For my final project in my User Experience Design Immersive course at General Assembly I redesigned their live stream experience. The project took three weeks, during which I interviewed people from around the world, uncovered some new facts and came up with some novel solutions no one was expecting. All in all I think the email redesign was the most intelligent UX solution I've come up with to date.

1. Case Study #1
General Assembly’s Front Row Live Stream Redesign
by Chris Stair
(For UXDi)
Monday, November 11, 13

2. General Assembly’s Live Stream Redesign
As of October 2013 General Assembly outsourced the live streaming element for their online
content. They were considering bringing the service in-house and were interested in how they
could improve the experience. In their words, “It should be able to provide online users with a
way to interact, collaborate, connect, ask real-time questions, broadcast needs, share resources
and otherwise communicate with each other in a meaningful, intuitive and extremely functional
way.”
The challenge: Identifying important trends in research and translating them into a design that
meets both client needs and user needs.
The Solution: A redesign of the confirmation email to accommodate first time users, a new sign
in process, a new waiting screen, a new interface and a new exit screen. All stages of design
paid special attention to networking and question handling.
Monday, November 11, 13

3. PROJECT OVERVIEW
The project lasted three weeks. During that period I met with my stakeholders from General
Assembly, interviewed users and GA Staff, participated in live streams, analyzed the research
and then proceeded to design solutions to augment the live stream user experience. The project
culminated in a presentation for General Assembly’s Digital Products Team. While working I
realized that the most important element of the live stream users’ experience could be solved
outside of the stream itself. The stages I went through during this process were:
•
Research
•
Persona Creation
•
Sketching & Creative Ideation
•
Wireframing
•
First Iteration
•
Prototyping
Monday, November 11, 13

4. KEY SCREENS AND FEATURES
Main Interface
Growth Hacking Strategies
Email Redesign
Part 2 of 3
Chat - Sally
1:32
Arturo
Uploaded Growth Statistics.xl
1:33
Tommy
Generally that refers to acquiring
new users or increasing revenue
over a given period of time
Randy
1:40
What are some models for
growth?
16:9
1:40
Dana - Moderator
Great Question @Randy!
@Ami
1:42
Hey Sally, thanks for posting that
link earlier. Do you know any
other useful websites?
#GAlivestream
Send
Description
Questions
Message
Upload
Users
Starting a business seems like a daunting task. In this class, Erik will explain three strategies he
has used to start successful businesses. Whether you’d like to understand how to increase your
visibility on the web, choose an insurance plan, and focus on your value proposition, this is the
Frank
Me
Frank
Cori
Robert
Arturo
Kurt
Order Confirmation
Ami
class for you.
TAKEAWAYS
▪
Know how to form your company
▪
Understand strategies for increasing visibility on the web
▪
Get live
Erik Kimel is an entrepreneur and founded his first company,
Peer2Peer Tutors, as a senior in high school in 2004. He grew
Peer2Peer from one tutor and one client to over 5,000 tutors and
Question Forum
Descriptions
Tommy
ABOUT THE INSTRUCTOR
Congratulations, you have successfully registered for the
upcoming live stream.
It will be airing on November 5th at 5:00 pm.
Randy
Sally
Network at GA
Please keep an eye on your email, you’ll be receiving a link
30 minutes prior to the scheduled start time.
Question
Questions
1 New: What are companies with high growth?
Vote
20
1:35pm
What are some growth models?
15
What are some techniques for research?
17
1:30pm
5,000 clients across the east coast region of the United States. In
What are the best ways to grow on a low budget?
1:43pm
Ask the Moderator
Related Videos
1:40pm
What job title would help me grow my business?
12
1:20pm
How do you go about getting your first 5,000 clients?
12
1:15pm
What in your mind, are some of the greatest
trends in business today?
10
Class Description
2012, Peer2Peer Tutors was acquired by an international network
of college admissions experts, which was covered by the Wall
Network at GA
Street Journal. Kimel has been featured on the Top 25 under 25 list
in Business Week
Cheers,
The GA Team
What is growth hacking?
Are there any good books on growth hacking?
Monday, November 11, 13
Answered 1:35
Answered 1:40

