Stefania Denisa
Mastery Features
Ideated new design solutions for an educational app focused on mastering concepts as primary goal.
Integrating MemoryLab’s algorithm into an app involves creating a simple and intuitive design that helps students develop healthy study habits.
CHALLENGE
MemoryLab is a scientific company that provides educational institutions with research-based adaptive algorithm software. A key aspect of the company's uniqueness lies in its ability to transform scientific research into intuitive, user-friendly features within a learning application. For this project, I collaborated with another UX Designer to develop solutions for features centered around MemoryLab app's core mechanic: mastery.
Mastery in the MemoryLab's app means that students fully retrieve a concept from memory before moving on to the next ones. The app tracks progress and ensures that students practice until they reach mastery.
CLIENT
MemoryLab
SOLUTION
Through thorough research we ideated solutions that combined usability with scientific rigor. This led to the development of unique features that promote healthy learning habits, enhance engagement, improve usability, and boost motivation to learn.
ROLE
QUALITATIVE RESEARCH
IDEATION
PROTOTYPING
Research
Frequency table of potential solutions to our current pain points, derived from a competitive analysis of seven educational apps.
Goals
Understanding mastery from different stakeholders' points of view and align on a common view
Understanding how key competitors tackle our current pain points
Discover engagement mechanics that motivate users intrinsically
Findings
WORKSHOP
At the start of this project, several pain points have already been identified. Given the company’s scientific focus, it was crucial to establish a shared understanding of what mastery meant before designing features to address these challenges. This was particularly important to align science and business team.
We defined the scientific understanding of mastery within the context of our algorithm.
We identified our different user groups and their specific needs.
We explored methods of displaying mastery through design, ensuring alignment with both business goals and scientific teams.
COMPETITIVE ANALYSIS
We then agreed on five final pain points. These pain points occurred from the unique integration of our algorithm within the app, necessitating design solutions that facilitate it. Among the identified issues were students' lack of motivation to return to the app and difficulties in understanding our algorithm. To inform our approach, I conducted a competitive analysis of seven competitors, examining how they addressed similar pain points and their solutions.
Ideation
We narrowed down our list of solutions by voting based on five criteria: scientific alignment (whether it aligns with current research), competitor analysis, technical limitations, time and resources, and impact.
This resulted in a score for each feature based on the votes from me and my colleague. We then prioritized one solution for each pain point. To decide which feature to integrate, we asked a user to indicate their personal preference.
