thomas lalbat.
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MyPlace

One platform to find, create and track Afdas training courses, designed for five roles with opposite needs.

Client
Afdas, skills operator
Role
Product Designer, sole designer
Timeline
Ongoing
Deliverables
LMS, back office, design system
Screens from MyPlace
The challenge

Five roles that depend on each other, and scattered tools that kept them from moving forward.

My approach

Map the dependencies, then give each role its own space on a shared foundation.

The outcome

A unified platform now in development, 52 screens designed and a shared design system.

5roles in a single product
5key journeys prioritized
8types of learning activities
4steps to edit a course
Context

A fragmented training ecosystem.

Afdas funds training for the culture, media and leisure sectors. To search, publish or track a course, every stakeholder went through several tools, without ever seeing where the others stood.

Before

Five tools, no shared status

Catalog, requests by email, a publishing tool, tracking in spreadsheets, validation on the side.

With MyPlace

One entry point, one space per role

Catalog, learning space, dashboards and back office in the same product.

MyPlace home page with course search
The home page opens straight onto the catalog, signed in or not.
Problem

Five roles that depend on each other.

Training providers publish, Afdas validates, companies enroll their employees, learners and employees take the courses. Each has a goal, but none can move forward alone.

Goal

Find a course that fits their job, and get it funded.

Space: catalog and requests
Needs
  • A clear catalog with useful filters
  • Understand what is covered
  • Know where their request stands
Research

Understanding who waits for whom.

Interviews, workshops with Afdas teams and a close read of the specs let me map the journeys and spot the blockers between roles.

8

user interviews

2

workshops with Afdas

5

journeys mapped

  1. CreateProvider
  2. ValidateAfdas admin
  3. PublishCatalog
  4. EnrollLearner, company
  5. TrackLearner, employee

The friction point: between creation and publication, nobody knew who had to act.

Journey map of a signed-out visitor
The signed-out visitor's journey, in four intents. Click to enlarge.
Insights

Five frictions, five principles.

A single task required several tools.
PrincipleOne entry point, then one space per role.
Enrollment, validation, tracking: nobody knew where their request stood.
PrincipleStatus is always visible, in the same place.
One poorly identified step blocked the whole chain.
PrincipleAlways show who has to act, and what comes next.
Validation, publishing and tracking chained many steps.
PrincipleShort steps and continuous saving.
A complete product risked being complicated for everyone.
PrincipleRole-based interfaces, built on shared components.
Architecture

A shared foundation, one space per role.

Each role only sees what concerns them. All share the same objects: course, module, sequence, activity.

MyPlace
Public catalog
Search, filters
Course page
Learning space
My courses
Progress
Company space
Dashboard
Employee tracking
Provider back office
4-step editing
Course Builder
Assessments
Administration
Validation
Users
Decisions

The trade-offs that matter.

MyPlace wireframes
MyPlace final interfaces
WireframesFinal UI

5 design decisions, and what settled them

For each decision: the chosen solution, the alternative ruled out, and the reason.

Chosen

Editing a course in 4 steps

Ruled outA single long form.
WhyLess load on each screen, and providers always know where they are.
Chosen

Autosave

Ruled outA “Save” button.
WhyOn a long form, one oversight means lost work.
Chosen

Modules with 2 tabs

Ruled outOne tab per content type.
Why“Details” and “Sequences” are enough to build a module.
Chosen

8 activity types

Ruled outAn open-ended catalog.
WhyA simple authoring tool and consistent content.
Chosen

Images provided by Afdas

Ruled outFree uploads.
WhyA consistent catalog and controlled usage rights.
Screens

The product, space by space.

0:00
From searching for a course to the learning space: catalog, course page, role selection and tracking.
Final screens: home, role selection, content creation
Home, role selection and content creation in the back office.
Results

What the project delivered.

52screens designed and specified
17component families in the design system
600k+users expected on the platform

To measure after launch

The platform is in development: these are the metrics that will show whether the design delivers on its promises.

01To reduce

Time to publish

How long it takes a provider to create and publish a course.

02To reduce

Validation lead time

The time between submitting a course and Afdas approving it.

03To increase

Online enrollments

The share of enrollments made directly from the catalog.

04To reduce

Support requests

Requests about a file's progress, caused by missing status visibility.

Learnings

What I take away.

Specs guide the design

Checking every mockup against the requirements keeps you from adding what wasn't asked for.

Settle early with the client

Keeping a list of pending decisions unblocked sprints faster.

What I'd do again

Define success metrics with Afdas from the start, to measure impact from launch day.