All Secret Ingredients of Good UI in 7 eLearning Interface Design Examples
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Interface designer is a fairy godmother of your eLearning application. They can make it simpler to use, more engaging, and more suitable to the context.
But unless UI is done right, your interface carriage may turn into a pumpkin even before the clock strikes midnight. To make sure it doesn't come to that, let’s learn from the best eLearning interface designs.
You're about to see some examples of eLearning platform design — award-winning ones, ones that you’ll recognize as soon as you set eyes on them, and ones that you’ve never seen before.
Those examples are here not only for you to pull some inspiration from. Each of them represents some general principles of user interface design, and some ways you can go about creating your own educational application.
Later in this article, we’ll explore applications designed to look good at any device and those that enhance user engagement. But first, let’s look at user interface design examples that add to learning applications’ usability.
UI design can improve the learning experience
Throwing too much info at your readers at once is a good way to drive them into overload. Luckily, a masterful UI can turn any bunch of content into a simple minimalistic app. Let me show you how it works with our first example of an eLearning system.
TypingClub design for maintaining focus
TypingClub is an online touch typing course that works really hard to minimize all the information unrelated to the lesson. The app controls dissolve as soon as a student starts typing to appear only when a mission is accomplished. They are minimized to a tiny menu button in the top left corner and a few icons in the top right one.
Such a minimalistic interface has a calming effect on the viewer. It allows the learner to focus. It promotes clarity. But white spaces shouldn’t entirely replace controls, orientation signs and visual cues — otherwise, users would fail to find the needed spot in your app.
iSpring Learn presents navigation and orientation best practices
When students struggle to orient themselves inside eLearning courses, it’s a design problem. Because students should use their cognitive capacity for learning their lesson rather than learning how to use your application.
Below, you can see a screenshot from the iSpring learning management system that shows how one of the eLearning industry leaders ensures successful customer journeys.
To help users orient within a course, iSpring shows all the topics on the right. To navigate within each topic, you have a bottom menu that allows you to start or stop, move forward or backward, or return to the main menu.
If you want more details about LMS design, we highly recommend you check out our LMS UX design rules article.
Duolingo masters bite-sized learning content
With over 150 million users registered around the world, Duolingo is one of the most popular language-learning apps on the market today. It takes a gamification approach to education, it takes eLearning graphic design to a whole new level, it became a meme after all.
All of this makes Duolingo the perfect candidate for us to explore learning interface design. But let us draw attention to the feature that hides behind Duolingo’s bright graphics, points, and badges. It’s Duolingo’s bite-sized content.
When signing up for Duolingo, you can choose between learning for 5, 10, 15, or 20 minutes a day — and the app will provide you with snackable lessons that fit that time gap.
Such eLearning architecture design makes perfect sense. Microlearning fits perfectly into the natural flow of users’ workday with its little time spans and tiny smartphone screens. Such short pieces of content work in favor of learning on the go. You can learn a lesson while staying at a bus stop or waiting in a queue for a morning coffee.
User interface design can make your app look good on all devices
Responsive eLearning design sounds like a good idea, since learners will use whatever devices they have to access their training. However, squeezing a web course to mobile, or mobile learning course to VR triggers some non-obvious design challenges.
PublishXI LMS and its mobile UI eLearning approach
On the web, we control the interface with clicks and mouse scrolling. On mobile devices it’s not the case — the layout should allow one to finger-scroll, zoom, or pinch the screen. That’s why you can’t easily adapt desktop interfaces to mobile.
When we at Eleken created mobile and web apps for the PublishXI learning management system, we designed two different apps for two different devices.
For instance, given that most people navigate on their phones with a single hand, we put mobile navigation buttons at the bottom of the screen and made them large enough for users to tap with their thumb.
VR eLearning presented by LabTrainingVR Biosafety Cabinet
Education in a 360-degree interactive environment is by default much more exciting than just sitting in a classroom listening to some dude spelling things. Like, students can experience first-hand the life of an Ancient Greek artisan instead of visiting a museum or virtually travel to the Easter Island statues instead of just looking for Polynesia on a map.
However, virtual reality is a very specific medium that lives by its own rules, differing from those for web and mobile design. In web design, for instance, we have a series of tricks to make functionality obvious for users. Like, a pointer icon that changes to a hand icon every time you point the mouse cursor on something clickable on the web. How would the same work for VR?
The LabTrainingVR course was created for public health laboratory professionals, to help them apply knowledge and practice setting up a biological safety cabinet. This virtual lab shows how the principle of discoverability can be applied to virtual reality technology:
- Proximity implies a relationship with objects.
