VOLUNTEER PROJECT FOR FREEWORLD
Designing a mobile learning platform
for formerly incarcerated individuals
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TEAM
Two product design students
Two UX research students
TIMELINE
Fall 2023, 6 weeks
ROLE
Product Designer
DESIGN PROCESS
DEFINE
Problem statement
User persona
IDEATE
Competitive analysis
Sketching
ITERATE
Prototyping
Usability testing
DELIVER
Design-to-
development handoff
CONTEXT
What is FreeWorld?
FreeWorld is a nonprofit helping formerly incarcerated individuals get high wage, high demand jobs in the trucking industry.
The organization supports program participants, known as FreeAgents, in obtaining a trucking license. Currently, FreeWorld has limited engagement with program graduates. They want to develop a Post-Program Portal to continue providing career support.
THE PROBLEM
Interviewing for a new job is already difficult enough.
And formerly incarcerated individuals experience even an even greater disadvantage, due to factors like:
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A criminal record
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​A lack of prior or recent work experience
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Social stigma against formerly incarcerated people
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Unfamiliarity with the job-search process
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Self-doubt and uncertainty about career outcomes
OUR GOAL
How might we design a mobile platform to help formerly incarcerated people prepare for truck-driving job interviews?
USER PERSONAS
What is a FreeAgent's post-program journey like?​
FREEAGENT
FRANK
30 / Male
Fred recently graduated from FreeWorld with his CDL-A license and was invited to interview for an entry level trucking job.
This will be his first job interview in years. Fred doesn’t know what the interviewer expects, and he has a lot of questions about what to do and say. He has one week to prepare for the interview.
TRAITS
Education level: low
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Technology literacy: low
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Anxiety & self-doubt: high
DETAILS
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Learns best through hands-on experience
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Was incarcerated for all of his late teen - adult years
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Social stigma against formerly incarcerated people
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Primarily uses an older Android phone
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Reads at a 3rd grade reading level
COMPETITIVE ANALYSIS
How do other platforms deliver content in a clear and engaging way?​
01. CalFresh
​​
Divided content into
multiple short pages
01. Duolingo
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Incorporated gamification, clever illustrations, and mascots
03. Kahoot
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A great example
of gamification
CONTENT ORGANIZATION
Our competitive analysis showed that quick,
bite-sized lessons are more engaging and digestible.
To align with this observation, we organized the interview preparation content provided by FreeWorld into six lessons:
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​Lesson 1: Overview
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​Lesson 2: What to Wear​​
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​Lesson 3: How to Present Yourself​
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​Lesson 4: How to Sell Your Skills
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​Lesson 5: How to Talk About Your Criminal Background​​
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​Lesson 6: What to Ask the Interviewer​
DESIGN IDEATION
How do we determine what's feasible and practical?
We generated ideas quickly using ideation techniques like Crazy 8's and concept sketching. Then we voted on the most promising concepts and arranged them into 3 "levels" of complication​.
LEVEL 1
Designs that utilize FreeWorld's existing design system.
LEVEL 2
New ideas that diverge from the current system, but are likely achievable​ given FreeWorld's current bandwidth.
LEVEL 3
Designs that require more complex coding capabilities or additional effort from other teams besides design & engineering.
We presented ideas from each level to FreeWorld's UX and engineering teams to determine their feasibility and practicality.
DESIGN DECISIONS
Here's what we found to be most effective in communicating new information to FreeAgents.
Through one round of concept testing and two rounds of usability testing with FreeAgents and FreeWorld employees, we developed a few principles to guide our design decisions.
01. EMPHASIZE INDIVIDUAL AGENCY AND AUTONOMY OVER LEARNING.
In the Overview lesson, we chose to include an introduction quiz to boost engagement. We tested two variations and found that assessing FreeAgents' initial confidence level, rather than actual knowledge of the topics, encouraged self-reflection.
Option 1
Confidence Quiz​
Option 2
Knowledge Quiz​
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Final Decision
Confidence Quiz​
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02. INCORPORATE GRAPHICS & ILLUSTRATIONS TO MAINTAIN ENGAGEMENT.
All of the following additions received overwhelmingly positive feedback during all three rounds of testing.
Mascot: E'Neil
Hand-drawn illustrations
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Use of emojis
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03. PRESENT AND REINFORCE CONTENT IN MULTIPLE WAYS
When content was presented in multiple ways, participants recalled it more accurately. To support this finding, we developed videos, articles, quizzes, and interactive features such as a voice recorder.
Short videos
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Breaking down examples
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Interactive elements
PRODUCT DELIVERY
In the end, we met with FreeWorld's engineers to present our designs for implementation.
SPOTLIGHT ON IMPACT
While testing our product during a usability test, a FreeAgent said, "I can actually mention [my history] during the interview? I was thinking in my mind I shouldn't bring it up. I learned some things here."
REFLECTION
This project taught me how to truly listen to users and embrace uncertainty.
As my first client-facing design project that achieved implementation, this experience was especially meaningful. I'm grateful to FreeWorld for trusting me with real responsibility and giving me the chance to learn, grow, and see my work come to life.
Designing for a unique group of users can be challenging but incredibly insightful.
Designing for vulnerable populations means thoughtfully addressing their unique needs, challenges, and sensitivities. Discovering design principles that worked for our specific user group was a key breakthrough.
Sometimes, user testing doesn't go quite according to plan.
During usability testing, we noticed that our participants often focused on the content and wording rather than the designs themselves. Using dummy text instead helped us shift the focus back to our designs.​