5. DESIGN RESEARCH
Method:
I interviewed 7 people from all around the United States, as well as 1 in
Russia and 1 in Vietnam. The participants were asked 1 of 3 scripts
depending on their exposure to online learning: unfamiliar, beginner, heavy
user.
Findings:
I found that getting questions answered was the most important aspect
for new users, because receiving a real time response was the only
element that competing services cannot currently offer them. The second
most important part of the live stream experience was networking.
Opportunities Identified:
I found that General Assembly can better answer questions and facilitate
networking through:
1). Email Redesign
2). Sign In Redesign
3). Interface Redesign
Monday, November 11, 13

6. PERSONAS
ENTERPRISING INDIVIDUAL
Amber Gonzalez - 30, Philadelphia
“My goal was to learn more. In my specific case, I’m on a mission to cram
my brain with as much information as possible. I want to make sure I’m
current with trends.”
Background
Amber majored in journalism at Skidmore in upstate New York. She
graduated seven years ago and worked at a magazine for five. In the past two
years, she became interested in starting a website that would match coffee
enthusiasts with new brands of coffee. She started taking online courses for
HTML and InDesign from lynda.com. In addition, she was looking for
general business skills.
She found GA while searching online for brand strategy workshops. She
ended up signing up for the live stream, because it was free. Living in
Philadelphia, it is not as convenient for her to take GA classes on-site.
Key Characteristics
She uses the site in order to have a general knowledge of entrepreneurship,
with multiple focus of interests. She would browse through a list of
interesting livestream classes and would like to interact with both instructors
and students. As she wants to know more about how other people do small
business, she would like to know about other students’ profile.
Goals and Motivations
- She came to GA to learn about general business strategies and skills.
- She wants to know enough to stay current, not necessarily an expert on one
single area
- She is looking to network and meet like-minded individuals in chats.
Frustrations and Pain points
- She dislikes when people comment too much in the chat
- She could not know much about other interesting students just through chat.
- She thinks the classes aren’t put into the proper hierarchy in terms of
expertise.
- She wishes she could read reviews about classes ahead of time.
- She could not find some of the helpful links or sources in the chat after
livestream
Monday, November 11, 13
IMPROVING PROFESSIONAL
TECH TOURIST
Dmitry Rosen, Russian, 20
William Moore - 36, New York
Background
William is a 36-year old mid-level director at a retail oriented corporation
living in Upper East Side, NY.
He is busy all the time with his high-powered job, but he feels the need to
learn more skills such as design, so he does not have to wait for other
departments to finish up the projects his team is working on.
He heard about GA from some networking events, browsed GA’s website
and found out about the online program. He tried on-demand videos but
came up with a few questions, and hoped to get them answered through
live-stream
Quote
“It’s not about being an expert, it’s about filling that gap.”
Goals and Motivations
- to learn a specific skill: digital marketing. or any skill that would quickly
fill in the gap in his workstream
- already has a few questions in mind and hope to interact with the
instructor
- wants a quick and easy way to get the information he wants from an
experienced instructor
Key Characteristics
- he is an experienced and serious professional who likes to stay focused
- he is not into networking or anything social with other online students
- he has a concrete problem and wants an answer from expert
Pains and Frustration
- he is very busy, unable to watch more videos or go back and check out all
the links
- sometimes his question do not get answered
- he is unable to predict the quality and level of the livestream classes
- feels annoyed by students having silly side conversations
Background
Based in St. Petersburg Dmitry works freelance for several agencies that do
business providing cheap coding for US-based companies. He heard about
GA when he searched online courses for branding. He looked at the website
and liked the design. After clicking through the various offerings he figured
out that the live stream option is free. He will not pay for a service unless
there is a demonstrably high value.
Dmitry wants to stay current because he feels that the education in Russia,
especially in tech, is lacking. It is generally 2-3 years behind technology in
the United States. So he wants to take advantage of cutting edge lectures so
that he can continue working with his clients in the United States.
Goals and Motivations
- To stay current, at the forefront of technology
- To learn best practices in a variety of contexts
- To improve his career path
Key Characteristics
- Brand oriented rather than rating or review oriented. He does not trust
reviews. Brand orientation involves prestige of GA, prestige of speaker, and
perceived value of the topic.
- He is not interested in the chat feature.
- He does not have a strict focus because he is trying to ‘stay current’. He’s
more likely to watch topics that play to his strengths but he will not ignore
anything for fear of being left behind.
- He does not trust the chat feature because he doesn’t know if the users have
their own agendas. He spends most of his time focusing on what the teacher
is saying.
- Very literal.
Pains and Frustration
- Timezone is a blocker, but he can make it if he stays up late.
- He often watches videos on his mobile and gets frustrated when the video is
not mobile compatible.
- Thinks there is a lack of structure in the Front Row, would like more
structure with more takeaways and technical skills.
- Subscription cost is high in his currency
- Wants a larger community to exist outside
- Does not feel he is a part of the GA community but wants to be

