{"id":894,"date":"2026-10-27T20:57:19","date_gmt":"2026-10-27T20:57:19","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/olafbon.nl\/?page_id=894"},"modified":"2026-10-27T20:57:19","modified_gmt":"2026-10-27T20:57:19","slug":"welcome-app-better-connected","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/olafbon.nl\/index.php\/welcome-app-better-connected\/","title":{"rendered":"Welcome App \u2013 Better Connected"},"content":{"rendered":"\t\t
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\n\t\tolaf bon\n\t<\/a><\/p>\n\t\t\t\t\t

\n\t\t← All work\n\t<\/a><\/p>\n\t\t\n<\/header>\n

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UX research & product design · Graduation project · 2023<\/p>\n\t\t\t\t\t

Helping language schools refer students instead of turning them away<\/h1>\n\t\t\n<\/div>\n
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\n \t\t\t\"Home\t\t\n<\/div>\n
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My role<\/p>\n\t\t\t\t\t

My graduation project. I did the research, interviews, concepts, prototype and tests. The project started with Welcome App; Taalhuis Dordrecht became the main partner.<\/p>\n\t\t\n<\/div>\n

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Design challenge<\/p>\n\t\t\t\t\t

How can a data-driven online tool give the language schools in Dordrecht an overview of each other, so refugees can be referred and don’t lose their motivation?<\/p>\n\t\t\n<\/div>\n\n<\/div>\n\n<\/div>\n

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The context<\/p>\n\t\t

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17<\/p>\n\t\t\t\t\t

language schools in Dordrecht<\/p>\n\t\t\n<\/div>\n

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4<\/p>\n\t\t\t\t\t

language schools interviewed<\/p>\n\t\t\n<\/div>\n

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3<\/p>\n\t\t\t\t\t

concepts tested against the requirements<\/p>\n\t\t\n<\/div>\n\n<\/div>\n\t\t\t

From my design rationale<\/p>\n\t\t\n<\/div>\n

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Key insight<\/p>\n\t\t\t\t\t

“Schools are already helped if they can see which schools are nearby and what they offer.”<\/p>\n\t\t\t\t\t

From the interviews<\/p>\n\t\t\n<\/div>\n

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Methods<\/p>\n\t\t

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Interviews<\/p>\n\t\t\t\t\t

Customer journey<\/p>\n\t\t\t\t\t

Fogg behaviour model<\/p>\n\t\t\t\t\t

Requirements & job stories<\/p>\n\t\t\t\t\t

Benchmark<\/p>\n\t\t\t\t\t

Lo-fi & hi-fi prototype<\/p>\n\t\t\t\t\t

Acceptance test<\/p>\n\t\t\n<\/div>\n\n<\/div>\n\n<\/div>\n

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The broken journey<\/p>\n\t\t\t\t\t\"Customer\t\t\t\t\t

When a school can’t help a student, the journey simply stops at the front desk. The solution has to extend it.<\/p>\n\t\t\n<\/div>\n

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Lo-fi → hi-fi<\/p>\n\t\t

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The full story<\/p>\n\t\t

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01<\/p>\n\t\t\t\t\t

The challenge<\/p>\n\t\t\n<\/div>\n\n<\/span>\n

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↓<\/p>\n\t\t\n<\/div>\n\n<\/summary>\n

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On 1 January 2022 a new civic integration law came into effect: municipalities became responsible for the integration of refugees with a residence permit, which includes learning the language. During my orientation I got in touch with Taalhuis Dordrecht, an organisation that supports language schools. I found that refugees don’t learn enough during the mandatory integration course, so it’s important to help them with voluntary extra language lessons.<\/p>\n\t\t\t\t\t

Refugees who want to keep studying go looking for a language school, but often knock on the wrong door: because of requirements like cost or distance, or because they only find out after a level test. A rejection at the front desk drops their motivation below the point where they keep looking.<\/p>\n\t\t\n<\/div>\n\n<\/details>\n

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02<\/p>\n\t\t\t\t\t

Research: how I got there<\/p>\n\t\t\n<\/div>\n\n<\/span>\n

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↓<\/p>\n\t\t\n<\/div>\n\n<\/summary>\n

