EchoKids Website Re-Design

UX/UI Design - Transforming music education to be more visually accessible to all.

Internship Overview

EchoKids is a modern, music education company dedicated to providing children with dedicated mentors that are passionate for music. The musical curriculum focuses on the 3 C’s: Communication, Confidence, and Creativity. As a company created in the midst of the pandemic, EchoKids prides itself in connecting mentors and students all over the world, with its website and webapp being the main points of contact.

Throughout the summer, I worked on redesigning the EchoKids website as a UX design intern, where I honed in on three customer pain points: lack of progressive disclosure, information visibility, and ease of access.

Duration: 3 months (June 2022 - August 2022)

Role: UX/UI Design Intern

Tools/Skills: Figma, Webflow, wireframing, prototyping, user research

The Problem

With EchoKids as an established company, the main challenge was to re-design the website to increase informational visibility while maintaining a playful atmosphere to match the company’s values. Starting with the home page, and working across each page of the site, I asked the question: “How can I get the information I need, in the least amount of clicks?”

The first step to understanding and creating the solution, was to figure out what wasn’t doing well on the site. Our team identified the original site to be confusing to navigate through, as customers were unable to find details that they needed, as well as a lack of cohesiveness, and small inconsistencies throughout the site.

The Research/Ideation Process

1. Site Review

To start out, I created a detailed evaluation of the original site in order to identify points of concern: 

  1. There is no one consistent button design, which may appear confusing and unclear to customers as to which elements are clickable. 

  2. Certain sections are redundant, but may not offer the information that the customer needs in order to reach the end goal of creating a membership. 

  3. The content on the home page lacked intention in placement and did not reflect the content that a customer might be curious about.

2. Competitive Analysis

Through an analysis of competing websites that offered tutoring lessons, we noticed most sites have a clear call to action immediately when you first enter the site: whether that comes from a bright blue button, or an option to search for what specifically you want to learn.

Common elements that we noticed from the home page were that users could immediately recognize what the site offered (if they taught French, Guitar, or a variety of subjects). Throughout the site, there were multiple buttons to signal a call to action, even after the initial viewing of the page, so that the user didn’t need to scroll up to continue their site journey.

User Interviews

Through user interviews, we noted a few confusions that should be addressed in our final iteration of the site: 

  1. Content was missing based on expectations of what should be there (ie. The About page lacked information on how the company originated, and what it aims to accomplish).

  2. Confusion through navigating through the site: a user was asked to find information on the Piano Curriculum, but was unsure of where to click, and ultimately could not find it. 

  3. Some sections felt mismatched: curriculum should have specific information or a place to go to, to note school collaborated programs

Information Architecture/Site Map

Final Prototype

Reflection

Through this internship, I learned a lot about the process of redesigning based on current issues. It was incredibly important to understand the content that intended customers needed to know in order to fully allow the website to be a success, and to fully indulge in human-centered design so that the site is clear, intuitive, and accessible for the intended users. Not only did I improve on my design skills, but I was able to work towards understanding progressive disclosure, and to juggle the needs and wants of both the client and the user. With the completion of this internship, something that I would have wanted to focus on more was the research aspect of the process: creating and working through user stories as well as user personas would have allowed me to have a better understanding of the users, outside of interviews and initial, pre-existing knowledge that I had received.