Course Catalog
As part of the product team at General Assembly, I helped improve the experience of discovering workshops, bootcamps, and events for 1M+ learners worldwide.
I led the UX/UI and user research for the new course catalog. Collaborators included a Product Manager, UX Writer, Product Marketing Manager, Engineer, and Admissions Producers.
Project Type: UX Design and Research
Role: Sr. UX Designer
Organization: General Assembly
Timeline: 3 months
Team Size: 6 members
[ Background ]
General Assembly boasts a robust roster of in-demand courses in coding, data, and design.
But the course catalog was confusing for prospective students – it was difficult to browse and unclear how the options differed. This poor user experience led to a high bounce rate and lost revenue for the business.
We needed to improve product discoverability and understanding in the new course catalog.
[ Process ]
My design process involved creative problem solving, timely user feedback, and a healthy amount of stakeholder engagement.
Process Overview
Discovery User Research: I conducted initial research (e.g. stakeholder interviews, admissions recordings, heat map analysis) to understand business requirements and user pain points on the course catalog.
Design Ideation & Workshop: I led creative explorations with competitive research and a workshop with a cross-disciplinary team. This engaged stakeholders early in the process and promoted collective ownership.
Wireframes & Stakeholder Input: I produced and tested wireframes to assess how well the concepts met user and business needs. I also collected and prioritized stakeholder feedback on the wireframes.
Mockups & User Testing: I produced and tested prototypes multiple times. I continuously refined the product taxonomy, layout, and content based on research, stakeholder feedback, and best design practices.
Product Language Testing
As part of my testing plan, I assessed product taxonomy and language with a closed card sort and a cloze test. The objective of these tests were to learn what words or phrases were the most or least clear, and to see if the product categories were clear and distinct overall.
Not only did the tests clarify the product taxonomy and language on the page, but they also informed the product marketing messaging across the brand.
Competitive research on filtering and browsing experiences
Wireframes of a “choose your own adventure“ experience
A closed card sort to assess product taxonomy