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Because the brief wasn’t clear yet, I needed to talk to the language schools themselves as soon as possible. These interviews became the foundation of the project.<\/p>\n\t\t

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01<\/p>\n\t\t\t\t\t

Orientation<\/p>\n\t\t\t\t\t

Welcome App and Taalhuis Dordrecht<\/p>\n\t\t\n<\/div>\n

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02<\/p>\n\t\t\t\t\t

Interviews<\/p>\n\t\t\t\t\t

Four language schools in Dordrecht<\/p>\n\t\t\n<\/div>\n

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03<\/p>\n\t\t\t\t\t

Journey<\/p>\n\t\t\t\t\t

Customer journey and Fogg behaviour model<\/p>\n\t\t\n<\/div>\n

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04<\/p>\n\t\t\t\t\t

Requirements<\/p>\n\t\t\t\t\t

List of requirements and job stories<\/p>\n\t\t\n<\/div>\n

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05<\/p>\n\t\t\t\t\t

Benchmark<\/p>\n\t\t\t\t\t

Filtering, data overviews and sharing information<\/p>\n\t\t\n<\/div>\n

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06<\/p>\n\t\t\t\t\t

Concepts<\/p>\n\t\t\t\t\t

Three concepts, one prototype<\/p>\n\t\t\n<\/div>\n\n<\/div>\n\t\t\t

What the interviews showed:<\/p>\n\t\t

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→  Schools can’t always help everyone who comes in for an intake.<\/p>\n\t\t\t\t\t

→  Schools barely know about each other. Some don’t know the others exist.<\/p>\n\t\t\t\t\t

→  Schools don’t know whether they still have a reason to exist within the municipality.<\/p>\n\t\t\t\t\t

→  The most important data: location, target group, cost, lesson times and availability.<\/p>\n\t\t\n<\/div>\n\n<\/div>\n\n<\/details>\n

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03<\/p>\n\t\t\t\t\t

Key insights<\/p>\n\t\t\n<\/div>\n\n<\/span>\n

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↓<\/p>\n\t\t\n<\/div>\n\n<\/summary>\n

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Collaborating means referring<\/p>\n\t\t\t\t\t

The main goal is to refer students when they can’t be helped at the school they walk into.<\/p>\n\t\t\n<\/div>\n

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Be careful with data<\/p>\n\t\t\t\t\t

Schools are already hesitant and won’t use the product if they have to give away too much data.<\/p>\n\t\t\n<\/div>\n

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Data driven<\/p>\n\t\t\t\t\t

The data has to come from the schools, and they have to keep supplying it.<\/p>\n\t\t\n<\/div>\n

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Keep it simple<\/p>\n\t\t\t\t\t

Everyone at a school should be able to use it, including volunteers. No useless features.<\/p>\n\t\t\n<\/div>\n

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Extend the journey<\/p>\n\t\t\t\t\t

The opportunity isn’t in handling the rejection, but in a next step that’s very easy to take.<\/p>\n\t\t\n<\/div>\n

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Discover the area<\/p>\n\t\t\t\t\t

Schools are already helped if they can see which schools are nearby and what they offer.<\/p>\n\t\t\n<\/div>\n\n<\/div>\n\n<\/div>\n\n<\/details>\n\n<\/div>\n

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04<\/p>\n\t\t\t\t\t

Design decisions: what I found, and what I did with it<\/p>\n\t\t\n<\/div>\n\n<\/span>\n

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↓<\/p>\n\t\t\n<\/div>\n\n<\/summary>\n

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Insight<\/p>\n\t\t\t\t\t

In the interviews, referring students turned out to be the main way schools work together. The later interviews confirmed it.<\/p>\n\t\t\t\t\t

Interviews<\/p>\n\t\t\n<\/div>\n

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Decision<\/p>\n\t\t\t\t\t

A dashboard, not an IoT device or an AI assistant<\/p>\n\t\t\t\t\t

I scored three concepts against the requirements. The dashboard is the least experimental, but that’s its strength: anyone at a school should be able to refer a student with ease.<\/p>\n\t\t\t\t\t\"Concept\t\t\n<\/div>\n\n<\/div>\n