7. Scope of Questions Broadens Based on
Number of Visits
Specificity
Single
Question
Personas
Improving Professional
Enterprising Individual
Tech Tourist
Narrow
Topic
General
Industry
1
2
3
Visits
Monday, November 11, 13
4

8. CONCEPTUAL IDEATION
Monday, November 11, 13

9. DESIGN HYPOTHESIS
Target
Demographic for
Email Redesign
Specificity
Single
Question
Personas
Improving Professional
Enterprising Individual
Tech Tourist
Narrow
Topic
General
Industry
1
2
3
Visits
Monday, November 11, 13
4
Target Demographic
for Question Forum

10. DESIGN ITERATION 1
ITERATION 1
Chat
send
8
7
Method:
How much do fonts cost?
6
Description
Slides
Notes
Links
1
2
3
4
Person Person Person
Top 7 Questions
Question 1
5
After interviewing participants, determining client needs and
doing a competitive analysis I designed an interface that
would take advantage of current user behaviors which
included checking the course description, reviewing slides,
taking notes and examining links. The question answering
process was very important to users so I designed a
‘question forum’ to facilitate the communication between
General Assembly and users. In addition I redesigned the
confirmation email and the sign in screen to further
accommodate user needs.
Question 2
Question 3
Question 4
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
7.
8.
Class Description
Slide Presentation
Notepad
Link Collection
Question Forum
Chat Function
Current Question
Full Screen
EMAIL REDESIGN 1
SIGN IN REDESIGN 1
Order Confirmation
Class Title/Link to Description
Enter username
Information about Email
Reminders
Upload or Choose a
Photo (Optional)
Questions? (Wording TBD)
Network at GA
About GA
Order Summary
Monday, November 11, 13
Submit
or sign in with
In
f

11. Email Redesign
Method:
FINAL EMAIL
CONFIRMATION
After interviewing participants and determining client needs. I
recognized there was a common theme among all new
users. They had specific questions they wanted answered,
in fact it was those questions that brought them to the live
stream. The questions ranged in specificity, but it was
universally important to the users that their questions get
answered.
Opportunities Identified:
Order Confirmation
Congratulations, you have successfully registered for the upcoming live stream.
It will be airing on November 5th at 5:00 pm.
Please keep an eye on your email, you’ll be receiving a link 30 minutes prior to
the scheduled start time.
If you have any questions you would like addressed in the live stream please
contact the moderator by clicking below.
Ask the Moderator
Class Description
Network at GA
Cheers,
The GA Team
Monday, November 11, 13
Answering the right questions was the largest concern for the
user base. However they lacked a good opportunity to ask
questions before the stream. There were also a number of
reasons that kept users from asking their questions during
the stream. Giving users a way to ask the questions
immediately after signing up for the live stream would solve
problems for both the business and the users.

