I had the opportunity to conduct seven user calls as part of my research. While I couldn't directly speak with individuals experiencing homelessness, I connected with professionals closely involved in their support, including youth workers, social workers, and the head of research at the Simon Community. These conversations provided invaluable insights into the experiences and perspectives of those facing homelessness.

Additionally, I spoke with organisers and facilitators of entrepreneurship programmes, such as Co-Founders and Stryve. Through these discussions, I gained a wealth of insights into effective group teaching methods, content delivery strategies, and the advantages and drawbacks of online learning platforms. Overall, these interactions greatly informed my understanding and approach.

To analyse the information gathered from user calls I carried out affinity mapping using FigJam. The visualisation of patterns provided by this technique was very helpful in the identification of themes and the ranking of higher priority and lower priority user needs. I was then able to use these finding to inform my UX Mapping.

As a part of my UX mapping for this project I created empathy maps, user persona's and user journey maps. These were essential in helping me to get into the mindset of user and consider their wants and needs when being faced with an opportunity to learn how to code.

A key aspect of CodeArc is its partnerships with charitable organisations as well as tech companies. I therefore created a partner analysis, considering existing training programmes that could funnel participants into CodeArc. I also created a competitor analysis to explore what was happing in the online and in-person software development training space. From key insights gathered here I was able to make better decisions on branding and how training might be structured.

I created service designs for the both the participant and business partner future states. I formatted my blueprint using the actions created for my user journey map. From there, I considered technology touchpoints and staff touchpoints above the line of visibility. I then added any relevant backstage actions and support processes. After completing each stage, I added flow lines to indicate the flow interactions and connections. This provided me with a holistic view of the system and helped me to consider how much support would be required from staff and the CodeArc platform. I was also able to iterate on service designs and later incorporated mentors into the blueprints.

I carried out feature mapping for my product by pulling all features highlighted in my service design blueprints and the ranking them in order of necessity.

I began the early stages of prototyping by creating user flows using low/ medium fidelity mock-ups. I tested these flows and designed a number of screens in high fidelity and gained feedback on those before finalising and building my final prototype.

I conducted usability testing for CodeArc, focusing on both participant and mentor user flows across relevant age groups. Additionally, I collaborated with professionals in software development and engineering to review early prototypes. Their valuable insights, drawn from their own training experiences, provided further enhancement opportunities for the platform. This was particularly helpful in selecting what content to include on the platform and how it should be delivered.