LJ HAZZARD

UniMatch is a tool that students can use to search and find university courses that would be suitable for them. They can find, research, compare and favourite courses. 

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THE PROBLEM

After market research and competitors analysis we found that there are other University course search and comparison tools but none that could offer the student insight and reviews that The Student Room could. By creating a tool that would allow users to not only find university courses for them but that they could read real reviews by students, talk to them directly , we could create a great user experience and tool. 

 

THE CHALLENGE

This project consisted of several stakeholders from different areas of the company who each had strong views on elements of the tool. At the start of the project I led workshops on each of the different pages to define both the business and user requirements for the tool which then was used to inform and create layout decisions to provide a useful user experience. The project had already been researched and the team had a good understanding of what students needed to make this tool successful and useful to users. 

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THE PROCESS

In each workshop we looked at each step of the user journey in the tool sequentially. We defined the purpose of each of the pages which enabled us to identify the elements needed. The pages included a search page, results page, course page and saved courses. 

 

During the workshops I used a whiteboard to map out the different elements that we had identified that were needed. We looked at the hierachy of the page and what the user journey would be to create the layouts. 

 

After these sessions I used the whiteboard wireframes to create high res wireframes. These were reviewed by the projects stakeholders and were also shown to a small group of students to provide feedback. Their feedback was reviewed and documented to be addressed in the full design mock ups. We then reviewed the mock ups with other students. 

 

USABILITY TESTING

Once the tool was created we invited a selection of students to come in to our in-house usability lab where we conducted user testing. By observing our test users use the tool on both mobile and desktop we quickly identified problem areas. We also found out  by asking the testers what they found helpful.

 

Since the tool has been live on the site we have gathered a huge amount feedback from students on the discussion forums but also by conducting further user testing in our usability lab. Using data of how users where using the tool we ran some A/B testing on the search results page to which we found that a fewer option form field worked best to get users to progress to the next stage and it was at that point, after seeing their results users wanted to narrow down their search criteria to be shown more accurate and relevant courses.

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Since launch the tool has been constantly reviewed and updated where necessary as well as adding in some extra features such as a course comparison tool. 

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