Learners were landing on HowNow's homepage and leaving without starting a single course.

Background

HowNow’s homepage is the primary entry point for learners, but over time it became crowded with features and content, making it harder for users to understand what to do next.


This directly affected engagement and feature adoption.

Challenge

Learners weren't engaging with the homepage, and that drop-off was

hitting ARR directly.

AI meets learning

About the learning platform

About the learning platform

Project Overview

Background

HowNow’s homepage is the primary entry point for learners, but over time it became crowded with features and content, making it harder for users to understand what to do next.


This directly affected engagement and feature adoption.

Challenge

Learners weren't engaging with the homepage, and that drop-off was hitting ARR directly.

Learners were landing on HowNow's

homepage and leaving without starting

a single course.

Context

Here's What the Data Shows

Here's What the Data Shows

Initial Problem

Learners did not meaningfully engage with content.

Engagement

38% homepage visits with no interaction
Below Target

Continuation

47% of users not resuming learning
Low continuation from homepage

Drop-off

High bounce rate from homepage entry
Users leaving without starting learning

Feature Adoption

Low usage of key modules
Mandatory sections underutilised

This Is What Users Were Actually Looking At

Initial Pemise

Objective

Reduce cognitive overload and guide clear next actions

Drive higher content interaction and retention

Work within existing components and platform architecture

Understanding The Problem

Diagnosis & Opportunity
Framing

I reviewed homepage, customer feedback, and support tickets to understand why the homepage wasn’t driving engagement.

Before defining solutions, I examined both behavioural data and stakeholder insights to diagnose where the homepage was failing to guide engagement. This helped frame the opportunity clearly before moving into structural exploration.

Homepage Audit

I reviewed each element of the existing homepage to understand where it was failing users

Large, visually dominant, but not actionable. It took up prime space without guiding users toward anything meaningful.

No visual distinction from mandatory content. Nothing flagged it as important or time-sensitive

No context, no categorisation, no hierarchy. Every card looked the same regardless of priority.

Reviewing Support Tickets

I reviewed support tickets raised against the homepage over a 30-day period.

20+ tickets per week

Homepage was consistently the highest

ticket-generating area across the platform.

Stakeholder & Customer Inputs

The CS team shared direct feedback they had collected from learners through support conversations.

"I don't know where to start when I log in."

"I keep missing my mandatory training, I just can't find it easily."

"I forgot I even had a course in progress."

"I just log in, find my task, and leave. I don't really scroll or explore."

Based on these findings, I defined two guiding hypotheses:

Before defining solutions, I examined both behavioural data and stakeholder insights to diagnose where the homepage was failing to guide engagement. This helped frame the opportunity clearly before moving into structural exploration.

HYPOTHESIS 1

If we prioritise personalised and in-progress learning at the top of the homepage, engagement will increase.

If we prioritise personalised and
in-progress learning at the top of the homepage, engagement will increase.

HYPOTHESIS 2

If we reduce visual clutter and clarify hierarchy, users will decide faster and resume learning more often.

If we prioritise personalised and
in-progress learning at the top of the homepage, engagement will increase.

Direction Exploration & Validation

Direction Exploration &
Validation

Engagement Strategy Review

To understand how successful content platforms drive engagement, I studied Netflix, YouTube, and Apple TV.
I focused on how they prioritise content, guide attention, and reduce decision fatigue.

Common behaviours across all three platforms

Prioritise in-progress learning

Surface personalised content early

Group content to reduce decision fatigue

Design Opportunity

✅ Prioritise continuation over exploration

✅ Show relevance before volume

✅ Reduce cognitive load through grouping

Concept Exploration

Concept Exploration

Based on the performance signals, stakeholder insights, and learnings from high-engagement content platforms,
I explored multiple structural directions to test how the homepage could better support engagement and clarity.

Concept A

Dashboard-First

What it solves

  • Prioritised personal task and progress

  • Clean, administrative interface

Limitations

  • Still required users to actively decide what to engage with

  • Did not prioritise in-progress or personalised content strongly enough

Rejected: Improved organisation but did not significantly support engagement momentum.

Hypothesis: If we organise content into clear categories, users will feel less overwhelmed and navigate more confidently.

Hypothesis: If we prioritise personalised and in-progress content at the top, users will engage faster and resume learning more often.

Concept B

Content-Discovery Focus

What it solves

  • Large hero section with featured content

  • Emphasis on content exploration

Limitations

  • Risked reducing visibility of mandatory/admin-driven modules

  • Could make the experience feel algorithm-heavy and less structured

Rejected: Partially validated, strong for engagement but risky for business visibility.

Hypothesis: If we prioritise personalised and in-progress content at the top, users will engage faster and resume learning more often.

Concept C

Balanced Engagement

✅ Hero section with personalised
recommendations

✅ Hero section with personalised recommendations

✅ Clear information hierarchy

✅ Strategic placement of critical user data

✅ Optimal balance of discovery and
personalization

✅ Optimal balance of discovery and personalization

The key trade-off was balancing strong personalisation with maintaining visibility of mandatory, business-critical content.

Hypothesis: If we prioritise personalised and in-progress content while maintaining structured sections, we can balance engagement and business needs.

Selected

Hypothesis: If we prioritise personalised and in-progress content while maintaining structured sections, we can balance engagement and business needs.

