Role

Branding and Product Designer (with a team of Developers, Product Manager & Stakeholders)

Tools

Figma, Adobe Illustrator

Platform

Website

Timeline

5 months (March - August 2023)

Target Audience

Researchers, students writing their thesis

Overview

Aveksana is a web platform which revolutionizes education by using AI and data analytics to empower global learners and educators. This platform simplifies research, offers insights, and bridges academic knowledge with practical application, transforming the way students learn and excel.

I was the sole designer from the logo creation of the brand to the end-to-end experience of the responsive web platform. In this case study, I focus on both the onboarding as well as the extra features in the platform, which users could benefit from.

Problem Statement

Current education systems often lack efficient tools to support students in their research endeavors, resulting in difficulties in identifying research gaps, exploring topics, and refining research writing skills.

Goal

To provide an innovative platform that offers a streamlined research process, saving time, and boosting productivity. By assisting in locating relevant scholarly articles, generating topic suggestions, and offering valuable insights, the aim is to bridge the divide between academic knowledge and practical implementation.

Solution

Including features where the researcher:

• Fills in their education, academic background

• Adds their thesis/research specifications

• Can start generating topics for their thesis/research

• Can compare, combine, refine, regenerate, or lock topics

• Is assisted in making a choice by presenting topic summaries and research gap

This shows the user flow of a researcher going through the onboarding process and choosing a topic of preference.

Understanding the user

Persona

User research was done through a combination of online surveys and in-depth interviews. They were conducted with a diverse group of 5 undergraduate and graduate students from different academic disciplines. The objective was to gain insights into the specific challenges students face when conducting research and to identify opportunities for Aveksana's platform to address these challenges effectively.

They key findings were that many students struggled to identify gaps in existing research when formulating their topics, leading to unfocused projects and redundant work. Students also often felt overwhelmed when exploring potential research topics, lacking guidance on narrowing down their ideas. Writing research papers was a common pain point, with difficulties in structuring content, citing sources correctly, and maintaining a coherent flow. Some students faced challenges in accessing relevant scholarly articles and resources, impacting the credibility of their research.

Using the real user data, I created this persona that embodies our user insights.

They key findings were that many students struggled to identify gaps in existing research when formulating their topics, leading to unfocused projects and redundant work. Students also often felt overwhelmed when exploring potential research topics, lacking guidance on narrowing down their ideas. Writing research papers was a common pain point, with difficulties in structuring content, citing sources correctly, and maintaining a coherent flow. Some students faced challenges in accessing relevant scholarly articles and resources, impacting the credibility of their research.

Customer Journey Map

To point out areas of opportunity, I mapped out Samantha's research journey map of her current experience in using the platform to streamline her research process.

Visual Design System

The combination of green and teal colours creates a soothing and calming effect, making it a good choice for promoting a sense of peace and ease for the user while they undergo their research writing. Tea's uniqueness also evokes a sense of creativity and open-mindedness, making it an ideal choice for the brand which is centred around technolgy and innovation.

The geometric MuseoModerno font is unique, simplistic and modern, making it a suitable match for the brand image.