Hawking
This UX case study focuses on the design and development of an innovative app, Hawking, aimed at changing the way individuals process and study information and learning materials. I am the lead UX Designer for this project.
The Challenge
The primary goal of the app is to create a user-friendly and inclusive learning tool that helps users efficiently study and digest learning materials in ways that are easier to process. The app creates summaries based on user-inputted materials, including textbooks, documents, and handwritten notes. It caters to users with ADHD and other learning disabilities, offering features such as text summarization, flashcards, and text-to-speech. As a designer, the most important goal was to create an interface that is simple, accessible, and easy to use for a variety of users.
Research
This phase involved conducting research on learning disabilities as well as what methods and tools would best support studying for individuals with such disabilities. This research also included helpful methods and tools for learning material in general, backed by user interviews and feedback.
This research allowed the team to come up with several key features for Hawking: flash cards for memorization, key terms and review questions for processing content, summaries for content processing, and text-to-speech. All findings from the research were implemented into the final program.
Additionally, research was conducted on potential competitor apps that offered similar solutions. The findings are summarized on the table below.
Although there are several apps providing learning resources, including those powered by AI, none of them encompassed all the methods Hawking was planning to incorporate into the app, including user input to personalize preferences and needs.
User Personas
Based on the research, three user personas were created to encompass the goals, needs, and struggles of target users.
User Flow
A user flow was then created to guide the user from the onboarding process up until using the program for studying.
Design Process and Implementation
During the design process, the most important goal to follow was to keep the interface accessible and easy to use for as big of an audience as possible. More focus was put on consistency and simplicity. Potential users were interviewed throughout the process until a design containing the key components was created.
Other design principles were taken into consideration to improve user experience as well, including a loading bar that shows progress as the material summary is being generated.
The final designs for the program are pictured below.
Main Dashboard
Onboarding Process
As well as the web program dashboard, a website was designed for Hawking. The website was to contain information about the app, answers to frequently asked questions, and the registration process.
Following the creation of the design, the website was programmed and launched using HTML and CSS.
Website Design