User experience is at the heart of good designer’s strategic thinking when they create learning platforms. They know that ergonomics are critical for boosting learner engagement. When designing an impactful digital learning platform, the CrossKnowledge teams focus on the user experience in order to create an engaging interface. Below, Émilie Calas, Digital Learner Marketing Manager, and Marianne Javelot, Project Manager, outline proven best practices for ergonomics when creating a user interface.
Define UX in your goals
UX (User eXperience) involves looking at how users interact with products or systems, specifically digital tools. The goal is to make them meaningful and intuitive for a seamless experience.
UX is a mindset that helps you approach a project by listening and talking to learners to find out what they really need.
Marianne Javelot – Project Manager
While the desired result is to make things easier, UX can also bring a host of challenges, many involving ergonomics and graphic design:
- Challenge: optimize navigation by customizing displays to suit learner preferences and designing clear navigation pathways.
- Challenge: plan your information hierarchy by displaying the most relevant content to learners.
Once you have defined your goals, you have to work on your platform’s navigation and ergonomics in granular detail. You can use learner marketing techniques, drawing from B2C practices, in your creative process. Next, use A/B testing to compare how effective each version is.
Émilie Calas – Digital Learning Marketing Manager
Key elements of good UX
A good user experience means that learners can effortlessly and logically navigate their way around a resource, ideally one that has been custom-designed with a strong user identity.
Creating a unique visual identity and an engaging interface
An effective e-learning platform should also follow up-to-date practices in ergonomics. All of a platform’s design features (style, icons, color scheme) should enhance overall appeal and give a unique visual identity, while respecting the parameters set out by the client.
Seamless, logical navigation
For an optimal outcome, follow these three steps:
- Carry out a comprehensive analysis and then group together the platform’s components by type: information, content, widgets, etc.
- Design the structure and order of all the components on the interface and user pathways (set out in the wireframe).
- Create the interface to showcase the aims defined in the wireframe: prioritize the components looking at their size, color, typeface, icon style, etc.
Getting your interface right is critical, because it’s every learner’s gateway to their learning environment. Your interface has to be engaging and supportive, culturally appropriate for learners, and exude success. Your interface must also adapt to the changing world of work, meaning that it must be flexible, mobile and accessible on any device.
During the design phase, multi-device solutions must also be taken into consideration. After all, learners are just as likely to sign in on a smartphone or tablet as on a computer. To engage as many team members as possible, many of whom will access content on the go, your interface has to be responsive. Reacting to how learners interact with your platform is a key component of UX.