Notegenius-Knowunity

Competitive analysis

Understand the Market through Competitors

To bridge the gap, I wanted to first explore how its US competitors use AI in their product so we can identify gaps and opportunities to learn from. I led the team in crafting a competitive audit of AI features in 12 edTech apps, analyzing trendy features and the user needs they address.

USer's needs

Conflicting ideas with client?

Reviewing notes when completing assignments/exam-prepping are essential to the US students in their study routine.

Based on our competitive analysis findings we hypothesized that:

Our client claimed that:

“Let’s focus on essay creation and improvement as the next step”

According to our secondary research, majority of US middle and highschool students take notes on class materials and review them after.

Our client was more convinced and interested in the essay creation features after reviewing our competitive audit.

User Survey

Let’s hear what our users think!

How Do 100+ US Students Study?

A Rapid 103-Response Survey Delving into AI, Study Methods, and Homework Challenges. Our aim is to confirm or challenge assumptions, guiding tailored tech solutions.

The top 3 challenges users face are study-strategy lacking, meeting homework deadlines, and inefficient note-taking.

95% users take notes in class, with 45% users taking them on paper

94% of users review their notes for exams/assignments.

PROJECT SCOPING

The Power of AI Note-Taking & Essay Outlines

Competitive analysis and survey insights highlighted the significance of note-taking. We discussed with our client and scoping down to this key aim:

How might we align Knowunity's AI features with the academic needs of US students to drive higher user sign-ups and engagement?

How might we leverage AI to serve the note-reviewing needs of the US middle and high school students better?

IDeation

Users' Needs & Value Propositions

What are the features that not only best meet our users' needs but also align with Knowunity’s value propositions?

I spoke with our client about Knowunity's value propositions to make sure our design matched their business objectives.

Fun & Engaging

What distinguishes Knowunity from other study apps is its relatable writing style, vivid colors, and micro animations, which make the app experience enjoyable and playful.

Simplified Studying

Knowledgeunity is designed to help students study more easily. It thus focuses on creating user-friendly AI features that simplify and expedite learning.

WIREFRAMe & PROTOTYPe

From Vision to Reality

We crafted the wireframe to outline core features and align our vision for interactions and layouts.

Following this, I independently designed the high-fidelity prototype in just two days.

We skipped low-fi since testing high-fi prototypes helps users grasp our vision better and gives us more accurate feedback, especially when our users are kids who tells what they see.

Interview & USABILITY TESTING

Concept Validation with Students Aged 12–17

Research goal: Understanding the Appeal of Essay Outlining and Note Assistance among 10 Middle and High School Students. Both remote and in-person moderated tests are conducted.

15 initial outreach
10 moderated user interviews completed
40 minutes average testing time
400 minutes total interview engaged

Note Genius - scenario & tasks:

Note Genius - scenario & tasks:Scenario: You are a student and you have an exam coming up next week. You want to study the notes you created for your History class using different techniques.

1. Open Knowunity and go to the “Create” tab. Go to “AI Notes'' to input your notes. Tell us what are your thoughts while doing it.
2. Select “Take a picture of my notes” to input your notes. Tell us what are your thoughts while doing it.
3. Now go through the 4 features one by one. Tell us how you feel about each of them while you go through.
4. You’ve already seen the 4 options now - Summary, Quiz, Flashcards, and the Study Bot. Which one do you think you will use the most and why?

Key insights:

10/10 users love the AI quiz feature and want to use it in the future. 7/10 users have never used quizzes to review notes but are excited to use them.

6/10 users love the flashcards feature, as this is part of their usual study habits.

3/10 users like the AI summary feature. We were surprised that it was not as popular. Users explained that they’d rather look at their notes highlights than use the feature.

AI Chatbot - scenario & tasks:

Scenario: You are writing an essay on ‘Abraham Lincoln’ (high school student) and ‘Your Favorite Season’ (middle school student) and you are just getting started. You decide to take help from Knowunity’s chatbot.

