Rayne Leroux

Rayne Leroux

Menu

Rayne Leroux

Menu

Dyslexia Project

An educational platform to support dyslexic children.

Time:

Oct ’23, 2 months

Scope:

Web app design

Role:

UX Designer @ Tech Fleet

dylsexiaproject-hero-image-reversed

THE PROBLEM

In Nigeria, approximately 20% of the population is dyslexic and this poses significant challenges due to low awareness and stigma. Limited resources coupled with economic constraints make it difficult for parents to access the support their children need. The Dyslexia Foundation Nigeria (DFN) strives to address these issues through education and raising awareness.

THE SOLUTION

The Dyslexia Project aims to develop an educational app for teachers and dyslexic children in Nigeria. Students can practise and track cognitive and literacy skills, while educators can monitor students and access teaching resources. For Phase 1, my team focused on onboarding and cognitive training for students, mirroring the approach taken by DFN in preparing their students before starting literacy skill development.

Assumption Mapping

To begin, we conducted assumption mapping to identify key assumptions about the project’s desirability, viability, and feasibility. This supported team alignment and addressed crucial considerations for the project to advance.

Key Takeaways
  • The app will be predominately used on laptops and tablets.
  • The users will be in primary or secondary school.
  • Dyslexic children have varying deficits in different areas of cognition and their training duration varies.
  • The app will be used at the DNF centre with teachers (first priority).
  • DNF supports children through assessment, cognitive training, and literacy skill development.
Assumption mapping workshop conducted in Figjam. There are three sections of post it notes for desirability, viability, and feasability. These post it notes are then mapped out on a quadrant of importance and available evidence.

Understanding the User

We created a proto persona, Ade, as the primary user, by incorporating insights from Phase 0 findings, DFN customer testimonials, and additional secondary research. Our persona evolved in each sprint, integrating data from primary research led by our team and the UX research team.
User persona Ade who is in grade one at school and he is unaware he has dyslexia and ADHD which impact the way he processes information. Despite his efforts, he consistently receives low grades at school and his teachers think he is being lazy. Ade’s parents are also unaware of his condition and the challenges he is facing. They recently discovered the Dyslexic Nigeria Foundation and decided to take Ade there in search of support and help. The persona displays the frustrations, needs, motivations, and goals for Ade in his learning journey.

RESEARCH

We conducted expert interviews with dyslexia specialists to deepen our understanding of the user, cognitive training, and learning methods for dyslexic children. Due to time constraints, recruiting experts was challenging but we gathered valuable insights.

Concurrently with the interviews, we performed a competitive analysis on cognitive training apps. Using affinity mapping we extracted insights from the data which revealed strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats for the app, as well as features to include.

Overall, it was clear the app required:

  • Gamification, progress tracking, and personalisation to maintain user engagement.
  • Multi-sensory, accessible, and customisable content for effective communication.
  • Positive reinforcement to create a supportive and optimistic learning experience.
  • Adaptive difficulty and repetition for effective cognitive skill development, balancing engagement and avoiding overwhelming challenges or monotony.
SWOT Insights

Strengths

  • Positive reinforcement: Rewards for correct actions, no penalties for mistakes.
  • Game storytelling: Creates a narrative around each game or user journey.
  • Progress tracking & performance reports: Continuous updates on progress.
  • Level assessments: User completes one game per skill to determine their level.

Weaknesses

  • High price points & pay walls: Costs are too high for West African demographics.
  • Lack of motivating features: Content lack adaptation for dyslexia needs.
  • Repetitive games: Dyslexic users’ short attention span reduces focus.
  • Accessibility: Competitors lack accessibility controls and compliant UI.
  • Lack of cognitive training options: Particularly for dyslexic kids.

Opportunities

  • Multi-sensory learning: Engages sight, audio, and touch/motion simultaneously.
  • Focus on scientific research: Partners with cognitive scientists and specialists.
  • Customisation & variety: Choices in skills to train and customisable settings.
  • Specialised instructions: A mix of audio, visual, and text instructions, provide directions step-by-step.

Threats

  • Data privacy concerns: Adhering to data privacy laws and securely holding data.
  • New scientific studies: Changes in the science behind dyslexia and learning.
  • Medical treatment regulations: Adhering to regulations for medical treatment based products based on local laws.
  • Science based curriculum: Competitors having extensive science based cognitive training curriculum.
A competitive analysis completed in Figjam. Six competitors of cognitive training apps were analysed: Nessy, Elevate, Cognifit, Luminosity, Kikos, and Mentalup. There is also a SWOT analysis. This information is then arranged using affinity mapping to create themes and summarise the data.
A diagram showing the themes we uncovered during the expert interviews and the main findings.

JOBS TO BE DONE

At this point in the project there was still misalignment across teams. We conducted a Jobs-to-be-done workshop with the entire project team to clarify the MVP. This highlighted our main focuses:

Cognitive Training

When playing a repetitive game, I want a visually engaging environment that gives me immediate feedback and keeps me motivated so I can get to the next level and build confidence.

Onboarding

When I start using the application, I want a user-friendly, visually engaging and enjoyable onboarding process, so I can begin using the application with ease and confidence.

STORYBOARD

To facilitate communication between team members and the client, I created a storyboard to provide a more tangible and visual representation of Ade completing cognitive training with DFN.
Storyboard of Ade going to the DFN centre and completing cognitive training games in the app

USER SCENARIOS

To address the lack of information for journey maps and flows, we generated user scenarios to visualise the user’s approach to onboarding and cognitive training. This exploration helped us realise design considerations and transition to the ideation phase.
User scenario of Ade signing up to the app
User scenario of Ade signing up to the app

MASCOT

Based on research from the UX Writing team, the mascot Musa was created, a black crowned crane which is the national bird of Nigeria. I designed the mascot so it could be integrated into the prototype to gather user feedback quickly. 

Mascot design of Musa and inspiration board. Musa is a cartoon bird made up with simple shapes and block colours.

IDEATION

We conducted a crazy eight workshop to come up with ideas for the flows. We then digitised the most voted designs. I focused on the user onboarding flow of the app with the help of the UX Writing team.

Wrap IT Up

Nearing the end of Phase 1, we created documents to ensure smooth transition of information for the next team in Phase 2. I documented gamification guidelines for the design and created the hand off slides with a team member.

CONCLUSION

NEXT STEPS

For the start of Phase 2, we highly recommended testing the prototypes, ensuring continued alignment between student and teacher teams, and enriching personas with user research. We also suggested further development of the gamification system, multi-sensory integration, and accessibility.

LESSONS

🎯 Clarity in a common goal is vital

In the beginning, the goals were unclear due to a lack of information from the client and diverse team perspectives which hindered our progress. We tackled this challenge through assumption mapping and workshops.

👔 Standards can be broken

Tech Fleet’s standard project protocols didn’t suit our larger team. Recognising this mismatch, we revamped communication methods to align better with our team dynamics and situation.

🧭 Sometimes relying on assumptions is necessary

Collecting user research was difficult due to the stigma of dyslexia in Africa. We had to balance the need for primary research with the necessity to move forward, emphasising the role of assumptions and reaching a phase where user data can be collected.

Scroll to Top