- Objects available for manipulation are large and easy to select. They have bright colors, as compared to light monotonous backgrounds.
- The highlight around the selected objects works as a cue to show what items can be manipulated.
UI has the power to enhance user engagement
eLearning UX design services can offer scenarios, branching, storytelling, gaming, assessments, and more to inspire instructional design. Here we have examples of such engagement techniques well implemented.
Sololearn and its engagement triggers
Learner engagement triggers, also known as gamification, are a popular way to increase user motivation and retention. Sololearn is the world's largest community of people learning to code, and it has a full set of gamification mechanics such as challenges, badges, rankings and progress bars. Let’s take a look at them.
Thanks to its community-driven engagement techniques, Sololearn has grown by word of mouth to 21 million registered users in 12 months. Its gamification is so good it makes learning addictive for some users.
Shady Sam presents the very essence of eLearning gamification
Congratulations! You have been hired by Shady Sam, and your job is to rip hard-working Americans off by providing questionable loans with hidden interest rates. Work diligently, and you’ll get cool stuff for your desk.
That’s the story told by Shady Sam, a browser game from Mckinney designed to demonstrate how loan terms can hurt you, if you don’t pay attention.
Instead of listening to a boring lecture about mortgage and interest rates, users take the role of a loan shark. Trying to trick others in the game, players easily understand the logic behind such tricks.
This learning app was created according to all gamification best practices:
- It offers a simplified, easy to grasp model of a complex financial system.
- It makes players take on a new role and make decisions in that role. Namely, users learn by simulating new experiences.
- Finally, the game immerses players into the new world and makes people take their lessons seriously.
Interested in gamification techniques? We have a dedicated article about how to use gamification in eLearning.
So how to design an eLearning platform?
Now that you are inspired by some awesome learning examples, time to move to the next level. User experience is the backbone of any application, so we recommend checking out our guide to UX strategy so that you can build the foundation of your eLearning project.
If you’re looking for designers to implement your ideas, you may find the article on how to build a design team useful.
Need a bit more information about UI and UX? Read our comprehensive product design article. Or better get in touch with Eleken designers. We’d be happy to help.
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B2B SaaS Design Trends and New Business Opportunities You Don't Want to Miss Out On
In the fast-paced world of B2B SaaS, staying ahead of the competition is crucial for success. As businesses increasingly rely on software as a service solutions to streamline their operations, the significance of incorporating cutting-edge SaaS trends and practices into these products cannot be overlooked. Embracing them not only enhances the user experience but also helps companies differentiate their offerings and secure a competitive advantage.
As a SaaS design services provider, we at Eleken keep our fingers on the pulse constantly researching and incorporating into our work the latest design trends. In this article, we will explore some of them, so keep reading to learn what’s going on in the SaaS market today.
Artificial Intelligence (AI)
AI is a hot topic right now, and one of the most important latest B2B SaaS design trends. By leveraging AI, you can streamline your business operations while delivering exceptional value to your users. ChatGPT is one of the most famous examples, as many of the language-predictive tools in other apps are based on it.
How can this trend help companies gain a competitive advantage?
One of the major ways AI can be utilized is through providing personalized recommendations and quick support for the users. AI can help users to navigate the app leading to a better user experience. For example, let’s take Google Docs – you can start typing a word or a phrase in the doc, and the app will finish it for you – quite convenient, isn’t it?
Here's an example of how it helped us to work on this very article:
You probably can name a couple of companies which already use AI off the top of your head. Still, let's take a look at one of them.
How it's already used
Notion serves as an-point example here. Its AI-powered interface can help users with navigating the platform, organizing information, and providing personalized recommendations. What’s more, Notion's virtual assistant can suggest relevant templates, recommend actions based on user input, and even assist with content creation by suggesting relevant information.
Integrations
The trend of integrating B2B SaaS products with other software and tools presents a remarkable opportunity for companies to boost their performance without breaking the bank. By seamlessly integrating with complementary solutions, SaaS companies can offer their customers a more efficient and streamlined workflow.
How can this trend help companies gain a competitive advantage?
App integrations eliminate the need to switch between multiple solutions, resulting in increased productivity and improved user experience. By adding integrations, companies can empower their customers to leverage a comprehensive suite of tools that seamlessly work together, which leads to higher customer satisfaction, increased loyalty, and a competitive edge.
