Dashboard Redesign

I worked on an edtech platform for students to learn math through video lessons and dynamic practice. The product struggled to keep users engaged through to the actual learning experience. Learners didn’t understand how to manage their courses and well-intentioned personalization efforts were creating barriers.

Introduction

Two major things affected the dashboard: (1) users were dropping off before diving into the learning content, and (2) customers reported confusion with course management, validated by Clarity session recordings. When leadership decided to expand beyond math into test prep and other subjects, I took the opportunity to solve these problems as well as redesign it for extensibility.

The Problem

Initially, stakeholders pointed to the welcome screen and onboarding flow as the culprit. Analytics showed high drop-off rates; Clarity session recordings and user feedback helped uncover two core issues.

The New Dashboard Experience

The redesigned dashboard centres on one principle: get learners learning as quickly as possible. Every decision was made to reduce friction between signing in and starting a lesson, so that learners can check out if the content is right for them.

Navigation and Extensibility: I incorporated a sidebar pattern that could accommodate more features without needing too much design work. If we wanted more integration, we could feature it in the “recommended” section at the top of each screen as a start. This pattern could now be replicated for other learning tools: quiz results, worksheets, assessments, diagnostics, without requiring major redesign.

Impact & Results

The redesign launched in mid 2025. I introduced Formbricks, a feedback tool which helped us catch issues quickly post-launch, and provided tangible data to work with. The early results started to validate our research-driven, convention-focused approach. With a little help from AI to interpret the data, I found:

Challenges & Solutions

Design Considerations

The parent dashboard, which still uses the old design pattern, continues to show poor usability metrics from user feedback, similar to the problems we solved in the student portal. It would have been our next step, while also considering that parent needs are more complex.

There’s some mixing of mental models between the Course dropdown in the header and My Courses in the sidebar. Once broader navigation updates are implemented, this will need to be addressed.

One of the biggest challenges was avoiding the “we’ll fix it in phase two” trap. Previous dashboard iterations had shipped with known issues under the assumption they’d be quickly resolved, but resource constraints meant those issues lingered for months. The team will see if this new version holds up.

Navigating Ambiguity

Working at a small company meant dealing with shifting priorities and limited resources – limited tracking and user testing resources for the learner’s core experience; a requirement to be feasible and intuitive to use, quickly. I leaned more heavily on competitors’ established patterns and pushed for feedback tools to catch problems quickly.

Outcome

Despite these challenges, the launch went smoothly because:

1. I learned from past iterations: I studied what failed in previous dashboard designs and made sure not to repeat those mistakes
2. I stayed disciplined about conventions: When in doubt, I chose the pattern that users would already understand
3. I prioritized the right things: Getting users learning quickly was always the north star

This project taught me that I don’t always need to pursue innovative design. Users come to learning platforms with expectations shaped by other platforms they’ve used. Trying new things risks creating more confusion. Sometimes the best design is the most conventional one.

I spent several weeks on competitive analysis, but in retrospect, I should have documented a more formal heuristic analysis of the existing interface. That would have given me even more confidence in my design decisions and made it easier to communicate problems to stakeholders.

That said, imperfect research was better than no research. The competitive analysis gave me a framework and vocabulary for discussing design decisions. The Clarity recordings gave me empathy for users’ pain points.

Looking forward, I believe the product can now support more learning tools and more diverse offerings. More than just fixing usability issues, the platform is more able to grow with the business.

*Early results. Baseline comparison uses parent dashboard feedback as a proxy for the previous student experience, as student feedback was not yet implemented.

^†Google analytics: Approximately from the same time the year previous. Seasonality and macroeconomic conditions may have had an effect.