The DesignSpot School is a 2-stage program provided by Epam Systems that focused on enhancing the skills of UI/UX designers through a series of projects.
I was one of 50 designers selected for the first phase of the program out of over 600 applicants. I also became one of the 25 designers who were selected for the second phase of the program.
Projects presented in this case study are from the first stage which was primarily focused on interface design and consisted of six individual projects, with a deadline of 1-2 weeks for each. At the end of each project, we had a session with mentors who provided valuable feedback and pointed out common mistakes, helping us to refine our skills in interface design.
Participating in the DesignSpot School program taught me the importance of time management and attention to detail. It provided me with an opportunity to learn from experienced mentors, which helped me to develop my design skills and grow as a designer.
If you want to see my UX design work from a second stage of a program click here.
Type
Role
Team
Year
1. Employee management system database table
Duration
1 week
Task
Design a table layout, which will contain the data of the company's employees.
Outcome
To complete this task I've studied the best practices for designing data tables and added the following features to my layout:
- Editing the profile of several employees at once, for example, changing the office address for ten employees at once.
- Search for employees by different attributes, for example, by first and last name, position, etc.
- Change the employment status of one or several employees at once.
- Editing employee's data directly in the table cell;
- Contact an employee, for example, by email, skype, or phone number.
- Deleting a profile of one or several employees at once.
Challenge
Make the table useful and understandable for users that will allow them to quickly scan, analyze, compare, filter, sort, and manipulate information.
2. Dashboard for an E-commerce mobile app
Duration
2 weeks
Task
Create a dashboard for a mobile food delivery app with key product information that would allow the CEO and marketers to make strategic development decisions.
Outcome
Based on secondary/desk research I decided to add the following metrics to the dashboard:
- The data about users (new and returning).
- The number and average duration of sessions.
- Bounce rate (percentage of sessions when the user left the application without interacting).
- The number of installations, the dynamics of changes in these indicators.
- Average age, gender, and region of users;App retention.
- User behavior analytics.
Challenge
There are endless possibilities to choose from, both in terms of data and types of graphs. The main challenge was to decide what type of graph is better for presenting this or that information, like a bar graph or a scatter plot. Another difficulty was figuring out what kind of data to show off on the dashboard.
3. Web-form for a freelance platform
Duration
1 week
Task
Design a desktop application form that will collect professional information about freelance users and serve as a resume for potential employers.
Outcome
While working on this project, I looked through and analyzed dozens of registration and login forms of various applications. I have studied articles of experts, from which I got the basic understanding of “good” and “bad” form design.
After conducting secondary research and competitive audit, I came up with a list of questions should be ask during a registration process. Then, to minimize cognitive load I've grouped the questions into 5 categories: 1. general information, 2. education, 3. experience, 4. skills, 5. portfolio and divided them into 5 steps.
Challenge
Make the questionnaire usable and understandable to the user with the least number of steps when filling it out.
4. User flow for registration/login process
Duration
1 week
Task
Design a user flow for a login form.
Outcome
A user flow has been created that covers the following scenarios:
- Sign up by email, phone, or on social networks.
- Sign up with a link from SMS or email.
- Exclude duplicate accounts during registration.
- A user forgot a password.
Challenge
Think through all the possible scenarios of the registration process and don't miss anything.
5. Mobile app in 2 design systems: HIG and Material Design.
Duration
1 week
Task
Design a mobile app that defines food by a photo in two design systems: Material Design and HIG.
Outcome
The target audience is a people who want to lose weight and counts calories, proteins, fats and carbohydrates for this purpose. I have conducted competitive analysis, worked out a user scenario, designed wireframes and made a visual design. In additional to counting calories by photo, the app has a food diary, healthy recipes and diet statistics.
Challenge
To complete this task I have studied design systems for mobile applications: Material Design from Google and HIG from Apple.
6. Landing page for DesignSpot Shcool
Duration
2 week
Task
Design a responsive landing page for DesignSpot School, where the target action is a registration for the first stage at the school.
Outcome
I have created the landing for desktop, tablet and mobile. All the necessary information for future students is displayed in a structured form. Call-to-action buttons are evenly distributed on the page, which increases the chance of registering users.
Since it was impossible to determine which devices the target audience of the school use, it was decided to choose breakpoints according to the statistics of the most popular screen displays: 1366x768px (desktop), 768x1024px (tablet) and 360x640px (mobile).
Challenge
The difficulty arose when choosing breakpoints and adaptive tables.