How it's already used
As an example, Asana uses the power of integrations to gain a competitive edge. The platform integrates with various tools and platforms such as Google Drive, Slack, Microsoft Teams, Salesforce and so on. This allows users to streamline their project-related communication, file sharing, and task management without switching between the apps.. With its wide range of integrations, Asana boosts user productivity, setting itself apart from the competitors.
B2B web design trends lean into having a specific page for the partners list. You don't want to lose it or mix it up with any other information. To solve the problem of having too many names cramped on one screen, you can use card design. It helps to present all partners in a visually distinctive way.
Micro-SaaS tools
Micro-SaaS refers to specialized SaaS solutions that focus on solving niche problems for a specific target audience. The term was coined in 2016 by Tyler Tringas, who described as: "A SaaS business targeting a niche market, run by one person or a small team, with small costs…"
How can this trend help companies gain a competitive advantage?
Micro-SaaS tools are designed to provide a high level of customer satisfaction by offering niche solutions with tailored functionality. Such great focus on the target audience allows startups to differentiate themselves.
By embracing the trend of Micro-SaaS tools, companies can capitalize on niche markets, deliver specialized solutions, and offer a superior user experience. This level of customization and focused functionality allows businesses to gain a competitive advantage by catering to specific customer needs.
How it's already used
There're various platforms that can be used as an example. For instance, Hypefury, a specialized platform that focuses on helping users enhance their presence on Twitter. With access to a vast network of co-creators, it leverages their expertise to suggest engaging and high-quality content for users' tweets, ensuring they consistently share valuable and captivating posts. Additionally, Hypefury offers scheduling capabilities, allowing users to plan and automate their tweets for optimal timing and audience reach.
Plausible, another example of micro-SaaS, is a privacy-friendly alternative to Google Analytics that gives business owners valuable insights about their website's performance. With its simple interface, Plausible allows its users to understand visitor behavior, track key metrics, and make data-driven decisions without compromising on privacy or relying on complex and resource-intensive analytics tools.
One of the cases Eleken worked on is InVo, a solution that automates creating receipts. Targeting freelancers and small businesses, InVo is relatively limited in its functionality. But solving one specific pain of its audience, combined with a sleek and intuitive design our team made, is exactly what makes it valuable.
As you can see, the range of possibilities is quite wide. With Micro-Saas, B2B website design trends are focused on getting across a specific mission and CTA so the user immediately knows whether this product is something they'll be interested in.
API-first SaaS
API-first SaaS refers to an approach where the design and development of the product are centered around an application programming interface (API). API serves as the foundation of the SaaS product, allowing seamless integration with other software systems, applications, or third-party services.
How can this trend help companies gain a competitive advantage?
The API-first approach has become one of the prominent B2B SaaS trends. By adopting an API-first approach, companies can facilitate data exchange, enable custom integrations, and let customers build their own solutions on top of their platform. This flexibility turns businesses into part of a cooperative ecosystem.
How it's already used
SolidGigs, a platform that connects freelancers with high-quality freelance gigs, is an excellent example of an API-first SaaS company. The platform provides a well-documented API that allows freelancers to integrate their services with external platforms, such as project management tools or workflow automation systems. SolidGigs automatically searches through various sources to find the best-matching clients, alerts the user and sends the pitch at the lead source. Simply put, the platform searches the leads for the user so they don't have to spend valuable working time on browsing through various platforms.
Low-code/No-code platforms
When it comes to building and launching a SaaS product, low-code/no-code platforms come as a magic wand for many. Low-code and no-code platforms come with a user-friendly interface and ready-made components that users can easily combine to build functional apps and websites, which makes product development and B2B SaaS design more accessible to non-technical users..
If you need a solid example of products built with low-code/no-code platforms, Eleken's website serves as one. We built our website using Webflow, a low-code platform.
How can this trend help companies gain a competitive advantage?
B2C and B2B sectors both warmly embraced low/no-code platforms. By eliminating the traditional barriers of software development, businesses can accelerate their product development cycles, improve time-to-market, and enhance overall operational efficiency. As a result, the companies offering these solutions can attract a robust client base. The only thing you need to be sure of is that your no-code platform's design is user-friendly, intuitive and meets the customer's needs.
How it's already used
Let’s look at Airtable, a popular collaboration and project management platform. Airtable's intuitive interface and visual building blocks enable users to create custom workflows, databases, and even B2B SaaS apps without extensive coding expertise. This empowers teams to tailor Airtable to their specific requirements, resulting in enhanced productivity and streamlined operations. By embracing the low-code/no-code approach, Airtable has positioned itself as a flexible and customizable solution, catering to a wide range of industries and use cases.