12. DESIGN ITERATIONS | PROTOTYPE
FINAL PROTOTYPE
Method:
I created a high fidelity prototype using
OmniGraffle and Keynote to detail the entire
experience from the pre-stream email confirmation
to the exit screen for when the live stream is over.
Growth Hacking Strategies
Part 2 of 3
CORE PRODUCT EXPERIENCE
Receiving an order confirmation
Submitting a question before the stream starts
Utilizing interface during stream to network and
learn more
Chat - Sally
1:32
Arturo
Uploaded Growth Statistics.xl
Tommy
1:33
Generally that refers to acquiring
new users or increasing revenue
over a given period of time
Randy
1:40
What are some models for
growth?
16:9
1:40
Dana - Moderator
Sign-in process
Chatting during the Live Stream
Learning more about fellow classmates
Upvoting a question
Learning more about the topic via related materials
Full Screen
Great Question @Randy!
@Ami
1:42
Hey Sally, thanks for posting that
link earlier. Do you know any
other useful websites?
Send
#GAlivestream
Descriptions
Message
Questions
Questions
Upload
Users
Question
1:40pm
Vote
1 New: What are companies with high growth?
What are the best ways to grow on a low budget?
20
Frank
Me
1:35pm
What are some growth models?
What are some techniques for research?
17
Ami
Robert
Arturo
Kurt
FINAL SIGN IN
15
1:43pm
Frank
Cori
Growth Hacking Strategies
Growth Hacking Strategies
Part 2 of 3
1:30pm
What job title would help me grow my business?
How do you go about getting your first 5,000 clients?
Chat
Users
Related Videos
12
1:20pm
Part 2 of 3
12
Tommy
Erik Kimel is an entrepreneur and founded his first company,
1:15pm
Peer2Peer Tutors, as a senior in high school in 2004. He grew
10
What in your mind, are some of the greatest
Peer2Peer from
trends in business today? one tutor and one client to over 5,000 tutors and
Randy
Sally
Sign In
Network at GA
16:9
Enter Username
Next
Done
or sign in via
Related Content
Description
In
Questions
Starting a business seems like a daunting task. In this class, Erik will explain three strategies he
2012, Peer2Peer Tutors was acquired by an international network
Profile
16:9
5,000 clients across the east coast region of the United States. In
What is growth hacking? college admissions experts, which was covered Answered 1:35
of
by the Wall
Chat
Users
Related Videos
has used to start successful businesses. Whether you’d like to understand how to increase your
visibility on the web, choose an insurance plan, and focus on your value proposition, this is the
Optional
f
City
Questions
Description
Company Name
Starting a business seems like a daunting task. In this class, Erik will explain three strategies he
has used to start successful businesses. Whether you’d like to understand how to increase your
class for you.
TAKEAWAYS
Upload Photo
TAKEAWAYS
Website
in Business Week
Are there any good books on growth hacking?
Answered 1:40
▪
Know how to form your company
▪
Know how to form your company
▪
Understand strategies for increasing visibility on the web
▪
Understand strategies for increasing visibility on the web
▪
Street Journal. Kimel has been featured on the Top 25 under 25 list
Job Title
visibility on the web, choose an insurance plan, and focus on your value proposition, this is the
class for you.
Get live
▪
Get live
ABOUT THE INSTRUCTOR
What topics are you interested in?
Erik Kimel is an entrepreneur and founded his first company,
User Experience
ABOUT THE INSTRUCTOR Business
Erik Kimel is an entrepreneur and founded his first company,
Foundations
Design
Peer2Peer Tutors, as a senior in high school in 2004. He grew
Peer2Peer Tutors, as a senior in high school in 2004. He grew
Peer2Peer from one tutor and one client to over 5,000 tutors and
Web
Digital
Mobile
Peer2Peer from one tutor and one client to over 5,000 tutors and
Product
Design
5,000 clients across the east coast region of the United States. In
2012, Peer2Peer Tutors was acquired by an international network
2012, Peer2Peer Tutors was acquired by an international network
of college admissions experts, which was covered by the Wall
of college admissions experts, which was covered by the Wall
Street Journal. Kimel has been featured on the Top 25 under 25 list
Street Journal. Kimel has been featured on the Top 25 under 25 list
in Business Week
Monday, November 11, 13
Development
Marketing
Development
5,000 clients across the east coast region of the United States. In
in Business Week
Data Analysis

13. Thank you!
Chris Stair
ccstair@gmail.com
Monday, November 11, 13