This three week design sprint centered around a deceptively simple ask: understand how parents decide where to send their children to school. With access to an extensive database on school information, the client asked for clarification on what information was most important to parents when looking at schools. To assist in this research, six interview transcripts were provided; each with a different parent who had recently undergone the school selection process.
As the sole designer on this project, my role was to synthesize this research and develop a product to address parents’ pain points around school selection. With the findings gleaned from those initial interview transcripts, I developed a low fidelity prototype to test some assumptions. Those initial transcripts along with user testing and follow up user interviews would be the data set used to build the MVP.
An empathy mapping exercise revealed common themes from the six interviews. Parents wanted schools in their area, where the commute is not too much of a burden. They wanted to know that the academic programs met a certain standard and that extracurricular activities offered would keep their children engaged. Each of these wants made sense and was expected. However, 5 of the 6 parents interviewed mentioned that their decision ultimately hinged on a gut feeling about a school. Of those five, all of them discussed that feeling coming from an in person visit. The sixth parent also made mention of the importance of a school “just feeling right”.
5 out of 6 parents' school choices were ultimately decided by intuition
"The school itself has all the facilities you could possibly want. So, they had all the facilities, the enriched
curriculum, and I just loved the feel of it. They talked a lot about character, and I think a lot of schools do,
but at this school it just came out in spades."
"The school had everything on our checklist, but it was the location and that they were at the top end of
our budget that worried me. But our gut reaction was positive, and I usually do make decisions like that.
We ultimately went on our gut reaction."
“Then you end up going to the open houses, where you get a feel for the place and you can try to picture your child there. You then get a sense of where would be the best fit.”
It was determined that initial criteria like price, location, size, and even teaching style were secondary factors in this decision in relation to the parents’ gut feeling about a school. Their intuition significantly impacts this decision process.
The interviews also revealed common pain points of time and effort, several interviewees reported the school selection process felt like a part time job. That they were overwhelmed with options and data. Their capacity to schedule visits and take the time off work to drive and tour is limited. These parents are only able to visit a few schools in person and experience that all important gut feeling about a handful of options.
Working from the insights gathered in our parent interviews, we wanted to know if it was possible for parents to get a sense of a place before visiting in person. And if they were able to, what information would best give them that sense.
I developed and tested a low fidelity prototype to probe this question. I wanted to see what information was most useful to parents when looking at school options. I put different kinds of information in front of test users and asked them to review some options and select one or more to research further. Some basic searchable criteria was listed along with a photo on the starting results page. From there users would click into school pages and review more information.
Noting what information users reviewed first and spend the most time with, it became immediately clear that photos were the most powerful part of the equation. In seconds or less, users were clicking into the photo galleries to see what a school looked like. They would quickly skim longer descriptions about schools, not read reviews, and one user expressed mistrust of school ratings.
“What does that rating translate to in real life?”
In under a minute, twice as fast as expected, our test users were clicking on links to the schools’ websites saying they would like to see how the schools represent themselves.
Ultimately users were able to get a feel for schools and make a determination weather or not to pursue their selection further. However, my methodology was incomplete in that it came short in determining if users would make the same decision on a school if photos were not present. Given more time and resources, I would like to further develop that inquiry.
Though imperfect, the results were clear, photos play a major role in informing parents decision on a schools suitability for their child. If users can quickly scan a photo gallery of a school’s classrooms, campus and facilities, alongside basic information they will make an emotionally informed decision very quickly. That decision is not the ultimate final conclusion of the process, but it was deemed important to both note that first impression and have the interface reflect it back to the user with the same urgency they show in making it.
Additionally, finding that parents were frequently clicking off the prototype to see a school’s website it was important to design for that behavior. The final product should let users note their impression of a place, seek further information outside of the app and have them come back to change their mind or keep sorting through a list of results.
While we cannot replace the experience of visiting a school in person. We can help parents know what to expect before they visit. This solution gives parents the power to quickly dismiss schools that don’t feel right and save their energy for ones that do.
Users are prompted to set up basic filters to get a list of schools that meet their basic criteria. They are then presented with the results one by one and prompted to make a decision on if they like, dislike or want to pin a school for later determination. In doing so, we designed a way for parents to center their decision-making energy around their intuition.
Presenting the results each on their own page removes unwanted comparison to other options so early in the process.
Users are asked just to review one option at a time and fit it into one of the three buckets. This reduces cognitive load and promotes a more efficient research process. At the end of their sort, users are left with three lists. Each school’s place can be edited and moved to the appropriate list if needed. The numbers at the top of these lists give users a quick reference to the number of schools they have dismissed and how many are on their short list of likes. Chopping up the amount of work left to do and providing positive feedback on how far they have come.
Disliking a school will move it behind a less prominent button which users can sort through should the need to correct an error or change their mind.
Liking or pinning a school moves it to one of the two major folders marked with their respective icons.
By up fronting photos in the selection process, we harness the most immediate and significant aspect of this decision, reflecting parents' intuitive decisions back at them. This provides a more efficient research tool for parents than data and review driven school selection products which currently make up the market.
My research found that in this particular user group and domain, users are better served with a more human set of identifiers to consider between different school options.
Parents will make an emotional decision on where to send their kids to school whether or not they use this product. It is our conclusion that they should include this feeling of a place early on in the decision process rather than at the very end. This will let users identify and dismiss dead ends before investing time and energy and discover solutions that they might have overlooked otherwise.