Cylynx, a no-code data visualization platform, came to Eleken for designing an MVP. Cylynx allows building data into graphs and editing how they are visualized. Technically, it is easy to implement, but to be successful the software had to have intuitive and consistent UX (and that’s what we did). Moral of the story: when working on low-code/no-code platforms, flawless UI/UX is an absolute priority.
Mobile-first design and responsive interfaces
Mobile-first design involves designing interfaces and user experiences primarily for mobile devices, ensuring smooth user experience on smaller screens. Initially aimed more at the B2C segment, mobile-first design is one of B2B design trends that will only continue to grow. With the increasing popularity of using smartphones and tablets for work-related tasks, companies that prioritize mobile-friendly experiences can gain a serious advantage.
How can this trend help companies gain a competitive advantage?
By embracing mobile-first design and responsive interfaces, businesses can reach a wider audience and increase user engagement. It is especially vital today when more businesses and workers operate remotely, and employees might want to access their corporate account while walking in the park or sitting in a restaurant.
How it's already used
No need to search a lot for examples – Slack is here to help us. Slack's mobile app offers a seamless and intuitive experience, allowing users to communicate and collaborate on the go. The interface is optimized for mobile screens, providing easy access to conversations, channels, and shared files. Slack's responsive design ensures that the user experience remains consistent across devices, whether on a smartphone, tablet, or desktop.
By prioritizing mobile-friendly experiences, Slack has gained a competitive advantage, attracting a large user base that values flexibility and productivity while on the move.
Final thoughts
In a rapidly evolving B2B SaaS landscape, it is essential for companies to be aware of and adapt to the latest design trends. You should keep up with them to enhance user experience by any means necessary. Still, it's also vital to develop your own unique brand flavor and design approach. The way to differentiating yourself lies through the combined power of brand identity, value proposition and innovative thinking.
At Eleken, we understand the significance of design in the B2B SaaS industry. With our expertise in crafting user-centered and visually appealing interfaces, we can help your stand out from the crowd. Our team of talented designers and UX experts will work closely with you to understand your unique business goals and target audience, ensuring that every design element reflects your brand identity and creates a seamless user journey. So, if you're looking for UI/UX design services, look no further and drop us a line!
UX Design for Children: How to Create a Product Children Will Love
Pew Research Center reports that the majority of kids in the US actively use digital devices, and many of them have smartphones or tablets of their own. The number of young users tends to increase over time. And design for this interesting (and somewhat challenging) audience is a responsible mission.
UX design for kids is not as simple as to just have a few clowns looking funny and some music playing while they use the product. First of all, you must know what difference in terms of demands lies between children and adults.
As a design agency we understand the importance of UX specifics when targeting a particular audience, especially a younger one. In this article, we would like to provide insights on what you need to pay attention to when designing a kid-friendly interface.
Main niches where design for children is applicable
To better understand where a solid design for kids is especially important, take a look at statistics on what content children most interacted with in 2021.
As we can see, software products and video content are among the most popular. We can name three main niches where child-friendly design is especially needed.
- Entertainment
Entertainment is the main reason why children use digital products, so it’s no wonder that gaming apps, entertaining platforms and websites make the biggest niche. When designing an entertaining product for children, keep in mind that kids develop an addiction easier, so you need to be ethical in your design decisions. - Online learning
It is hard to get children engaged in learning and keep them interested in whatever they study. However, if done right, it can be a very positive experience. Students can appreciate learning something new or improving on what they already know. You can use this insight as a base for online educational platforms for children. For example, include design elements that show progress and achievements. - Fintech for children
Yes, children nowadays use fintech products along with adults. The days of cash are behind and the demand for mobile banking apps and other fintech products for children is growing. Pay extra attention to the safety and usability of such complex products and don't forget to include and design educational components to increase your teenage users’ financial literacy.
What differs children from adults?
Children are a new, unique, and more demanding audience. Stating the obvious, there are many differences between them and adults. And these differences matter for design.
Physical difference is the first thing to take into account when designing for kids. Children’s motor skills (especially at a young age) are different from those of other age groups. Younger kids’ motoricts change their user behavior. For example, at early age children typically type slowly or have limited control of the mouse. This is something designers have to pay attention to when creating UI for children.
