This project involves designing a user-centric dashboard for a research writing platform, ZeroEssay, aimed at helping users generate research papers easily and efficiently. The dashboard provides a comprehensive interface for users to manage their writing projects, customize essay requirements, and submit documents. Features include personalized settings for essay words, citation formats, and integration with tools like Turnitin for plagiarism checks. The design focuses on a clean, intuitive layout that enhances the user experience by simplifying the research and writing process while offering easy access to crucial tools.
Objectives:
- Create a user-friendly interface for research paper writing, catering to students and professionals.
- Simplify the writing and research process by offering a personalized, easy-to-navigate dashboard where users can manage documents, view statistics, and track progress.
- Ensure seamless integration with plagiarism-checking tools like Turnitin and AI-based research aids.
- Design an intuitive file upload and management system that allows users to upload and organize their research materials quickly.
- Improve the overall user experience by providing real-time updates and feedback on research progress.
Roles & Responsibilities:
- UI/UX Design: Developed the overall user interface, ensuring a clean, modern, and professional layout that facilitates ease of use and minimizes user friction.
- Wireframing & Prototyping: Created wireframes and high-fidelity prototypes to visualize the flow of the research writer dashboard, validating design choices before final implementation.
- Visual Design: Designed the dashboard’s look and feel, focusing on usability and clarity with thoughtful typography, icons, and color palettes to enhance the user experience.
- Interaction Design: Integrated smooth interactions like buttons, hover states, and modals to ensure users can easily navigate through features such as document submission, citation format selection, and plagiarism checks.
- Usability Testing: Conducted user testing to ensure the platform met the needs of both beginner and advanced users, refining features like essay word count tracking, citation management, and document upload.
Tools & Technologies:
- Design Tools: Figma, Adobe XD, Sketch
- Prototyping Tools: InVision, Marvel App for interactive prototypes
- Frontend Technologies: React, HTML5, CSS3 for responsive, dynamic user interface
- Backend Integration: Integration with APIs for plagiarism checking (Turnitin) and AI-based research assistants
- File Management: Implemented drag-and-drop functionality for document uploads, ensuring an effortless user experience
- Usability Testing Tools: UserTesting for gathering user feedback and iterating on design based on insights
Impact:
- Enhanced User Engagement: The dashboard design improved user retention by providing an intuitive, easy-to-use interface with clear guidance and helpful features.
- Increased Productivity: Users were able to efficiently track their research paper progress, upload necessary resources, and check for plagiarism in one unified space, reducing time spent on administrative tasks.
- Positive User Feedback: The clean, responsive design and smooth interaction flows led to high user satisfaction, with positive feedback regarding the ease of use and efficiency of the platform.
- Optimized Writing Workflow: Features like essay word count tracking and citation formatting helped users streamline their writing process, leading to higher quality and more organized research papers.
