UX Case Study
Real Work
Simplifying Test Creation for Teachers with AI
At the Beach 🏝️
I write this to you at one of my favorite new coffee shops, Stock & Brew in Santa Rosa Beach, FL. This fresh work space, combined with the aroma and taste of delicious coffee fuels me as I design the experiences of this unique project.
Unlike my usual case studies focused on results & product improvements, this one tells the story of the birth of a brand new idea. I'll take you through the process of transforming a new concept into a reality ready for building.
Onward. 🥾
Drop Quiz. Your super fast question maker.
Drop quiz is all about helping people write effective test questions based on any piece of content that they have.
Made for Teachers, by a Former Teacher
My friend and software developer, Seth, approached me with this project. His four daughters attend a newer Christian private school, and Seth is on the board. The school has many new teachers as well. As a former educator, he knows firsthand how difficult and time-consuming it is to create good test questions. He wanted his daughters' teachers to be more focused on the more important (and human) job of being there for the kids and making the class experience amazing.
Enter Drop Quiz
Seth created a proof of concept that uses specialized prompts and AI to produce questions based on any content that you drop in. After creating this working prototype, he demoed it for me over lunch. My jaw hit the floor.
I caught the vision for this idea instantly. My head was flooded with ideas on how to make this product amazing and helpful for teachers, especially the not-so-tech-savvy ones.
We chatted through the project requirements and phases. It was a healthy back-and-forth discussion. Since Seth is a former teacher, he provided a wealth of knowledge for me to build empathy for the end-users.
Phase 1: Fix Interface & Experience For a Demo
Here’s what the proof of concept looked like initially 😅:
Here’s my redesign:
Seth was amped with the progress so far. We managed to make this thing look very human & usable in a short amount of time. He demoed this to the school and they were impressed with it!
Phase 2: A Friendly Brand
I’m a world of cold and lifeless AI tools, I wanted Drop Quiz to draw the user in with good vibes and friendly clarity.
The high-contrast colors inspire confidence. There is a lot of intentional movement in the design to communicate speed.
The playful, rounded sans-serif font Nunito takes center stage. It has the right amount of friendliness while still being a workhorse with plenty of weights suited to a digital product.
Phase 3: A Real Product
At this stage, we did not need to conduct extensive user research; we needed to build a viable first version and observe how real teachers utilize it. We already have a known user problem: writing good test questions takes too long.
We met and decided on a core set of features to design first:
Landing Page
Sign Up / Log In Flow
Quiz Creation Flow
My Library (for saved quizzes)
The Quickest Path to Value
We had numerous ideas that we decided would be implemented later (lesson plan creator, essay grading, fun activities tool). It's best to let your actual customers guide you on what they want in addition to the core need.
Let's focus on the main path here: helping a teacher create great test questions on any content they have and save them for later use.
Micro Design System
The whole point of a design system is to establish consistency. This becomes more challenging when multiple unpredictable individuals are designing the same product.
Since I am the only person designing this product at the moment, I only needed a small design system. Check it out!
Deliverables
Once I got the thumbs up on the brand and flows, I prepared my design files for handoff. Here are a few of the highlights. If you want to see more, don't be a stranger. Send me an email (jack@jackhawkins.us).
Jack took the time to really listen to what I needed, and he solved problems I didn't even realize I had! He went above and beyond to make the brand better than I could have imagined.
— Seth, creator of Drop Quiz
My Thoughts on AI (that no one asked for)
When it comes to AI, public opinion is all over the place. Some folks are all about it, seeing it as a lifesaver for tackling boring tasks faster. On the flip side, there are those who see it as a job-stealing monster. Most people probably land somewhere in between.
With Drop Quiz, we decided not to talk about AI. We figured it wasn't really necessary for what we were doing at this point. We want teachers to focus on the benefits, not the tech behind it.
A Dash of AI Everywhere
These days, it seems like every product is throwing in a bit of AI to spice things up. Most of the time, its like Tom Hank's southern accent in the movie, Elvis (super contrived). They want us to think, Wow! Look at how quickly this company adopted AI! They must have nailed it on the first try.
For me personally, there have been only a handful of times when an AI feature in a product was actually helpful. Most of the time, it just gets in my way.
The thing I like about Drop Quiz is that the core functionality is using AI. It’s not trying to arbitrarily improve something with AI. It’s using AI to produce a set of questions from the exact content that they uploaded.
It’s easier to edit than create. Once you have something produced in front of you, its easy to get in the mode of editing and make some serious progress. That's my hope for this tool when teachers get their hands on it!
What's Next?
It’s being built now! Reach out if you want to learn more.
Original UX case study researched, written, designed, and built by me, Jack Hawkins.
