The problem
Sequence (since acquired by Salesforce) was a creative agency based in San Francisco that caters to high profile clients such as Apple, Chipotle, and Autodesk. During my internship, Autodesk wanted to create an online education platform for their users to watch recordings of their annual conference sessions, read articles, and enrich the Autodesk community year-round. However, before investing significant engineering and design time, the client wanted to validate that their users would engage with a system of this nature. Our job was to help Autodesk understand their users' needs and desires, and ultimately help them make an educated decision about creating an online learning platform.
Role & ownership
As an interaction designer on the project, my responsibility was to create a high fidelity prototype to be used at the upcoming Autodesk University Las Vegas conference in November 2016. I built the majority of the prototype in Proto.io, and worked closely with visual designers to verify all edge cases of the screens were included. Our team met regularly with the stakeholders from Autodesk to ensure the prototype we delivered was to the exact specifications they desired.
The solution
To help Autodesk gain more context on what their education platform should be, we created a high-fidelity prototype in Proto.io. The goal for the prototype was for it to feel like a completely functional website. The user could personalize the prototype with their name, watch videos, listen to recordings, toggle through content, and navigate the entire website as if it were built and published on the web. The high level of functionality was achieved through Proto.io's sophisticated prototyping capabilities.
Validation
During AU Las Vegas 2016, the prototype was available at a conference booth for any attendee to interact with. Stakeholders from Autodesk and Sequence were able to collect informal feedback from passers by who tried out the prototype. More formal feedback was collected during the event from various user testing sessions and focus groups, which were conducted in less chaotic environments. The response to the proposed education platform was overwhelmingly positive, making it clear that Autodesk should invest in bringing this product to life.
Next steps
The prototype we delivered to Autodesk was able to help the client make an informed decision to move forward with their online education platform. Autodesk went on to build
Autodesk University with the context and feedback we helped them acquire. Today, all Autodesk users have a useful resource to refine their knowledge, explore new technologies, and get answers to questions they may have about the software.