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Insight<\/p>\n\t\t\t\t\t

In the lo-fi version I combined referring and comparing. Testing showed this was impractical and confusing.<\/p>\n\t\t\t\t\t

Lo-fi test<\/p>\n\t\t\n<\/div>\n

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Decision<\/p>\n\t\t\t\t\t

Separate flows, each with its own starting point<\/p>\n\t\t\t\t\t

Referring got its own flow in three steps: choose a school, choose a class, check the student’s details. Home became an overview for the school.<\/p>\n\t\t\t\t\t\"Referral\t\t\n<\/div>\n\n<\/div>\n

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Insight<\/p>\n\t\t\t\t\t

Schools don’t want to share too much with each other. In the mid-term test, a participant said that with more data she would worry about what others could see.<\/p>\n\t\t\t\t\t

Interviews and mid-term test<\/p>\n\t\t\n<\/div>\n

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Decision<\/p>\n\t\t\t\t\t

Compare shows just enough<\/p>\n\t\t\t\t\t

Discovering already succeeds when schools get an idea of who is nearby. The compare feature does just enough to be valuable, and that prevents unpleasant competition.<\/p>\n\t\t\t\t\t\"Compare\t\t\n<\/div>\n\n<\/div>\n

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What the acceptance test changed<\/p>\n\t\t\t\t\t

In the acceptance test with the main stakeholder at Taalhuis Dordrecht, two remarks changed the design: show how many lessons a course has, and define how long a referral is “safe”. That led to a reservation being held for three days.<\/p>\n\t\t\n<\/div>\n\n<\/div>\n\n<\/details>\n\n<\/div>\n

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05<\/p>\n\t\t\t\t\t

Result<\/p>\n\t\t\n<\/div>\n\n<\/span>\n

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↓<\/p>\n\t\t\n<\/div>\n\n<\/summary>\n

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A clickable Figma prototype of the Better Connected dashboard: an overview home for each school, a three-step referral flow and a compare feature. When I asked how likely it is that it will actually be built, the stakeholder said:<\/p>\n\t\t

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“The chance is quite big. I can really picture it. The biggest problem is the financial side, but I’m convinced the solution will add value.”<\/p>\n\t\t\t\t\t

Main stakeholder, Taalhuis Dordrecht<\/p>\n\t\t\n<\/div>\n

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\n \t\t\t\"Details\t\t\n<\/div>\n
\n \t\t\t\"Confirmation\t\t\n<\/div>\n\n<\/div>\n\n<\/div>\n\n<\/details>\n
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06<\/p>\n\t\t\t\t\t

Reflection and next steps<\/p>\n\t\t\n<\/div>\n\n<\/span>\n

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↓<\/p>\n\t\t\n<\/div>\n\n<\/summary>\n

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“I spoke to fewer language schools than I would have liked. But the mix was good, and deciding to talk to them early was a good choice: much of the information I could find online was outdated or wrong.”<\/p>\n\t\t\n<\/div>\n\t\t\t

The product still needs a few iterations. My advice to Taalhuis Dordrecht: have a larger group of schools review it before it’s 100% valid, set up a database, and give the screens where schools add lessons and fill in their details more attention.<\/p>\n\t\t\n<\/div>\n\n<\/details>\n\n<\/div>\n\n<\/div>\n\n<\/main>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

olaf bon ← All work UX research & product design · Graduation project · 2023 Helping language schools refer students instead of turning them away My role My graduation project. I did the research, interviews, concepts, prototype and tests. The project started with Welcome App; Taalhuis Dordrecht became the main partner. Design challenge How can […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"parent":0,"menu_order":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"elementor_canvas","meta":{"footnotes":""},"class_list":["post-894","page","type-page","status-publish","hentry"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/olafbon.nl\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/894","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/olafbon.nl\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/olafbon.nl\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/page"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/olafbon.nl\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/olafbon.nl\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=894"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"https:\/\/olafbon.nl\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/894\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":963,"href":"https:\/\/olafbon.nl\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/894\/revisions\/963"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/olafbon.nl\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=894"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}