Riara Mobile App | UI/UX Design

Riara Schools required a mobile application designed specifically for parents and guardians to easily enroll their students into various school activities. The app would enable parents to make payments towards these activities, and track their payment history.

The initial phase of this project involved a series of interviews with Riara representatives to establish the pain points they were facing. Solutions to the issues raised would then inform the requirements of the application.

The following issues were brought to light:

• Lack of Real-Time Notifications – Parents don’t receive instant updates on enrollment status or payment confirmation, or deadlines.

• Unclear Payment Status – No easy way to check if a payment has been processed or is still pending.

• Desire for All-in-One Solution – Parents want a single platform to handle enrollment, payments, and history tracking seamlessly.

• Juggling Multiple Children’s Enrollments – Parents with multiple kids need to manage different activities in one place.

• Lack of Centralized Access – No single platform to view all available activities and enroll students easily.

• Lack of Payment History – No central place to track past payments or outstanding dues.

Based on these insights, the following key features were defined:

Multi-Child Management – Allow users to manage and oversee activities pertaining to each of their children Seamless Mobile Payments – Enable payments through Bank or M-PESA for convenience. Payment History Tracking – Provide a ledger & receipts for users to review past transactions. Activity Fee Transparency – Display activity costs clearly and facilitate easy enrollment.

To kick of the design process, I carried out benchmarking and qualitative research to better understand the design patterns the target group is familiar with.

I drafted low fidelity designs to plan out the layout of the application, and visualize the flow with stakeholders.

Once the basic structure was approved, I moved on to mid fidelity designs, to give a better feel of the direction we were headed in, and to gather insights from usability testing. Below are a few samples of the mid-fidelity screens.

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Usability tests were carried out on five participants. These were the insights, including additions from stakeholder reviews.

Based on the feedback, I made the following improvements to the activities section:

Restructured the activity screen to one column for better scanability.

Split sections into 'Enrolled & 'Not enrolled', with difference in color for clearer communication.

Made the activity section more descriptive, and added the instructor's contact details.

After iterating on the designs, I conducted further testing and reviews with stakeholders. Once the update was approved, I moved on to high fidelity designs.

To maintain cohesion throughout the application, I utilized a design kit aligned with Riara's brand colors. This kit facilitated a seamless design flow with reusable components, ultimately streamlining the development process.

Colors from design system

Typography - Forum from Riara's brand guide, paired with DM sans for ease on the eye and better readability.

Components - Reusable components enabling efficiency and consistency across the design.

Some samples from the high fidelity design:

Once the high-fidelity designs were tested and approved, we moved on to the implementation phase. Close collaboration with the development team was key, maintaining regular review sessions to ensure that the final product adhered to the design.

User testing brought encouraging feedback, with parents finding the app intuitive and easy to navigate. They particularly appreciated the streamlined enrollment process and clear payment tracking.

Future updates will allow users to seamlessly view their children’s exam schedules, check results, and manage attendance. I ensured the UI navigation is scalable to make room for these features, prioritizing ease of use while maintaining a visually cohesive and efficient experience.