Concept A

Dashboard-First

What it solves

  • Prioritised personal task and progress

  • Clean, administrative interface

Limitations

  • Still required users to actively decide what to engage with

  • Did not prioritise in-progress or personalised content strongly enough

Rejected: Improved organisation but did not significantly support engagement momentum.

Hypothesis: If we organise content into clear categories, users will feel less overwhelmed and navigate more confidently.

Direction Validation

Direction Validation

After selecting the hybrid model, I validated the direction against both business priorities and technical feasibility to confirm it could drive engagement while remaining viable within existing system constraints.

From Business Alignment 💰

  • Needed to increase engagement and feature adoption

  • Mandatory content had to remain visible

  • Homepage had to support overall platform value

The Hybrid model supported both engagement and
business visibility.

From Technical Feasibility 💻

  • Worked within existing component library

  • Did not require backend restructuring

  • Allowed modular layout adjustments

Engineering review confirmed feasibility within
current system constraints.

Selected Direction

Selected Direction

We selected the Hybrid model because it best balanced engagement goals, business visibility, and technical feasibility.

✅ Reduced cognitive overload through clearer
hierarchy

✅ Reduced cognitive overload
through clearer hierarchy

✅ Prioritised in-progress and personalised content

✅ Prioritised in-progress and
personalised content

✅ Maintained visibility of mandatory and
business-driven modules

✅ Maintained visibility of
mandatory and business
driven modules

✅ Aligned with existing system and technical
constraints

✅ Aligned with existing system
and technical constraints

Phase 3

Phase 3

Visual Design Exploration

Visual Design Exploration

Design Principles

Design Principles

Based on the selected hybrid direction, I defined three execution principles:

  1. Clarity First

  1. Clarity First

The hero section establishes the purpose of the platform instantly. No clutter, no confusion.

The hero section establishes the purpose of the platform instantly. No clutter, no confusion.

  1. Personalization First

  1. Personalization First

Recommendations and “Continue Learning” blocks adapt based on user behavior. This keeps the platform feeling relevant.

Recommendations and “Continue Learning” blocks adapt based on user behavior. This keeps the platform feeling relevant.

  1. Predictability First

  1. Predictability First

Horizontal scrollable sections, clean cards, and logical categories help users skim and act quickly.

Horizontal scrollable sections, clean cards, and logical categories help users skim and act quickly.

Wireframe Exploration

Next, I moved into wireframing to translate the strategy into a clear structural layout.

The focus at this stage was on hierarchy and flow, deciding what appears first and how to surface personalised and
in-progress learning without overwhelming the page. I explored multiple structural variations to test different prioritisation models, spacing systems, and grouping logic to ensure the homepage felt guided rather than cluttered.

Next, I moved into wireframing to translate the strategy into a clear structural layout.

The focus at this stage was on hierarchy and flow, deciding what appears first and how to surface personalised and in-progress learning without overwhelming the page. I explored multiple structural variations to test different prioritisation models, spacing systems, and grouping logic to ensure the homepage felt guided rather than cluttered.

Internal Validation & Alignment

Before moving to final UI, I reviewed the wireframes with the Product Manager and engineering team.

We aligned on engagement priorities, feature visibility, and technical feasibility. Based on feedback, I adjusted module hierarchy, simplified grouping, and ensured the layout could be built using existing components and data structures.

This step helped reduce implementation risk and strengthened alignment across product and engineering.

Design System & Visual Foundations

The homepage redesign required evolving existing components rather than rebuilding from scratch.

I updated content cards to improve hierarchy and scannability, introduced a more structured banner system to guide attention, and standardised spacing to create a clearer visual rhythm across modules. Typography and contrast were refined to improve accessibility and readability.

All updates were aligned with the existing design system to ensure consistency and engineering feasibility.

New Homepage

New Homepage

Content Details

Content Details

Career Feature

Career Feature

Usability Testing

After hi-fi designs, I conducted an unmoderated usability test using Maze with 6 active platform users. Each session lasted around 7 minutes and focused on validating layout and content hierarchy decisions.

Participants were given 3 key tasks:

  1. Resume an in-progress course

  2. Find a mandatory task

  3. Discover new content relevant to their role

Key changes based on findings:

Moved in-progress content higher.
4 out of 6 users missed it in its original position

Reduced banner prominence after it consistently distracted users from key actions

Repositioned mandatory modules after users overlooked them on first scroll

Impact & Results 📈

Impact & Results 📈

Following the homepage redesign, we observed measurable improvements in user engagement and interaction patterns, validating the design direction.

Project Improvement

Project Improvement

50%

reduction in bounce rate through improved engagement

50%

reduction in bounce rate through improved engagement

30%

increase in course discovery and enrollment

30%

increase in course discovery and enrollment

25%

improvement in task completion rates

25%

improvement in task completion rates

Enhanced brand perception

of the platform

Enhanced brand perception

of the platform

✨ Reflection

✨ Reflection

This redesign went beyond a visual refresh and required rethinking how the homepage supports learning goals, content discovery, and long-term scalability. Framing the homepage as a core engagement surface helped us align design decisions with both user needs and business objectives.

One of the key challenges was balancing visibility and simplicity. Reducing visual noise meant making intentional trade-offs about what content to surface, while still supporting quick actions and deeper exploration. Close collaboration with engineering helped ensure that design intent translated effectively within technical constraints.

If this project were to continue, I would explore deeper personalisation and adaptive homepage states based on user behaviour and learning intent to further improve relevance and engagement.

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