SuperHi
Designing a self-service experience that enables a student to pick their next course.
SuperHi is an online learning platform designed for creatives looking to develop digital skills that advance their careers. Catering to both beginners transitioning into the creative tech industry and experienced professionals looking to stay ahead, SuperHi offers expert-led courses focused on real-world projects. With a "Show, Don’t Tell" approach, students build portfolio-ready work using industry-standard tools, all while engaging with a global community of designers, developers, and creative professionals.
As part of the hiring process at SuperHi, I was given a take-home assignment to solve a key challenge: students could only get course recommendations by contacting customer support, creating friction in their learning journey. My goal was to design a self-service experience that helped students confidently choose their next course based on their current learning path.
The goal was to design a seamless self-service experience that allowed students to confidently choose their next course without needing to contact customer support. The solution needed to be intuitive, guiding users based on their current learning path, while maintaining SuperHi’s engaging and creative approach to education.
Allow students to easily discover their next course based on their current learning journey.
Design a user-friendly experience that aligns with SuperHi’s creative approach.
Provide clear, guided recommendations to minimise reliance on customer support.
For this task, I applied a lean design sprint to quickly explore and validate potential solutions. I began by researching the current student experience and their needs, conducting initial exploratory research to guide my approach. After defining the problem statement, I analysed the existing process and pinpointed key questions to refine course recommendations, while also considering the necessary data structure to support the solution.
Next, I created wireframes and prototypes to map out the user flow, ensuring a smooth and intuitive experience. My goal was to demonstrate clear, strategic thinking in solving this problem while outlining how I would iterate and refine the solution through testing.
A seamless self-service experience
To better understand the student journey, I mapped out the current student journey, from completing a course to choosing the next one, identifying key touchpoints and pain points. This helped me understand the decision-making process and find opportunities to improve the experience.
Review of the current experience
As part of my process, I conducted light research across a wide range of industries, not just within the same sector, to explore how different sectors design patterns and flows that help users discover products and services. I looked at various platforms, examining the types of questions they ask and how they filter results to guide users towards the best options. This broader exploration provided valuable insights and inspiration, ensuring the solution would be both intuitive and innovative for students.
Discovery patterns in action
After reviewing the current experience and conducting research, I defined the key objectives to guide the design of the new flow. The aim was to make the process as smooth and engaging as possible, while ensuring the course recommendations were both relevant and easy to navigate. The experience had to be efficient, interactive and tailored to the student's needs.
Key goals
After defining the key goals, I analysed the current process to identify areas for improvement. I focused on key questions that would help refine course recommendations, such as the student's preferred learning pace, interests, and skill level.
Recommendation logic
I also considered the data structure needed to support these questions, ensuring it could process and store the information in a way that would allow for dynamic, real-time recommendations. The aim was to create a streamlined, efficient flow that would provide accurate suggestions with minimal steps.
As this was a take-home task rather than a live project, my solution focused on developing a strong foundation for a self-service course recommendation experience. I created wireframes to outline the proposed flow, ensuring it was intuitive, engaging, and efficient. Given more time, the next steps would involve testing the approach with real students, gathering feedback and iterating on the design before finalising an MVP for development.
The design aimed to streamline the decision-making process, using structured questions to guide students towards relevant course options while maintaining a light and engaging experience.
For the first step of the flow, I made the assumption that a student is likely looking for a course related to their current studies. By focusing on this assumption, we can simplify the flow and provide more targeted recommendations.
Starting the flow with interests
While this approach seemed logical based on the data we have, it's definitely something worth testing with students to ensure it resonates with their needs. By asking this key question upfront, we aim to narrow down the options early in the process, helping students find the most relevant courses quickly and easily.
Next, the flow gathers insight into the student’s goals and availability. Understanding their motivation, whether they want to deepen existing skills or explore a new area, helps refine course recommendations. Additionally, asking about time commitment ensures suggestions align with their schedule, making the experience more relevant and achievable.
Understanding goals and commitment
In the final step, students can review their selections and make any adjustments if needed. Once they confirm their choices, tailored course recommendations are displayed as bite-sized cards, making it easy to scan and compare options at a glance. This ensures a seamless experience while helping students confidently select their next course.
Tailored course recommendations
While there were no real-world outcomes, the hiring manager saw strong potential in my approach and was eager to test and refine the ideas with real students, validating the direction through user feedback.
I was offered the role based on my approach to this challenge and I thoroughly enjoyed working on the task, as it aligned with my passion for creating intuitive and empowering user experiences.