tested my prototypes and derived a list of needed iterations to improve both the web and mobile versions. From there I incorporated the suggestions into another round of designs.
Additional user-testing with my prototypes revealed that the design for both the online admin tutorcloud software and the mobile app made users feel calm. They described the completion of tasks as being:
Easy
Straightforward
Clean
Efficient
Which is exactly what I set out to design for both sets of users.
Conclusion
While tutorcloud’s design is ongoing, thus far its initial red route designs succeed in:
creating a stress-free user experience for both admins and tutors
integrating needed tools into one system
providing tutors with an efficient app
streamlining day-to-day tasks for both users
Although that is not to say that problems weren’t encountered along the way. As my first project, I made some rookie mistakes, including adding color to my original sketches and wireframes and not building out enough screens in my early prototypes to make it a truly believable experience for users.
However, my biggest takeaway from this project was an understanding that solutions can be elusive. While the answer to the problem might seem obvious in the beginning, it might not be the right solution for users. In order to come up with a design that alleviates pain points in your users, a designer must actively listen to what the users are really saying and tune into their underlying needs and frustrations.