Assignment Instructions:

Imagine you are working on the UX design team for a digital media streaming platform. 

Prepare a 10-minute recorded case study presentation, with illustrations, to propose redesigning a portion of the platform to improve user experience. The audience for the presentation is the company’s executive leadership. The proposal should address the company’s business goals to keep existing users engaged and/or expand its user base. In the presentation, include the aspects of UX design listed below—in the order listed—to follow the UX design phases in the course. 

• User Data Findings

• User Persona Analysis

• Clickable Prototype

• Prototype Testing

• Content Moderation

• Improvements

UX Case Study Analysis

Duolingo is an educational platform that aims to make language learning easy, free, and fun. Through gamifying the experience of language learning, Duolingo has become one of the most widely used and talked about platforms. I selected the Duolingo case study since I love to learn languages, have used Duolingo, and I am fascinated with their marketing strategies. I’ve also attempted to learn through the Rosetta Stone program in the early 2000’s and have also had numerous in-person language and linguistic classes. In Sean McGowan’s case study for Usability Geek, the popularity of Duolingo is tied to its ease (and lack of risk) of use and game-like visuals and experience.

In order to validate the findings of the case study with real user insights and feedback I would opt for a mixed methods approach, combining both quantitative and qualitative data collected from walk-throughs, surveys, and website analytics. Both qualitative and quantitative data are necessary in order to gain a full understanding of the User Experience (UX) since quantitative data uncovers what happens, and qualitative data uncovers how something is happening. 

Qualitative data provides the underlying motivations and gives a richness to the quantitative findings. However, qualitative data should be prioritized to validate the case study since it allows for in-depth exploration of the user interactions and provides insight into the nuances of the language learning process through Duolingo. Qualitative research would uncover pain points and design successes that quantitative data may not be able to. The case study emphasized how Duolingo approaches collecting user data in a minimal, non-gamified way, after the user has already begun taking their “lessons”. In order to validate the “painless” profile set-up that the case study claims, a qualitative approach would be most beneficial, while a quantitative approach may give insight into a bounce rate caused by the profile set-up. 

The creation of a site map would also aid in pinpointing areas of navigational difficulty. A site map provides a visual representation of the structure and flow of the platform. Unger and Chandler (2012) discuss how multiple site maps can “show various user scenarios and mental models related to the website.” They also discuss how site maps can highlight which features are most used and have the most traffic. In visualizing user mental models, architecture, and areas of high-traffic, we can identify roadblocks and points of friction in the user journey that will guide the redesign workflow. 

The viability of UX research and analysis depends on how the user testing is judged. The criteria I would employ in order to evaluate the user testing of Duolingo are goal completion, time spent, and user satisfaction and feedback. Given Duolingo’s objective of language acquisition, it is crucial that the user can accomplish their goal of language learning within the application. Efficiency is a major benefit of automation and technology, and it is also one of Duolingo’s main selling points to users. The application allows users to set their own learning goals based on time, for example 5 minutes per day of learning, so it is necessary to include a time based criterion for measurement in order to verify the application’s efficiency. By analyzing the time users spend on different tasks, such as the profile set-up previously mentioned, we can assess the app's effectiveness in delivering a smooth, time-efficient, and worthwhile learning experience. Finally, user satisfaction and user feedback is paramount in judging how users actually feel about the application. The feeling a user has while using the application is probably the most important aspect to UX. Gathering feedback and qualitative data about a user’s experience allows researchers and designers insights into the user’s overall satisfaction, helping the team to pinpoint areas for improvement. 

Analyzing Duolingo’s UX design requires the collection of qualitative data in order to begin creating a holistic understanding of the user journey. The construction of one or more sitemaps helps to further paint the picture of a user as they navigate through the application. Finally, the efficacy of the case study findings can be evaluated by various criteria such as goal completion, time spent, and user satisfaction and feedback. 

References

McGowan, S. (n.d.). UX Case Study: Duolingo. Usability Geek.  https://usabilitygeek.com/ux-case-study-duolingo/ 

Unger, R., & Chandler, C. (2012). Site maps and task flows: Structuring your project from here  to there and back again. In A

project guide to UX design: For user experience designers in the field or in the making (2nd ed., pp. 219-236). New

Riders. https://learning.oreilly.com/library/view/a-project-guide/9780132931717/ch11.html 

Conceptualizing the User

Based on Haimson and Hoffman’s 2016 article Constructing and Enforcing ‘Authentic’ Identity Online: Facebook, Real Names, and Non-Normative Identities, Facebook conceptualizes the user as a “real” individual within a directory of other “real” individuals. Inspired by the administrative directories used by established universities, Facebook’s concept of the user as “an entry in a database” originated within “highly privileged locations within the matrix of domination” and now requires users to register for the platform with their “real name” (Costanza-Chock, 2020) (Haimson & Hoffman, 2016). The platform views the universal user from a limited, power-based, normative perspective and rejects the notion of multiple identities, afforded by early online chat rooms and message boards. Facebook’s design intends to legitimize the platform’s position as a directory through mandating “authenticity” in terms of how users are identified by institutional or state entities rather than how users self-identify in the different social spaces they occupy. While the enforcement and imposed value of a specific type of “authenticity” promotes safety for privileged groups, it can often “generate problems for certain users, especially those with non-normative or marginalized identities'' (Haimson & Hoffman, 2016). 

