A Skill sharing mobile app
My Role: Research, UX and UI
Many people are skilled in one or more areas. It is possible to share their knowledge with someone who wants to learn their skills. Although there are platforms such as Skillshare.com or Udemy, or various other websites, it becomes difficult to actually learn a skill. One of the reason is because we learn things better not just by watching videos but by spending time doing the actual projects.
Also, the pricing structure that may look like a nominal fee in one economy may not be optimum for the developing economies. As a result, millions of people in the developing countries or people in the developed countries who cannot afford who are willing to learn new skills from professionals are unable to reach out to professionals.
Designing an app like Skill Links I thought about not just solving the pricing problem, but also help professionals connect with other professionals with a meaningful purpose.
Skill Links is an app that helps people connect to share their skills and learn new skills from other people. In short, it's like trading skill for a skill.
This was my Project while I was studying 'Mobile User Interface' as a part of my User Experience and Web Design Certification at the University of California, Santa Cruz in 2018.
Research, UX and UI Design. I was the sole designer in this project.
4 weeks
Although there are various high quality skill learning websites, they miss out on all the below mentioned points:
1. Subscription fee which works for one country may not be optimum for several other countries. Thus, losing several millions of customers.
2. Watching videos alone does not guarantee effective learning.
3. No interaction with real people.
1. Through 'Skills Links' app one can share their skills for free (exchanging skills, one - on -one), learn skills for a reasonable fee (one professional teaching someone, one-on-one) or learn skills in a group setting online for a low fee.
2. Users are encouraged to create projects with some time frame (which can be flexible based on the student needs/schedule) so that have hands on learning experience.
3. The student and teacher can interact via email, phone and videochat.
4. Users can post a message about the skill they have and what skill they want to learn in exchange.
1. To avoid cognitive load, familiar interactions such as tap, swipe, typing in the form fields ...etc are used.
2. Color palette of Fuchsia (slightly muted or low intensity) and White are used. Fuchsia color symbolizes confidence and assurance which totally synchronizes with the concept of Skill Links app.
3. To efficiently communicate ideas, icons are used wherever appropriate.
4. To make it easy for the viewers to navigate and digest information with ease, lots of white space is used.
I worked with the users to get their feedback in all the phases such as Ideation, Wireframing, Testing and Prototyping.
I created a form using Google Forms and sent it to a few people I know who love to upgrade their skills to get better.
To refine my ideas and to gain an in depth understanding of the requirements for the app, I used Focus Group Discussion method. I came across various perspectives about this topic. I understood the pros and cons about the app.
To understand the user group better, I created few personas.
Sketching always helps me to understand the flow. Here are some of the sketches of my process.
For this app, I identified 2 types of users.
1. Skilled Professional (who would also be a student many times)
2. Student
Skilled Professional Goal:
- Reach out to students who are willing to learn the skill where they are experts.
Student:
- To find skilled professionals and get in touch with them.
- Exchange skill for a skill
- One of one for reasonable fee
- Group learning for low fee
After doing a quick pencil sketch, I prepared the Wireframe using Google Docs as there were not many screens involved.
I had some fun working in the initial stages of my prototype by paper prototyping.
Click on the link below to view a video of the prototype of the 'On Boarding Section' of Skill Links app.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mXeZfPxs2vgTHANKS FOR VIEWING
