The Project:
My Role: UX Designer
Timeline: 2 months
Team: Lead Instructional Designer, CFO, Frontend & Backend Developers, UI-focused Graphic Designer
My Contributions: UX research, user journey mapping, information architecture, prototyping in Figma, usability testing & iteration, product strategy and future features roadmap
Project Overview
Context
Challenge
Goal
Aeon Software (and its subsidiary FIDUS) needed to replace their Moodle-based LMS with a user-friendly, scalable solution within 1–2 months while maintaining business continuity.
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Legacy LMS was clunky and hard to navigate
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Learners struggled to track progress and receive timely feedback
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Instructors had a cumbersome content-upload process
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Admins lacked easy control over permissions and enrollments
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Build a minimum viable version that fixed the most urgent pain points for all 3 user groups
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Develop a long-term roadmap with feature enhancements for learners, creators, and admins.
“The biggest challenge? Balancing speed and usability as I had just a few weeks to rethink the experience for three very different user groups.”
Generic Moodle-based LMS
Screenshot from live MVP redesigned by me
2. Understanding Users
The LMS was redesigned with three key user groups in mind: learners, course creators, and admins. Each had distinct requirements,
Learners: Aviation professionals undergoing certification
Instructors: Instructional Designers who would create and upload the courses
Administrators: often internal developers or stakeholders and oversee overall platform functionality and user management.
“Mapping out the journeys made one thing clear: navigation and feedback loops were the biggest blockers for user success.”
3. Research & Discovery
“Mapping out the journeys made one thing clear: navigation and feedback loops were the biggest blockers for user success.”
The Process:
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Stakeholder interviews (instructional designers, CFO, IT team)
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Mindmapping & journey mapping to visualize platform structure
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User journey maps for all three roles
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User flows to find the most efficient paths through the system
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Comparative analysis of existing LMS solutions
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Prioritization matrix to determine MVP features
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roadmap of future features
Key Insights:
Most frustration stemmed from navigation & feedback loops: learners didn’t know their progress, instructors wasted time uploading content, and admins had no centralized easy-to-use control.
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Learners couldn’t see what was urgent or due soon
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learners wanted to be able to interact with other learners as well as their instructors like they would in a real classroom
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No centralized calendar or reminders
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Overwhelming homepage with no clear hierarchy
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Dark mode requests from late-night learners
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Instructors spent too much time navigating content upload menus
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4. UX Strategy & User Flows
I built clear, streamlined flows with intervention areas and placeholders for future features for:
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Learner onboarding and progress tracking
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Instructor content creation and course statistics and learner management
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Admin permissions and enrollment management
I focused on clarity, hierarchy, and future-readiness.
Key Design Solutions I Delivered based on research and pain points:
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Unified Calendar View: Consolidated deadlines, live sessions, and upcoming events into a single, glanceable view.
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Future AI Chatbot Placeholder: Designed space and interaction model for a support bot to guide learners.
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Dark / Light Mode Toggle: Made the UI comfortable for extended study sessions, especially for global teams working across time zones.
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Optimized Homepage Layout: Reorganized dashboard with the most critical information (progress, upcoming deadlines, notifications) above the fold — reducing cognitive load.
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Clear Navigation: Streamlined menus and grouped actions by user role.
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Instructor & Admin Dashboards: Prioritized statistics and permissions in easy-to-scan layouts.
“I wanted users to land on the homepage and immediately know where they stand, what’s next, and how to act — no guesswork.”
5. Wireframes & Early Iterations
I created low-fidelity wireframes on paper then in Figma, focusing first on dashboard clarity.
I tested usability prototypes in-house to find the user flow that was easiest and most intuitive
Some examples:
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Learner Dashboard — showing course progress, notifications, and quick access to support
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Instructor Dashboard — simplified course creation and stats view
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Admin Panel — centralized permission control and user enrollment
Low-fidelity wireframes explored multiple dashboard layouts before converging on the most intuitive version.
Examples include:
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Learner Dashboard with “Today’s Overview” section
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Calendar integration into dashboard
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Dark/Light toggle placement
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Instructor course creation flow with fewer steps
(Insert wireframe screenshots with captions like “Wireframe: Unified Calendar on Homepage,” “Wireframe: Dark/Light Toggle Position.”)
Wireframes and features for 'Learners'
Through research and testing, pain points were solved with the most effective solutions.
Features redesigned and added include:
Convenient onboarding flow
Better Dashboard
Light and dark modes
Text size and language change on top toolbar
A '?' help button that links to resources or live help if needed
As the LMS has multiple pathways, a easier on-boarding flow was designed to make it easier for users
The main 'learner' dashboard was redesigned to give all relevant information at-a-glance such as
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course overview
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progress trackers
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calendar with events tracker (needed based on research)
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chat window (leaners wanted to be able to interact with other learners and instructors like a classroom)
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recommended courses
(to sell more courses)
Better course and submission tracking
Differentiation between single courses and 'pathways' of multiple courses
redesigned course viewer window with better tracking and communication
much demanded communication feature
Wireframes and features for 'Instructors'
The instructors have to upload scrom course packages as well as manage courses as well as the learners in them.
Some instructors only manage and some only create courses but some do both.
Features redesigned and added include:
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Onboarding flow to automatically rearrange dashboard based on priorities
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easeir ways to add, manage and view learners ads eother individuals or part of a course
6. Final Solution
The redesigned MVP featured:
✅ Homepage optimized for at-a-glance use — progress, deadlines, notifications front and center
✅ Role-specific dashboards (learner, instructor, admin) with simplified navigation
✅ Calendar integration for better scheduling and reminders
✅ Manual enrollment & permissions management for admins
✅ Mobile-friendly layouts for accessibility
Future-Ready Roadmap
I also created a roadmap for upcoming features:
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AI Chatbot: Automated guidance and FAQs
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Advanced Analytics: For learner engagement and performance
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Automated Enrollments & Payments: Integrated payment gateways
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Richer Communication: Between learners and instructors (chat/forums)
7. Outcome & Impact
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Clearer, friendlier homepage reduced user confusion
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Faster course uploads improved instructor workflow
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Stakeholders praised the future-proof roadmap and the clean, role-specific layouts
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Prepared the product team for continuous improvement with feature rollout plan
8. Reflections
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“This project taught me how to balance fast delivery with thoughtful design — we shipped what mattered most, but also left room for the LMS to evolve.”
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What worked well: Delivering under deadline while improving usability
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Challenge: Prioritizing features (many requests had to wait for phase two)
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Next time: More user testing earlier in the process to validate information hierarchy
Find out more about this project on the company website at https://www.aeonsoftware.in/lms