Streamlining pathways through user feedback

Case study

ROLE

UX, UI, Research

TOOLS

Figma

PLATFORM

Web

COMPANY

Thrive

Pathways is a structured learning journey that guides users through content step by step. While it provided value, feedback revealed significant usability issues that hindered engagement. Our aim was to make meaningful changes to pathways to streamline the learning experience.

VIEW PROTOTYPE

Background

Using Planhat, our feedback-gathering tool, I triaged user requests and identified 56 specific issues related to Pathways. These recurring themes and usability challenges provided invaluable insights, shaping the focus of this redesign.

Several factors influenced what improvements we could realistically implement:

Low Development Effort: Limited developer capacity and a 1 month timeline meant focusing on achievable enhancements.
High Value Impact: Prioritising fixes that delivered significant benefits, particularly for high ARR clients.
Vision-Proofing: Ensuring that changes aligned with Thrive’s broader content authoring overhaul, balancing immediate improvements with long-term adaptability.

Given these constraints, some enhancements were backlogged for future consideration.

Key Themes

I began to group feedback into underlying themes. Given the restraints in place, I only pulled through themes and suggestions that we deemed provided value and relief to our customers with minimal development.

Distractions & Focus

Improving affordance of pathways to reduce drop off and clear next steps.
Remove focus from secondary actions to avoid wandering users.

Enhance Core Navigation

Clearer navigation logic between the overview page and pathway content.

Tracking Progress

Helping users pick up where they last left off.
Helping users understand where they are in their pathway, what has been completed & what is upcoming.

Content Visibility

Ability to view locked topic sectons to understand what’s next.
Avoid seeing empty sections I don’t have permission to access, to reduce confusion

UX Evaluation

I conduct a UX evaluation to assess the existing UI and UX. I compare customer-reported pain points with my own findings to validate assumptions and identify additional areas for improvement, including potential quality-of-life enhancements.

Design Direction

Taking into consideration User Feedback and UX Evaluation, I defined the key aspects that I want to begin exploring with wireframes.

Early wireframes focused on improving the pathway content layout, serving as the foundation for future design decisions.

I explored inspiration that aligned with my wireframes, identifying well-established patterns that could enhance the project.

Using new inspiration, I refined the designs into higher fidelity concepts, scheduling sessions with developers to discuss feasibility at this point.

User Testing

There’s was an element of confidence surrounding this project coming into it since there was multiple customers expecting improvements to pathways. This ultimately allowed us to move into testing with a higher-fidelity approach. We opted to share designs across to the Innovation Panel.

All respondents found the concepts helpful in improving the pathway experience.
Most respondents find the Pathway Navigator clear, useful and would have a strong impact on their platforms.
Most respondents disagreed with removing Linked/Related Content from pathways, however agreed they should be less prominent.
All respondents liked being able to view locked sections.