Paragon, named after the artistic debates during the Renaissance — “Paragone” — is a web application that allows aspiring designers to complete whiteboard challenges, either solo or alongside other designers in a variety of design challenges — all from the comfort of their computer. With a design workspace integrated directly within the application, it allows users to practice various design skills in an interview-like environment. A key feature of this app, or lack thereof, is any type of scoring/rating. We wanted Paragon to focus more on constructive feedback and to facilitate insightful dialogue between designers. This is why when a challenge is complete, users can view the completed works and communicate in a chat box to provide their thoughts. Another key feature is the Learning tab, where users can also brush up on important and advanced Figma tools. This allows Paragon to be a comprehensive UX training tool that enables both education and skill development.

**

How we adapted our research insights to inform our design decisions:

In our research, we explored how people perceive the process of learning design skills. We searched various sources such as Quora, Reddit, blog posts, and an interview. A recurring theme emerged: many find the transition from ideation to prototyping too long and seek more efficient ways to enhance their proficiency with tools like Figma. Others mentioned avoiding design contests because of the time commitment. There’s a common sentiment: while Figma is easier to learn, mastering its techniques is challenging—especially when working under pressure—which is often the case in the industry.

One user detailed their method for improving design skills under a blog post, which included a long multi-step process to boost their confidence in their design skill: incorporating daily in-person whiteboard exercises, asking for design prompts from ChatGPT, engaging in virtual sessions on FigJam, and in-person collaborations. This multi-faceted approach fortified their confidence but also ensured continuous feedback. This user’s narrative of combining various resources to build their proficiency in design emphasized the need for an integrated platform that consolidates these various learning methods. My teammate and I wanted to innovate a solution that would allow people to gain that boost of confidence in a single platform, instead of going to different resources like that user above. Here is a user persona we made that encapsulates the needs of our target audience:

We distilled our research into one problem statement:

<aside> 💡 How might we facilitate designers of all levels to master and brush up on their design skills in a short amount of time?

</aside>

This question aims to address the core challenges designers face, including the need for a rapid learning curve and the ability to master complex design tools under industry pressures.

The reasoning behind our visual design choices:

We aimed to implement a sleek and focused feel to the application, so that users can immediately start enhancing their practical UX skills while preparing for career interviews. We chose a darker look for our application’s theme with gold accents, rounded edges and a mostly flat design language with exceptions for actions we felt needed to be spotlit. To reduce confusion and interaction cost, there are limited buttons and only a handful of pages.

An intuitive “player” system is integrated within the workspace, enabling users to view the players in the lobby along with their readiness status, the length of the challenge, and the ability to share a spectator view link with their friends.

During our ideation of the challenge view, we sought to construct a workspace free of distractions so users can focus solely on perfecting their designs given their race against time.

While in a challenge, users can expand and minimize the design window, and adjust the sections between the prompt and the integrated Figma workspace, giving them total control of their environment.

Once a challenge is complete, the view layout slightly changes to accommodate a chat box, where the players and spectators can provide constructive comments and feedback on the submissions.

Additionally, there are topics that are related to the challenge that are linked directly to our “Learn” page—a gallery of short courses that designers can use to jog their memory or learn a new UI/UX Design concept.