1. Open the Knowunity app and find the chatbot. Take some time to explore the bot. Talk about your process out loud.
2. You want to get some ideas on how to create an outline for your essay.
3. What would you do? Talk about your process out loud.
4. What do you think about the response? What worked well and what didn’t? What other questions would you like to ask the chatbot, now after you have the outline?

Iteration

Improvement Based on Feedback

From our user testing, we also got some great insights on the overall usability of our new features. Here are key things we changed:

Before

After

Pain point

Users want to adjust the length of the summary based on their liking so they can easily skim through the summary if they don’t have much time, for example.

Solution

We added “simplify” and “expand” features to give users more controls over the length and content of the summary.

Before

After

Pain point

AI explanation is available only when users click on the wrong answers; however, users still want to view explanations in case they don’t understand why they get it right.

Solution

We provided explanation for right answers to help users understand study materials more thoroughly.

Before

After

Pain point

The flashcard is originally designed purely for reviewing notes; however, 6/10 users mentioned that they like to use it as a quiz to track what they got right/wrong.

Solution

We added a progress tracker for right/wrong answers to solve this specific use case of using flashcards as quizzes.

Let’s start the journey!

Highly discoverable entry point placed next to where users create notes and study sets.
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Fun robot animation used for loading screen to keep users engaged.

Summarize my notes.

Users can upload notes through taking pictures or uploading new/existing pdf.
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Notes can be summarized into different levels based on users’ preferences.

Our solution to boost note upload and conversion rates is to give users full control over their practical note usage.

It's quiz time!

The uploaded notes are converted into short quizzes using AI with explanation for both right and wrong answers.
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Micro-animations like zooming in and out are used to create fun interactions to engage users.

We designed the quiz feature to be quick and fun, reducing the frustration of mistakes and boosting user engagement.

Summarize my notes.

Users can upload notes through taking pictures or uploading new/existing pdf.
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Notes can be summarized into different levels based on users’ preferences.

Our solution to boost note upload and conversion rates is to give users full control over their practical note usage.

FINAL PRESENTATION

Clients Love It! Students Want It!

As we concluded the project, we presented our findings and the final presentation to the clients. Their feedback was overwhelmingly positive, and we engaged in discussions about planning the implementation of the proposed features and changes.

Group picture taken by the end of our presentation

Next Step

There’s so much more we want to achieve!

1. Refine the AI Summary Feature

Enhance its accuracy and alignment with diverse user needs to provide even greater value.

2. Develop an MVP for AI-Powered Quizzes and Flashcards

Create a minimal viable product (MVP) to test these tools, gather user feedback, and iterate on functionality.

3. Reimagine the AI Chat Buddy Experience

Explore new ways to make the AI chat assistant not only more functional but also more engaging and delightful to use.

REFLECTION

Looking back...

Using Research to Drive Stakeholder Success 🤝

"(…) learn how to make stakeholders successful, because if we can help them be successful, that will help us be successful as a by product."
_ Tom Greever

At the start of the project, we faced challenges aligning with our client’s vision, which prioritized an essay creation feature. Instead of pushing back, we leveraged user research to validate our hypothesis and present an alternative approach that met both the client’s business goals and user needs. By framing our ideas in the context of the client’s objectives, we gained their trust and created a product that not only exceeded their expectations but also earned glowing feedback. This reinforced the importance of aligning with stakeholders and demonstrating the value of data-driven design decisions.

Interviewing Kids: Adapting Research Methods for Younger Participants 👦

One of the standout aspects of this project was conducting user interviews with children, which required adapting traditional research methods to suit their unique needs and behaviors. Unlike adults, children often struggle with structured interview formats, making it crucial to establish trust and create an approachable, engaging environment. I employed techniques such as building rapport, simplifying questions, and using follow-up prompts to help them articulate their thoughts and preferences more effectively. This process demanded patience, flexibility, and creative problem-solving, but it provided invaluable insights that shaped our design decisions and underscored the importance of tailoring research approaches to diverse user groups.