Project type
End-to-end app
Time
2024
My role
Product Designer
Skillmates is an app that helps people to find an accountability partner when learning a new skill. After connecting, users can learn together, exchange tips, share their progress, and motivate each other to reach their goals more easily.
Problem
When learning a new skill, it can be hard to make consistent progress and stay motivated. Especially in today’s online education era, people can feel lonely and stuck without the possibility to share their progress with others.
Goal
Help people stay motivated and engaged by finding like-minded person, who is also learning something new. Help to facilitate their communication and provide them a space where they can share, focus and learn together.
Onboarding
Buddy Search
Checking the vibes
Understanding user’s motivations
I started the research with a broad scope, I was curious to discover how people are learning something new in general. I wanted to explore, their main motivations, challenges and resources and tool they use.
8 moderated interviews
Competitor research
4 main themes from the interviews
After consolidating all the insights and quotations into an affinity map, I have identified four primary themes that could potentially pose challenges for the project:
Breaking the work into smaller pieces and regular deadlines
“It's important for me to set a fixed date and inform as many people as possible, because I know I'll get it done then”
Staying focused and not getting sidetracked
"I tend to get easily distracted. I might begin researching something in my web browser, only to become curious about something entirely different."
Rewarding and celebrating achievements
“Did I ever reward myself? I think not much. Yeah, I guess I am a bit too hard to myself.”
"I miss having a partner to discuss things with, share what's going on, and how I'm progressing in the course."
Direct & Indirect competitors
After developing the basic concept from previous ideation, I conducted a competitor analysis, specifically focusing on:
Products centered around the "Learning Buddy" concept.
Apps designed for general social connections (eg. dating apps).
Apps where individuals showcase themselves with diverse characteristics.
Defining the MVP
Supplemented by inspiration from the competition and the ideation results, I started by prioritizing the scope to determine what is essential for the MVP.
P1: Must Have
Onboarding
Searching for a buddy
Interacting with buddy
P2: Surprising & Delightful
Checkin’ the vibes
Focus sessions
Daily check-ins
P3: Can come later
Communities
Rewarding
AI buddy
Acheivements
AI Premium features
Wait, what is
Checkin’ the vibes
!?
While studying the competition, I found that different apps use distinct approaches to check the chemistry between users. Tinder relies on user decisions, while Hinge collects data first (including voice messages), to check as much as possible upfront.
Additionally, my interviews highlighted the importance of finding deep connections beyond shared goals, along with a strong desire for a safe environment to nurture these connections.
With these insights in mind, I chose to integrate these aspects into our app and was interested in testing user responses.
Information architecture and flows
With a well-defined scope in place, I started crafting the user flows and structuring the information architecture to better understand specific use cases and scenarios. Although the "vibes flow" appeared somewhat unclear at this stage, I chose to continue and refine it further during the wireframing phase of development.
Figuring out the layout
With the structure and flows defined, it was time to start sketching and defining the visual part. This helped me to decide on the visual direction and also which design patterns I could use. I also gathered feedback from other designers on the group crits sessions.
Having established a clear design direction, I proceeded to craft high-fidelity designs. This began with the creation of a mood board and the gathering of design inspirations. I selected design patterns, created a logo, chose typography, and defined the design system along with key components to maintain a consistent look and feel.
I conducted moderated usability tests with five users from our target audience, with a primary emphasis on evaluating simplicity and user-friendliness. I focused on the onboarding process, finding a learning buddy and how people would understand purpose of the ‘checking the vibes’.
Main testing questions
Is onboarding fast and clear, helping people to find the right buddy?
Is it easy to search for a specific learning buddy and connect with him
Do people understand the purpose of ‘checking the vibes’ and find it useful?
Onboarding
Before
After
More personality options
Some users had difficulty deciding between "introvert" and "extrovert" and wanted more choices.
Searching for a buddy
Before
After
Added banner
Explaining people where the results came from
More personality options
Three out of five users misunderstood the heart icon, thinking it indicated sending a "like."
Checkin' the vibes
Testing the first version of 'Checking the Vibes' was interesting, as it received quite contradictory feedback. Some people loved it, while for others, it was a slightly confusing and unnecessary step.
I decided to keep it in the app but simplify the workflow and make it clearer for the user by:
Introducing a Q&A game because some users were not comfortable jumping straight into a conversation or a call.
Simplifying the workflow – now you only need to make a single request, and you can check the vibes before the other person confirms.
Explaining the benefits of what you will gain after becoming skillmates."
Before
After
It was fascinating to delve into people's learning processes and gain insights. Since I personally relate to the 'learning buddy' concept, I also applied some of this project's knowledge in my personal life.
My key takeaways:
Everybody is different, but still the same
Despite everyone learning different things, many people shared similar needs and challenges, particularly the desire for a learning buddy and the value of sharing with others.
Everybody has a different approach to checking chemistry
Sometimes compromises are necessary - I encountered this challenge when designing the "Checking the Vibes" flow. While it was a standout feature for some, others found it confusing and unnecessary.
If this project proceed further, I would focus on:
Designing the app's sharing features (daily check-ins, intention setting, deadlines, and success tracking
Establishing KPIs and measuring (for example onboarding drop-off rate, time before you find a buddy)
