Messaging System Redesign - MTC Tools
Background
MTC Tools
The 10 global Missionary Training Centers (MTCs) of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints host over 30,000 volunteer missionaries each year in their preparation for missionary service.
MTC Tools is an internal business web app that serves the employees of these 10 MTCs. It serves as the interface of an assortment of management tools for the database of the 100,000+ missionaries that are actively stored in it.
Branch Presidents
Branch presidents (MTC ecclesiastical leaders) care for the physical, emotional, and spiritual needs of the missionaries in their branch.
A branch consists of several districts, and a district is typically a group of about 4-12 missionaries who are all learning in the same training language.
A branch president may be responsible for 50-100+ missionaries, so it is critical that they have an organized way of keeping tabs on and communicating with all of them, as well as missionaries’ teachers as necessary.
Project Overview
Role
I worked on this project part time for a couple of months with two other designers - the lead designer and another junior designer who joined the team shortly before I left. When the previous project owner left the team, I was assigned this project by the lead designer because of both my ability to work through detailed, complex challenges, and my strengths in UI design.
Tools
Sketch for creating wireframes, mockups, and some of the testing prototypes. Adobe XD for creating testing prototypes and interface animations.
(And Figma for recreating the interactive prototype since I don’t have Sketch on my personal computer)
Problem
This project was redesigning the messaging system that facilitates communication between branch presidents, teachers, and missionaries. Communication for branch presidents on the old system was disjointed and took place in two different web programs:
The first program allows missionaries to submit a weekly update to their branch president about their progress and wellbeing, and to receive a response to that update
The second program allows teachers to submit a weekly report to the branch president on their missionaries’ progress, but without the ability to receive a response
In both programs, each week of communication is isolated from previous weeks, and neither of these legacy programs had been updated in nearly a decade. (Yikes!)
Objectives
The purpose of the MTC is to prepare missionaries for successful missionary service, but many young adults have a difficult time adjusting to the rigors of missionary service. Branch presidents and MTC teachers play a vital role in helping missionaries through this adjustment. In order to better assist them in their efforts, an updated, unified messaging system was needed to:
Promote better communication between branch presidents, teachers, and missionaries
Increase awareness of missionary needs and progress
Improve branch presidents’ ability to respond quickly to urgent needs
Work
Much of the structure of this messaging system was already in place when I picked up the project from the previous designer, so the majority of my part on this project was working on the interface.
This messaging system has a slightly different appearance for each of the three user groups - branch presidents, teachers, and missionaries. I worked primarily on the branch president view, which is the most complicated of the three.
Branch presidents are usually of retirement age or older, and are not always confident in using technology. I worked to make sure that everything on the messaging system was as simple and clear to understand as possible.
Below the two images comparing where I picked up the project and where I left it, I have included a detailed list of what changes I made and why I made them to demonstrate my thinking.
Before (where I picked up the project)
After (how it looked when I handed it off)
List of Improvements
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Previous design:
A single message feed section header for all missionaries in the branch
A section header for the teachers of those missionaries
A section header for group messages
An archived section for missionaries who have left the MTC.
My update:
Each district of missionaries in the branch is its own section. The branch president would be familiar with who is in which district, and it allows for improved navigation through a very long list of missionaries.
Teachers are far fewer in number, and are contacted less frequently. They stay in a hidden section together until the branch president responds directly to a teacher report from a missionary feed. Only activated teacher feeds will be displayed in the teacher section to reduce unnecessary clutter.
The design of the group messages section stayed the same, but I added the functionality for branch presidents to create custom group messages, not just group messages decided by missionary leadership positions.
Removed the archived section, since it’s never needed to view a message feed after a missionary leaves the MTC.
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Previous design:
Message feel panel rows were crowded and a little hard to read, and the profile pictures were difficult to see.
Warning messages were only visible within a selected feed
My update:
I increased the height and width of message feed rows, the size of profile pictures, and the padding between text and images.
This gives the panel the white space it needs to breathe, makes it easier to scan the list of message feeds, and makes the pictures easier to see.
Red warning text is displayed instead of the preview text under the missionary’s name if the missionary hasn’t submitted a weekly progress update - it’s really important that they do.
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Previous design:
The “new message” button was an icon that may not have been clear to older users
My update:
Swapped out the icon button for a text button for clarity
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Previous design:
Messages were previously all aligned to the left side of the message window.
Messages extended the full width of the window.
Both sent and received messages shared edges.
Both sent and received messages had a profile picture on the left.
My update:
All messages are separate.
Messages resize according to how much text is in them.
User-received messages are left-aligned to the message window.
User-sent messages are right-aligns to the message window.
Sent and received messages have specific colors to signify the sender.
Only user-received messages have a profile picture.
This is a more familiar and common message format to anyone who has ever sent more than a few text messages - no need to reinvent the messaging wheel here.
Teacher report extends the full width of the message feed since it is separate from the conversation between the branch president and missionary.
Warning message added for weeks when missionaries don’t submit a progress update to the branch president.
Text editing options below the text editor are stripped back for simplicity.
Missionaries’ training is measured in weeks. Week dividers include what week of the missionary’s MTC stay they are on, in addition to the calendar dates.
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Previous design:
White - messages both sent and received
Lacked visual clarity in distinguishing who sent which message.
Blue - the weekly teacher report
Looks like a user-sent message by the standard of most texting apps.
Red - notifications, and warning text and messages
Unclear as to whether a new message is good or bad.
Orange - ‘Send’ button
My update:
White - messages received by the user
Blue - messages sent by the user
Like most texting apps, the colored messages are sent by the user.