Who is Affected

Facebook’s “authentic identity” policy, carried out through its interface design, favors those with stable, non-changing identities and marginalizes transgender people, survivors of abuse or people who are made unsafe by being visible online, Native Americans, and people with “language-specific names” (Haimson & Hoffman, 2016). Furthermore, Haimson and Hoffman (2016) argue that Facebook’s “real name” policies not only marginalizes the most vulnerable individuals, but positions them as a “security threat,” as Facebook plays on “people’s fear of anonymity” in order “to contextualize real name enforcement as a safety issue.” Identity/identity performance, and authenticity for many people depends on context, and “if some constructions or performances cannot be reconciled with Facebook’s “real name” policies, then we begin to see the ways that Facebook simultaneously demands and forestalls authentic presentation for some” (Haimson & Hoffman, 2016). Facebook’s documentation and interface demands a certain type of authenticity, through challenging resolution processes as well as flagging, reporting, deactivating, and forcibly adjusting user profiles. However, for certain groups, performing this specific type of authenticity is “difficult, unsafe, or even impossible” (Haimson & Hoffman, 2016). While many folks objected to Facebook’s policies regarding authenticity and “real names,” drag queens in the Bay Area seemed to be the most vocal objectors, citing that they were being flagged for using their real authentic names (not their legal names) that they are called in real life, which Facebook chief officers claim is allowed on the platform; however, the official documentation requires an authentic name to be both a legal name and the name one is called in real life (Haimson & Hoffman, 2016).

Defining the Non-User

According to Satchell and Dourish’s (2009) taxonomy, the users, or non-users, affected by Facebook’s policy are disenfranchised, disenchanted, and/or actively resisting. Disenfranchised non-users may have their profiles forcibly deactivated in violation of the authenticity and “real name” policies and are unable to regain access due to the challenging or impossible resolution process. Disenchanted individuals feel Facebook's "real name" policy creates an inauthentic online experience and may prefer older platforms that afforded more freedom of expression. Active resistors may refuse to join Facebook due to privacy and safety concerns, or as a form of protest. 

Redesigning Facebook

In order for Facebook to re-engage the non-users marginalized by its “real name” policies, Facebook should undergo Participatory Design and Co-design, described by Costanza-Chock as an “attempt to include end users through-out the design process. Most PD processes also aim to develop feelings of investment and ownership in the outcome by all participants, and many PD practitioners are also deeply concerned with questions of community accountability” (2020). While Human Centered Design can be extractive, Participatory Design and Co-design has potential to empower communities disenfranchised by Facebook. Furthermore, Andrea Crofts in her 2018 Fitc Events discussion proposes multiple solutions for inclusive design, specifically for people with fluid identities, within online forms. Crofts’ approach to forms might be applicable to Facebook if the platform deems it necessary to keep gender, sexuality, and other types of identifiers; however, a more equitable solution would not require users to disclose any type of sensitive information if they do not want to. 

References

Costanza-Chock, S. (2020). Design practices: “Nothing about us without us.” In Design justice: 

Community-led practices to build the worlds we need (pp. 69-101). MIT Press. 

https://direct-mit-edu.libproxy1.usc.edu/books/book/4605/chapter/211369/Design-Practic

es-Nothing-about-Us-without-Us

Fitcevents. (2018, November 18). Inclusive form inputs - Andrea Crofts [Video]. YouTube. 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=m4b2QHEpYJ4 

Haimson, O. L., & Hoffman, A. L. (2016). Constructing and enforcing “authentic” identity 

online: Facebook, real names, and non-normative identities [PDF]. First Monday, 21(6). 

https://firstmonday.org/ojs/index.php/fm/article/view/6791/5521 

Satchell, C., & Dourish, P. (2009). Beyond the user: Use and non-use in HCI. In OZCHI ‘09: 

Proceedings of the 21st Annual Conference of the Australian Computer-Human 

Interaction Special Interest Group: Design. https://doi-org.libproxy1.usc.edu/10.1145/1738826.1738829