The cognitive difference is an even bigger matter to consider if you want to create a great user interface design for kids. That’s why it makes sense to dive a bit into the theory of cognitive development. Children’s mental abilities are quite different. Depending on the age, they may lose focus or get bored quickly and in general, are less patient than grown-ups. Kids want interaction, so to keep your little users’ attention, you need your design to keep them engaged. It can be constant feedback or a little challenge that will make the experience interactive enough. Unlike adults, children like animation and sound effects.
Extra safety precautions. It is also a part of mental development but children might not know the consequences of some actions. For this reason, your design should be very transparent about what’s going to happen. The same goes for the advertising and purchase within products for children. Make sure your design doesn’t trick young users into something they are not conscious of. Nielsen Norman Group research shows that children can barely distinguish advertising and promotions from real content.
What’s similar between children and grown-ups?
Apart from differences, there are also similarities that can help you create a better user experience for children.
Kids just like adults appreciate consistency in design. A consistent design pattern helps to learn to navigate through the app or website faster. And it’s a matter of common sense, not a specific age.
Little users don’t like unnecessary complexity just like grown-ups. Too many design elements make it unclear to users which ones they can interact with. Extra unnecessary elements in the app or on the webpage can be confusing to both adults and kids.
Kids are a user group whose needs should be properly researched. The key to good design for children is to treat them just like adults and pay extra attention to user research. Study your user group, understand their needs, and create the best user experience possible..
5 principles for better UX for children
Design for your target age group. Kids develop fast and their abilities and needs are not the same at the age of four and at the age of ten. That is why to create a better design, divide children into smaller age groups and define your target audience.
Choose the color palette and fonts carefully. Colors matter much more in design for children than for adults. So, choose child-friendly fonts like Sassoon Primary, Gill Sans Infant Std., or Futura. And use 14 point font size for younger kids and 12 for older. Don’t be afraid to add more colors than you would when designing for grown-ups.
A friendly digital helper is a good idea in digital products for children. Designing a virtual helper, cool and cute character that will help children to navigate through the product, can make the user experience smoother and more interactive.
Constant feedback and reward. As we mentioned before, children, due to their age specifics, lose focus and motivation faster than adults. Design can help solve this issue. Add progress tracking elements and proofs of achievement. UX elements should constantly speak to children giving them feedback and keeping them engaged.
Make it as intuitive as possible. Modern kids are growing up with gadgets in their hands 24/7 and we can even call them digital natives. However, kids, just like older users, base their knowledge on their previous online experiences. So a good practice will be to implement general and familiar design patterns rather than inventing new user interfaces for kids. And keep in mind - your youngest users might not be even able to read, so you need to create such an experience that will be easy for them to use the product nevertheless.
Examples of stunning UX for kids
For you to get an idea of how you may design your product for children and teenagers, we have gathered some examples to learn from.
Perfect Pitch Toddler Games
This collection of games was created for toddlers to train their musical ear. It’s a good example of how the UX takes into account cognitive development. Kids at the youngest age can’t read and memorize, so the game uses animals to represent notes and uses the simplest UI patterns that even the youngest children can understand.
My Teeth app
The app that teaches children how to brush their teeth properly uses the principles of UX for young users. Bright illustrations, funny guiding characters, and big-sized readable fonts are just what kids need to stay focused on the task and entertained at the same time.
BOOKR Class
This web application encourages children to read books. Its creators have nailed the feedback and reward approach that is so important for a good user experience for children. There are badges for progress, statistics that keep users motivated, and also a clear menu that helps to navigate the application easily.
Youtube Kids
Youtube Kids is an example of how the product designed for kids differs from the one targeting adults. It’s much easier to navigate thanks to bigger buttons and fewer content boxes on the page. Plus the security settings on the platform make sure that younger users are safe and have access to appropriate content. Those all are parts of a thought-through design interface for children.
Wizarding World
Kids' website design doesn't always need to be all colorful. A famous Wizarding World website is a good example of how to target specifically your age audience, older kids and teenagers. Dark-themed UI combined with well-structured familiar website patterns and readable fonts provides a good UX experience.
To sum up
Nowadays children spend more time online than ever. Kids using gadgets confidently from an early age create a niche for digital products for children. This creates the demand for good kid-friendly design which is more than just bright colors and some illustrations. UX for kids should be based on children’s psychology in the first place and rely on strong user research. When designing children's apps UX/UI, try to keep it simple, fun to interact with, and safe to use.
If you found this topic interesting, check out our other article, where we’ve discussed how to build accessible UX that will help you understand the needs of people of different ages and capabilities.
Got an idea of a platform or wondering how to design an app for children? Our team would love to help you create the product kids will admire. Get in touch with us to discuss details.
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