Propel
Confidence begins with understanding.
Designing an online platform that creates confidence and self-assurance.
Project Snapshot
Date
Jan 2026
Role
Product Design
Timeline
3 Weeks
Team
3 Designers
Tools
Figma, FigJam, FigSlides, Figma AI, Chat GPT, Google Workspace
The Story Begins
The best solutions begin with listening.
Before this project, I assumed that if people had access to education resources they would use those tools to learn new skills. Working with users of all ages and backgrounds, I gained a better understanding that education is not a one-size-fits all. I quickly learned that it was less about access and more about; how the information is presented and if they feel supported on their learning journey.
Getting Curious
Our Challenge
The YMCA wanted to improve access to life skills education for their members who come from primarily underserved communities, to help them advance in their lives. But they needed to understand how to provide this information in a way that supports each individual's learning needs.
What I Wanted To Learn
Entering into the research phase, I wanted to uncover what life skills mattered most to YMCA members. I wanted a better understanding of their barriers to learning and what inspired them to pursue life skills at any stage in their journey.
User Conversations
"I know that I've learned something and can understand it, when I can explain it to a 5 year old."
Knowing that the YMCA serves a variety of ages and backgrounds, we used our collective experience in the social impact sector when it came to developing our target audience and interview questions. We uncovered that our hypothesis was correct. After talking to users 20-60 years of age, overwhelmingly all users would find a life skills education app to be helpful in their personal growth. They also shared:
their need for a variety of learning styles such as; videos and gamification.
their preference to interact with others while learning, in order to share and gain insights from others perspectives.
their need for accessible language and a clear learning path.
that the main life skill they find the most valuable to gain and understand was finances.
Competitive Analysis
A market analysis helped us understand how we could support our users learning journey.
Direct Competitor "Dave Ramsey" platform is highly structured with a focus on clarity over emotional approachability
Direct Competitor "Zogo" gamifies learning with point systems and provides a clearly laid out learning path
Indirect Competitor "Alive Fitness App" provides clear direction and instructions for all programs, while sharing achievement badges throughout users fitness journey, and make it easy to see user progress
Lastly, Indirect Competitor "Duolingo" provides immediate feedback to keep users empowered, engages users through short lessons, making progress visible and reinforced
What Changed My Thinking
I thought online learners just needed access to a learning platform. Instead, they need a clearly defined learning path and support along their learning journey.
Designing Trust
Gamification: This design decision was made after research uncovered that users needed a variety of learning styles to stay engaged.
Learning Guide: The design decision to create "Piggy B" our app mascot was developed after our users expressed needing to feel support on their learning journey. They expressed needing encouragement and someone to engage with when they had questions. Piggy B shows up throughout the journey to provide each user with what they need when they need it.
Learning Roadmap: This design decision was made after research uncovered that users expressed feeling lost and unsure of where to begin.
Bringing it to Life
Our new framework for our YMCA life skills app, called "Propel" would be focused on educating members on financial literacy. The app:
meets users where they are at in their financial journey by providing initial and on-going assessments with thoughtful and encouraging messaging, reassuring users that it's never too late to start learning
teaches information in an accessible way by breaking down complex financial jargon with simple and everyday language
charts a clear course towards the user's financial progress with learning objectives and roadmaps
and promotes user engagement throughout the learning journey via chatrooms, video tutorials, and gamification
After conducting multiple rounds of usability testing, our final product fixed bug issues in the quiz, ensured the learning roadmap provided a clear path along the entire journey, and made Piggy B assistance simpler to access.
Looking Back
What I'm Proud Of
This project was really special to me, I have spent a lot of my life supporting organizations like YMCA. Although it was just a bootcamp project and not an actual collaboration, I treated it as such and truly wanted to create a product that would positively impact people's lives. While creating different features, such as Piggy B our learning guide, I would think back to the interviews I held and remind myself of who I am creating this for and why.
What Challenged Me
This was my first group project, which allowed me the ability to work with different mindsets and abilities. I learned a lot from my teammates as we all challenged ourselves to step outside of our comfort zone to approach a topic that we were passionate about but may not have been extremely knowledgeable in. Not only did I learn how to gamify and educate, but at the same time I was navigating working with teammates across timezones, how to give and receive feedback, and how to handle when a design decision is rejected. This project stretched me in ways I was not expecting.
What I Learned
Through this project, I learned that even through all the research, you may share a design decision with your team that may not get implemented into the final product. I learned to give and receive feedback on designs in a constructive way that helped my teammates who were my fellow classmates, also learn and grow.
What I'd Explore Next
During our discovery phase, the main life skills that users wanted to learn to advance in their lives was financial literacy, but they also wanted to obtain other life skills such as mindfulness. As a next step to the development of this product, I would conduct research to support the implementation of a mindfulness and wellness portion of this life skills app.
Follow along on persona 'Gregory's' journey.
