Case study: Creating a learning platform for YouTube
E-learning as a possible blue ocean for YouTube
Overview
This sprint was my first solo project as a UX designer student at Ironhack Miami. The challenge was to create a new feature for YouTube based on YouTube users’ needs, goals, and pain points.
YouTube (YT) was launched in 2005 and was originally supposed to be a video dating website :) Nowadays, YT is used for music, video clips, motivational videos, educational videos, vlogs, etc. This platform is responsible for generating billions of dollars for Google.
I choose to investigate the learning area for three reasons:
- YT has two main user types:
- users looking for entertainment;
- users looking to solve a problem/learn something;
I focused on users looking to solve a problem because YT currently does a good job entertaining users.
2. After doing secondary industry research, I found that the e-learning industry is expected to grow to $325 billion by 2025.
3. Of the 44 YT users that took the survey, 53% said they use it for educational videos, 37% use it for cooking, and 32% DIY (do it yourself). These data lead us to one common understanding: People usually use YouTube to learn something.
So, what is my point?
A learning platform is an unexplored area for YouTube. A Blue Ocean or an area with an opportunity to stand out from the competitors.
The screenshots below show how the YouTube Learning platform currently looks:
Within YouTube’s Blue Ocean, I categorized these types of users:
- People who want to change careers;
- People who want to learn a new skill;
- People who have an urgent problem (ex. fixing random things in their house, charging the car’s battery) — Who have never?
Business Analysis
I used the Double Diamond tool to guide me throughout redesigning and creating new features for the YT Learning platform.
But before diving into design thinking, I ran a business analysis for YT Learning because I wanted to ensure the viability of the sprint by using the Lean UX Canvas, competitive feature comparison, and market positioning chart.
The Lean UX Canvas helped me organize my entire process and see the big picture. This canvas allowed me to see business problems, outcomes, user personas, and benefits and turn these assumptions into hypotheses.
In my Lean UX Canvas, I had three main business problems (data collected from the research process):
- Frustration with YT search engine
- Lack of trust in the video accuracy
- Lack of a community within the YT Learning platform
The success metrics are:
- CSAT — Customer/user satisfaction score (retention);
- Rating and comments on apple store;
- Consistent use of the app and website;
- Completion task rate.
Competitive feature comparison
My next step was to compare YT Learning’s features with its competitors.
I compared YT Learning to Coursera, Udemy, and Masterclass as direct competitors and Facebook groups as indirect competitors. I discovered users’ mental models and the following competitive advantages (blue ocean).
- A community within the YT Leaning platform;
- Search within topics;
- A visible creators experience;
- Feed with photos and videos.
Market Positioning Chart
After gathering and analyzing all the data from the research process (I’ll talk about it below), it was time to define YouTube’s blue ocean, so I established the Market Positioning Chart.
The Market Positioning Chart enabled me to see the big picture strategically and position YouTube in its Blue ocean: a Learning Platform and Social Media.
Discover (empathize)
User Research
We now get to one of the most fun and challenging phases, in my opinion.
I really wanted to make my redesign user-centered and get rich details, so I used a mixed-method type of research. The quantitative data (surveys) allowed me to understand the “What” and “How”, and to get richer details for the “Why,” I used the Qualitative method — Interviews.
Survey
44 YouTube users responded to my survey.
- The surveys revealed that 53% of the YT users watch YT for educational purposes;
- 32% of the YT users watch YT videos to solve a current problem/DIY/Cooking
When they are not watching YT videos, they are:
- 65% using Instagram;
- 15% using Facebook;
- 5% using Coursera;
- 2% Google, Reddit.
I also asked in my survey: “Why do you use the app mentioned above instead of YouTube?”
They said:
“Connect with people.”
“Because I can see what my friends are doing.”
In another question, I asked them what the most frustrating features with YT was:
17% said problems with the search engine (main search bar);
“Not being able to find the correct information because of wrong search results.”
“Maybe it should be easier to sort.”
Wrapping up the highlights from my survey, I was able to ask more specific questions and reveal the why behind the users’ behavior.
Qualitative -Interview insights:
How can they trust the video accuracy?
“YT doesn’t always show how credible a video is”
“Because somebody can thumbs up to something just because it’s entertaining.”
Frustration with YouTube’s search engine
“When I have a problem, I’ll keep surfing until I find a video that gives me a solution, and then once I find that solution, I’m off YouTube.”
Define
Affinity Mapping
helped me find actionable insights and patterns from the data I’ve collected in the user research phase.
The data pattern themes were: Frustration with the YT search engine, lack of trust in the video accuracy; And lack of a community.
The Value Proposition Canvas
To encounter a Product Market Fit, or ensure that a product or service is positioned around what the customer values and needs, I made sure to address the jobs to be done.
