Designing Education Access
Creating supportive and motivating learning for rehabilitation.
Project Overview
I worked with a small team of designers and stakeholders at Flikshop, an organization dedicated to prison rehabilitation, to design a learning platform that gives incarcerated students access to education in challenging environments.
Through desk research, and expert and proxy interviews, we identified key pain points and learner archetypes. These insights guided a high-fidelity prototype that emphasized clarity, independence, and motivation throughout the learning experience
My Role(s)
UX Designer and Researcher
Tools
Figma, FigJam, Zoom, Miro
Methods
Agile Scrum, Desk Research, SME and Proxy Interviews, User Journey mapping, Flow mapping, Affinity Mapping, Personas, Sketching, Iterative Prototyping
Problem Statement
Incarcerated learners faced significant barriers to consistent, motivating educational experiences. Existing tools lacked accessibility, clear navigation, and emotional support features, making it difficult for students to stay engaged, independent, and confident in their learning.
Phase 1: Research
Because we couldn’t directly engage with incarcerated learners, we grounded our design in real-world context through expert interviews with Learning Management System (LMS) designers, educators working in correctional facilities, and practitioners supporting formerly incarcerated individuals. These conversations revealed the practical and emotional challenges students face in restrictive environments.
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To represent these experiences, we developed user archetypes capturing both proactive and passive learning styles, which served as reference points throughout the design process. ​
Expert Interviews
Our conversations with experts guided us through the rest of our product decisions and revealed three key areas essential for supporting incarcerated learners: simplicity, motivation, and clear communication.​
Simplicity and Ease of Use
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Experts emphasized that learners need an interface that feels intuitive and approachable. Content layouts should be clean and predictable, with short lessons and clear navigation. Video trailers can help introduce courses and set expectations in an engaging way.​​\
Motivation and Independence
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Maintaining learner motivation in restrictive environments requires thoughtful reinforcement. Features like progressive congratulatory messages, visible progress indicators, and transparency about time requirements can foster a sense of accomplishment and autonomy throughout the learning journey.​
Clarity and Accessibility in Communication
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Language and format play a key role in learning success. Experts recommended using plain, supportive language and providing multiple ways to process information, such as audio, video, and reading options to accommodate different literacy and learning styles
Archetypes
To get a better view of current successful learning platforms and desirable practices for our intended product outcome.
Personas representing two learner types: John, a motivated student seeking tech literacy, and Michael, a younger resident searching for discipline and direction.
Personas representing two learner types: John, a motivated student seeking tech literacy, and Michael, a younger resident searching for discipline and direction.
Phase 2: Solutioning and Design
From the insights of research, we mapped a product structure to visualize how incarcerated students might engage with the LMS from onboarding to course completion and identify opportunities for improvement. Using the “Art Museum” critique method, our team refined early sketches into a unified concept, which we evolved into a prototype for usability testing.
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Finally, we conducted usability testing to ensure the client could continue iterating after our engagement, providing clear takeaways on what resonated with learners and what still needed refinement.
Product Structure
Our goal was to capture the end-to-end journey, from onboarding and course discovery to learning progression and completion to identify where motivation and clarity needed to be reinforced.
The resulting product flows mapped each stage of the experience, showing how users onboard, search, preview, select, and complete courses. These diagrams highlighted the critical interactions across the platform and became a blueprint for designing intuitive navigation, motivational checkpoints, and accessible content formats.
Flow diagram illustrating how students search, preview, select, and complete courses in the LMS.
Concepts and Art Museum Critique
Each team member produced early sketches exploring navigation, video lessons, student interests, and instructor profiles. We then used the “Art Museum” critique process to review and vote on concepts, in order to merge the strongest ideas into a cohesive direction. The sketches below are what I produced for the exercise.
Prototyping & Usability
Building on our sketches, we developed a high-fidelity prototype that demonstrated the complete student journey, from sign-up and onboarding through course completion. Proxy users and subject matter experts tested the design, providing feedback on navigation, motivational structures, and content presentation.
High-fidelity Prototype
Usability Feedback Results
Testing revealed which features best supported motivation and clarity, and which areas needed refinement for incarcerated learners.
What Worked Well
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Simple, open layout was easy to navigate
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Gamification features helped sustain motivation
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Flexibility of choosing self-paced or scheduled paths was well-received
Areas of Improvement
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Course difficulty levels needed clearer indicators
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Testimonials should feel more authentic and relatable
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Flikshop Bucks concept required better explanation of earning and usage
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Students wanted more visibility into instructor experience and background
Additional Takeaways
Given the scope of the LMS, the team chose to focus on the student sign-up and course experience. Future opportunities include designing the admin experience and integrating Flikshop Bucks more directly with Flikshop’s broader services.
Reflection
This project shaped how I approach user-first design. It reinforced that even when direct access to users isn’t possible, talking to someone with proximity to their experience is far better than designing in isolation. Speaking with experts reminded me how critical it is to uncover nuance and context beyond assumptions, especially when you’re not the target user.
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Looking back, it would have added more helpful context to explore more of the systemic constraints, such as security protocols and facility logistics, that impact real-world implementation. Still, this remains one of my favorite projects because it deepened my understanding of inclusive design and the power of empathy in shaping meaningful user experiences.