Gray - the weekly teacher report
Though it is not technically a message in the feed between the branch president and a missionary, it is presented to only the branch president in the context of the missionary’s weekly updates.
Because gray often represents an inactive element of interfaces, I used it to suggest that it is not an active part of the message feed. I also added the supportive text “(Visible to you only)” to increase clarity.
Red - warning messages and preview text
Clarifies elements related to when missionaries don’t send a weekly update.
Orange - notification boxes, dots, and bars, and the ‘Send’ button
Clarifies elements related to sending or receiving new messages.
Interactive Prototype
Please try it out! I’d recommend fullscreen view (top right corner of the prototype) so you can see the whole thing.
This is the prototype I created and used for usability testing with branch presidents to evaluate design choices that both the previous designer and myself had made. Below the prototype, you can find my recipe for noodle soup.
The prototype is limited in its ability to create messages, but some of the feeds will allow you to ‘input’ text by clicking on the text editing field. Besides that and a few smaller things, it closely represents the functionality that the developed version of the branch president’s view would have.
I made the original prototype in Sketch, but since I don’t have Sketch on my personal computer, I recreated the prototype below in Figma.
Noodle soup, best served hot.
End Result
The timing of this project was a bummer. I graduated from college and was required to stop working at this university job, so I did not get to see this project through to completion. Another designer was hired onto the team a few weeks before I had to leave, so I helped catch her up to speed on the project so that she could take over after I was gone.
The best indicator of success for this project would be an increase of usage of the messaging system by all parties. If I had been able to stay on the team until this project was finished, these are the metrics and means by which I would measure our team’s success:
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I believe a more natural communication system would feel more personable than a weekly report format, which would encourage missionaries to share their progress with greater consistency.
A conversation feed where all messages are displayed in the same place suggests greater confidentiality than a report that is disconnected from replies and subsequent reports.
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For missionaries, a number greater than an average of one message per missionary per week would suggest an increase of usage from the old system.
For branch presidents, a number greater than an average of one message for every missionary in the branch per week would suggest an increase of usage from the old system.
For teachers, a number greater than an average of one message for every missionary in the classroom per week, shared between co-teachers (since only one teacher has to submit the report), would suggest an increase of usage from the old system.
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This was not available in the old messaging system, so any usage here, especially increasing usage, would be valuable to see.
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Previously, missionaries had to submit updates and reports from one of the MTC’s computer lab computers. After a recent update in MTC procedures, missionaries are now provided with a tablet or smartphone to assist them in their studies, and as an alternative to using the computer lab.
The convenience of being able to communicate with their branch president as needed, wherever they are, could be indicated by the device they use to send messages.
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Previously…
Missionaries would submit a weekly update before Saturday, usually Thursday or Friday.
Teachers would submit a weekly update for their missionaries on Friday after the last class period.
Branch presidents would read and reply to all correspondence from missionaries on Saturday after all messages have been sent to them before they see the missionaries in person for Sunday worship meetings. They also read all the teacher reports on Saturday.
By enabling messages to be sent and received by all parties throughout the week, it would ideally…
Reduce the large time commitment branch presidents have on Saturday, and spread it out throughout the week.
Promote more frequent and natural communication between missionaries and branch presidents, and between teachers and branch presidents as needed.
Qualitative surveys would reach several dozen branch presidents, several hundred teachers, and at least three thousand missionaries each time they are sent out. Missionaries stay at the MTC for 3, 6, or 9 weeks depending on their training language, so these surveys would be completed often, providing a solid set of data.
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Trust that their messages are confidential
Trust that their messages are actually read
Feel that their branch president cares about them and their wellbeing
Feel that their branch president is actually aware of their needs and progress
Feel that they can communicate with their branch president as often as needed, rather than once a week
Feel that communicating with their branch president has helped their adjustment to missionary life
And requests feedback for any problems they may have had with the messaging system
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Feel like they can gauge missionaries’ progress from week to week
Feel like they are able to write reports that relate to and are consistent with previous weeks
Feel like they are able to have more frequent communication with their missionaries’ branch president
And requests feedback for any problems they may have had with the messaging system
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Feel like missionaries are willing to share their struggles and concerns with them
Feel like they are able to gauge missionaries’ progress from week to week
Feel like they are able to manage the large amount of communication they receive each week with missionaries in their branch
Feel like they are able to respond to missionaries’ urgent needs in a timely manner
Feel like they are able to contact missionaries in a timely manner when needed
Feel that the messaging system supports their efforts to serve and care for the missionaries in their branch
Feel like they are able to communicate with leadership groups effectively
Feel like they get helpful weekly reports from teachers
Feel that they have a close working relationship with their missionaries’ teachers
Feel that the messaging system helps them to collaborate with teachers in helping missionaries
And requests feedback for any problems they may have had with the messaging system
Final thoughts…
I feel that I was able to make a valuable contribution to the project. I do wish though that I had spent time interviewing and testing with teachers while working on the designs for this new messaging system.
As a designer, I had a unique perspective on this project because I had previously worked for two and a half years as an MTC teacher. I had first-hand experience submitting reports on the old system to the branch president, and I believed I knew from my own experience what things would be useful for helping the missionaries.
The temptation to rely solely on my own experience got the best of me, and so the saying “bad design is powered by untested assumptions” rings somewhat true here. Not to say that my own experience as a teacher wasn’t valid, but I am sure that seeking feedback from other teachers would have led to greater discoveries on how I could have made this product better for the users.
If I were to do this project again, I would choose to use my experience in my role as an MTC teacher as a springboard to identify what things to research and test with users, instead of replacing research and testing with my own experience.