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Aula - Redesign

Project Overview

This project focuses on a complete UX and UI redesign of the Aula Learning Management System, informed by real feedback from Coventry University students.

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UI/UX Designer

Role

2 Months

Duration

→  🧪 Survey    →  🎯 Open-ended feedback    →   🔍 Competitive analysis.    →    ✅ User validation

Research Methods

Coventry University students rely on Aula for daily learning tasks, but unclear navigation, poor content hierarchy, and information overload make it difficult especially for first time users to find important up dates, assignments, and messages efficiently.

Problem

  • Navigation & Information Architecture

  • Communication Effectiveness

  • Content Visibility & Awareness

  • Usability Issues & Pain Points

  • Feature Gaps & Unmet Needs

Survey  Research Focus Areas

  • Engagement & Interaction

  • Competitive Benchmarking

  • Improvement Opportunities & Prioritisation

  • Qualitative Insights & Open Feedback

👀   The survey responses were collected anonymously to encourage honest feedback and reduce response bias.

  • Poor findability is a core usability issue: 64% of users struggle to locate key content, indicating weak information architecture and unclear navigation paths.


  • The dashboard fails to support task prioritisation: Critical items such as announcements, deadlines, and assignments are not surfaced effectively, increasing cognitive load.


  • Announcements lack visibility and filtering: 32% of users find checking announcements the most frustrating task due to message noise and poor content hierarchy.


  • Communication tools introduce friction: Messaging tutors and classmates is perceived as slow and unclear, discouraging effective academic communication.


  • Learning materials and assignments are hard to access: Users report inconsistent organisation, no global search, and unclear assignment locations.


  • Strong validation for redesign: 94% of users are willing to test an improved version, demonstrating clear demand for UX-led improvements

Insights

✨ These insights directly informed design decisions focused on clarity, prioritisation, and reduced cognitive load.

Persona

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  • Michele

  • Age-24

  • Postgraduate Student
    Mobile-first user

😎

💬 “I just want to quickly see what’s important without
digging through everything"

Goals

  • See deadlines instantly

  • Find materials without searching

  • Communicate easily with lecturers

Goals

  • Missed announcements

  • Confusing navigation

  • Hidden assignments

  • Frequent logouts

Frustrations

Prioritised dashboard (deadlines & announcements first)
Global search for materials & assignments
Filtered academic announcements
Persistent login & reduced authentication friction

Design Implications

Users don’t need more features, they need clarity 
and prioritisation

Key Insight

94% of users expressed interest in testing a redesigned version

  • Simplify navigation and information architecture
    Enabling users to find modules, assignments, and deadlines quickly with fewer clicks and a clear content structure.

  • Create a prioritised, task-focused dashboard

    Surface key academic actions, announcements, submissions, and upcoming deadlines at a glance.

  • Improve UI clarity and visual hierarchy

    Use consistent layouts, typography, colour, and spacing to guide attention and reduce cognitive load.

  • Enhance communication and announcement visibility
    Organise messages with filters, pinning, and clear notifications to ensure important updates are not missed.

  • Reduce login friction and access errors
    Support persistent sessions, streamline authentication, and prevent users from landing in the wrong learning journey.

  • Ensure a seamless mobile-first experience

    Optimise all core tasks for mobile use, ensuring feature parity and easy navigation on smaller screens.

UX Goals

These goals were directly informed by user pain points and prioritised to reduce friction, improve clarity, and support academic focus.

Wireframes

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Designs

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What Everyone Are Telling

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Outcomes & Reflections

  • Strong usability improvement validated by users:
 The redesigned Aula achieved an average usability rating of 4.39/5, indicating a significant improvement in clarity and ease of use.


  • Dashboard clarity and task visibility were highly successful: 95.8% of users reported they could easily find what they needed, validating the task-focused dashboard approach.


  • Timetable integration delivered the highest value:
 Users consistently highlighted the timetable and daily task overview as the most useful features, confirming the benefit of centralising academic information.


  • Reduced cognitive load through clearer structure:
 Users described the interface as “clear,” “easy to navigate,” and “well separated,” showing improved information hierarchy and layout effectiveness.


  • Minor refinement opportunities identified:
 Feedback highlighted the need to simplify tabs, improve notification urgency indicators, and refine chat and timetable layouts, valuable inputs for iteration.


  • Clear preference for the redesigned experience:
95.8% of users stated they would prefer using the redesigned version over the current Aula app, strongly validating the redesign direction.

Overall feedback confirmed that prioritisation, clarity, and consolidation of key academic tasks significantly improved the user experience.

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