I discovered the three main jobs YT users hire YT to complete:
- Learn a new skill fast and efficiently (functional);
2. Quickly solve a problem they are facing (functional);
3. Connect with people (social/emotional).
Journey Map
In this step, I transformed all the relevant themes from the research into an actionable context, where I could visualize the most frustrating parts of the user journey and opportunities for design improvements.
The first pain point happens when:
It takes the user 20 minutes to find a relevant video.
- This allows us to organize the learning page (search bar) by topics, so the user will not be tired of browsing on YT.
The second pain point happens when:
The user finds a video but leaves it because the YT creator doesn’t seem credible.
- This allows us to make the user feel confident by showing the creator’s experience
The third pain point happens when:
The user looks for a community to connect with, but he doesn’t find it.
- This allows us to create a learning community, so the user will feel more connected to people who have the same interests.
Problem Statements & HMW Questions
To synthesize and clearly understand the Define stage, I determined three problems statements and turned them into HMW questions.
- Problem statement: A YouTube user looking to change careers needs a way to search and filter the YouTube learning page because he wants to find information quickly.
- How might we help YT learners find a quick way to search and filter information on the learning page?
2. Problem statement: A YouTube user looking to change careers needs a way to be sure he can trust the content provided because he wants to become a great photographer.
- How might we help YouTube learners trust the content provided?
3. Problem statement: A YouTube user looking to change careers needs to connect with other learners because he wants to be part of a community.
- How might we help YouTube learners to connect with other learners?
Ideate
After understanding the YouTube Learners’ mental models, defining their pain points, needs, and goals, and clarifying business strategies, I started the ideation phase, where I brainstormed around the three HMW questions.
The mind mapping technique helped me visualize and create new ideas based on the users’ central problems.
The users’ lowest pain points were:
- Frustration with YT search engine;
- Lack of trust in the video accuracy;
- Lack of a community within the YouTube Learning platform.
Feature Prioritization
I had so many ideas and features to implement, but I knew that it would be unfeasible to test all features at the same time. So I had to ask myself: What is the simplest way to satisfy the business goals and the user needs?
I used the Impact vs. Effort to select the highest impact and lowest effort feature combined with the MOSCOW (must have, should have, could have, won’t have) method.
I redesigned and added three new features to the YouTube Learning platform:
- An option to search within the page.
Which solves the user’s frustration with not being able to search within YouTube learning.
- Tags to filter content.
Solves the user’s problem of not being able to search courses by categories.
- An option to see the creator’s credentials.
Solves the user’s problem of not being able to trust the video accuracy.
User Flow
I used a user flow to guide the creation of the prototype. It was fundamental to keep me focused on users’ needs, goals, and pain points.
Fail early & fast — Mid-fi Prototype
Here is my lo-fi version:
Making a lo-fi prototype can help a brand save money because it’s easier to make changes in the prototype than in the final product. I imagine that it would be a nightmare to invest so much in a product, launch it, and not receive the expected return.
Usability test results
I used Useberry to help me test my prototype with users.
I left a welcome message on the Useberry page with a simple instruction: You are a person who wants to start learning photography. So, you are going to look for a beginner photography course.
I caught a problem with the “go-to course” button. Instead of having it on the left side, I changed it to the bottom right because it’s how humans scan a screen — top left to bottom right.
I also should have made an interaction with the nav buttons. The usability test showed that the users tried to look for a course on the top right side.
There were a few misclicks on the last page. It seems that the users were not sure if they completed the task or not (my fault). Another lesson I learned was to create a final page with just one beginner photography video. By doing so, they would have understood that they had completed the task.
- The median time on task was around 1 minute.
HI-FI Prototype
Before jumping into the hi-fi prototype, let me remind you how the YouTube Learning platform looks:
Don’t judge my YouTube history search :))
- You cannot search within the platform; if you try to do so, it will redirect you to the main YT platform.
- Everything is vague.
After adjusting and creating better heuristics for the YouTube Learning platform, I came up with a new YouTube Learning platform:
Solutions to meet the needs of YouTube users (learners):
- A platform that will allow creators to have courses;
- Users will be able to search within the learning platform;
- Users will have the option to easily access the creator’s experience before enrolling in a course;
- And in the future, users could have a feed to exchange experiences with other learners.
Atomic Design
To rapidly adjust elements in my design, I also created an Atomic Design file:
Key learnings:
You never have enough information before designing. We are designing based on human behavior and we will never know everything about what our users will do.
Not having all the information before continuing was difficult for me. I have a tendency to be a perfectionist and sometimes get lost in the steps without seeing the big picture.
I’m learning that with design, we will never know all the answers
Next steps
For the next sprint, I would focus on the social aspect of the Blue Ocean by creating a feed where users can connect with others. Creating a feed would help position YouTube as a learning platform with a strong social community.
I hope you enjoyed my project as much as I did. If you have any suggestions for improvements, I’m open to hearing.
You can follow me on Linkedin,
Thanks, Sandy.
