Duration
May–June 2022 (3 weeks)
Role
UX Designer
What is done
Research, wireframing, prototyping, and testing
Made for
Google UX Design Professional Certificate
“Speak your mind about your next big ideas.”
Creativity, collaboration, and communication are the cornerstones of 21st century skills that students across the globe need to master. Their ability to public speaking are more important than ever. Nowadays, public speaking, usually in the form of presentations, are commonplace in schools and universities.
Enter Presento, a newly formed startup dedicated to empower students in developing their communication skills and shaping their futures. Presento exists because of the belief that while public speaking presents unique challenges, these challenges can be addressed with a solution that is both profitable and socially responsible.
To begin, Presento recognizes the necessity of conducting in-depth research to understand the how students approach and struggle with public speaking.
Business goals
Discover business opportunities to help students prepare for public speaking
Find out the right monetization strategy for the solution
Research
Research goals
The most important part of conducting a research is to set the goals of the research itself.
Understand what kind of public speaking students do and who their audience are
Understand the end-to-end journey of how students prepare for their public speeches
Find out the challenges faced by students when presenting
Discover what the students’ wants and needs to achieve their goals
Discover what tools students use to prepare for public speaking
Hypotheses
Students usually do public speaking for their teachers/lecturers and fellow students
They use slideshow makers with templates such as PowerPoint, Google Slides, Prezi, or Canva
Inability to master their speech (intonation, rhythm, tone) is the main issue when presenting
User interview
Are those hypotheses really true, though? To find out, I conducted online interviews with several students aged 15-25 years old that has done public speech in the last 3 years.
This is the insights I got from the interview:
Research insights
Students wished that they can meet with public speaking experts anytime, anywhere with a flexible schedule
Students wanted to get their expert advice in a private, judgement-free zone
Students don’t know where to find resources to help them learn techniques to master public speaking
Next, we can make personas and analyze competitors to represent both the user and business based on research.
Persona
Competition
Even though there are no direct competitors for Presento, there are several tools that directly inspired Presento: video call apps, calendar apps, and content curation services. Here are the inspiration I took:
With the research done, competitors audited, and the inspirations captured, we can move on to the next step.
Wireframe
I designed the wireframes digitally using Figma, then tested and iterated them once using usability testing. The design started as a mobile application, then scaled up for tablet and desktop as a website afterwards.
First usability testing
This activity is done using moderated remote usability study with 5 testers, 15-25 years old, and are active students. Each session lasts 10-20 minutes and done without any additional tools to get their first impressions.
First usability test insights
Insert slides when planning
2/5 testers
said that inserting slide/script should be available in planning stage
Add replay session feature
3/5 testers
said that inserting slide/script should be available in planning stage
Review screen
3/5 testers
got confused: is the review for the expert or technical aspect of the session?
Web articles or document?
2/5 testers
said that the contents in the Explore screen look like documents instead of web articles
Look into the camera!
Many participants look at the bottom of the screen instead of facing the camera on mobile devices
Prototype
I created the prototypes as an Android-based app and a Progressive Web App (PWA) inspired by Material Design 3 as the design guideline.
Before continuing the design process, I need to address the feedback from the first usability testing.
Mockups and revisions
Accessibility considerations
This project also considers accessibility, especially for the visually impaired. Here are some of them:
Style guide
Boldness and freshness drive the overall design choice for Presento. The dramatic and authoritative DM Serif is used for headings, creating a strong visual impact. For body text, the friendly humanist sans serif Commissioner provides a sharp yet approachable look, balancing readability with modern aesthetics.
The color palette is designed to make a statement. An aura of teal dominates the screen, highlighting Presento’s commitment to being fresh and distinct. This vibrant color choice not only captures attention but also reinforces the brand’s innovative spirit.
To complement the color scheme and typography, Material Design icons are employed. These icons contribute to a clean, organized appearance, enhancing user experience by making navigation intuitive and visually appealing. The combination of these design elements ensures that Presento stands out as both a visually compelling and user-friendly platform.
Final prototype
The prototype can be seen on Figma. Try to interact with them!
Note: To see all variations of screen sizes, click the Figma logo on the top left of the screen.
Second usability testing
This activity is done using moderated remote usability study with 5 testers, 15-25 years old, and are active students. Each session lasts 20-30 minutes.
“That is so cool! I never thought I will need this. It certainly would help me to present better. I will definitely use this service and highly recommend it to my friends!”
A participant’s impression on Presento
All the testers welcome Presento as a solution to the problem. Some even said that they never thought those problems can be solved!
The success rate of each task is 100% and the calculated Net Promoter Score (NPS) is 80. In conclusion, Presento has met the needs and wants of students who are preparing for public speaking.
Conclusion: Helping students improve their public speaking is an interesting challenge
Creating a solution for social good is always a challenging yet satisfying project. In this case, Presento is well-aligned with Goal 4 of UN’s Sustainable Development Goals: quality education.
This project pushed me to truly immerse with the people I designed this solution for, putting myself in their shoes and understanding their perspectives, down to the money they’re willing to spend.
Because it is very time-consuming to design an app and responsive website layouts single-handedly, I had to learn how to use a lot of Figma’s features and extensive plugin support to speed up my work.
Thank you for reading this case study. I hope you enjoy it!