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Animation by Artemiy on LottieFiles
gemini for students
User Experience Research
Enhanced AI usability for better, efficient student workflows.
Project Overview
The Problem
Some students (heavy AI users) often find it difficult to find and retrieve specific information from previous conversations with AI tools, making it difficult to track progress, revisit previous topics, and build upon past learning in a structured seamless manner.
A Solution
For this project, I chose to improve the user experience of Gemini for students by implementing advanced search functionality, and project-based organization. Users will be able to add specific parts of chats or entire conversations to designated projects, enabling efficient retrieval and integration of relevant information.
This solution will provide a seamless way for users to organize, access, and build on their past interactions, ensuring continuity and reducing the time spent searching for valuable content, ultimately enhancing productivity and creativity.
01
Background
This project is an exploration of how AI tools like OpenAI's ChatGPT, Anthropic's Claude, and Google's Gemini are used by students, aiming to enhance their educational experience.
02
Research Goals
- Identify Key User Needs and Pain Points
- Compare the Effectiveness of AI Tools in supporting students' academic needs
- Develop actionable User-Centered Design Recommendations
- Explore ways to improve the overall learning experience for students
- Identify Key User Needs and Pain Points
- Compare the Effectiveness of AI Tools in supporting students' academic needs
- Develop actionable User-Centered Design Recommendations
- Explore ways to improve the overall learning experience for students
- Generative Research
- Data Synthesis
- Personas, Empathy Map, User Journey
- Competitive Audit
- Ideation and Design Proposals
- User testing and Iteration
- Final Recommendations
Methods
I created a short mixed survey (qualitative and quantitative) in order to discover students’ usage habits of AI tools. There were 18 participants in the study.
After collecting survey responses, I interviewed two students to get a deeper understanding of their perspective.
Data Synthesis
The following are some of my research findings:
The empathy map reveals key insights into the needs, thoughts, and frustrations of student users interacting with AI tools. They say AI helps with research and writing but struggle to retrieve past interactions. They think there should be easier ways to organize information, feel frustrated by disorganization, and want intuitive solutions to streamline their workflow.
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03
Methodology
- Generative Research
- Data Synthesis
- Personas, Empathy Map, User Journey
- Competitive Audit
- Ideation and Design Proposals
- User testing and Iteration
- Final Recommendations
04
Generative Research
Methods
I created a short mixed survey (qualitative and quantitative) in order to discover students’ usage habits of AI tools. There were 18 participants in the study.
After collecting survey responses, I interviewed two students to get a deeper understanding of their perspective.
Data Synthesis
The following are some of my research findings:
05
Empathy Map
The empathy map reveals key insights into the needs, thoughts, and frustrations of student users interacting with AI tools. They say AI helps with research and writing but struggle to retrieve past interactions. They think there should be easier ways to organize information, feel frustrated by disorganization, and want intuitive solutions to streamline their workflow.
Personae
From the data I gathered during user research, I developed personas like Rowan, a detail-oriented student who relies on AI for coding, and Teddy, a creative multitasker who needs AI to enhance their brainstorming and organization. Their distinct needs drive the project’s user-centric approach.
User Journey
Teddy and Rowan's user journeys showcase key moments of engagement with the AI tool, from idea generation to project completion. Pain points such as inefficient retrieval of past conversations and lack of project continuity guide the design improvements.
Competitive Audit
A thorough competitive audit compared AI tools like ChatGPT, Claude, and Gemini. Strengths in context retention and intuitive UI were evaluated against weaknesses in conversation retrieval and project management, highlighting gaps for improvement in Gemini’s student-focused functionality.
06
🧐How Might We...?
Wireframes
Changes made:
Gemini's homepage: Added Projects (icons), Recents -> Activity.
Activity page: Added search function and 'Gemini button' (for new chat or project).
Changes made:
Conversation page: Added in-chat search functionality.
On long press: Added first two (new) options to the menu.
Add to project: Users can add their notes to an existing project or create one.
Changes made:
Create new project: Added a page for creating projects and managing access (for collaborative work).
Project board/page: Added a cards-style layout for the page of each project, which can be modified.
Included a search button and notifications for shared projects.
Other Design Explorations
These are designs that I felt didn't work or feel appropriate in this context. But I'd love to hear your take on this :)
07
Reflection
Learnings & accomplishments
- User Insights: I learned the critical importance of understanding user needs through research and testing assumptions in any scenario, for better, more equitable results.
- Feature Development: Implemented features such as tagging, filtering by advanced search, and the ability to add specific chat parts to projects, enhancing the AI tool's usability.
- Improved User Experience: Created a more seamless and intuitive interface, supporting students in quickly accessing and building upon previous work.
Further improvements
- Enhanced Context Retention: Hopefully we can improve the AI tool’s ability to retain context across different sessions.
- Personalization: Develop features that are tailored to different user groups such as children, students or workers because everyone uses AI now.
Guiding Principle
"It’s through mistakes that you actually can grow. You have to get bad in order to get good."
– Paula Scher