Notifications and announcements
Strategy and design to improve transparency around updates and increase user retention
Skills used
Continuous interviews
Workshop facilitation
Communication strategy
Usability testing
Wireframing
Prototyping
Interaction Design
Overview
TRAILS is an organization that focuses on increasing access to mental health services for k-12 students. Prior to Aug 2026, we had 3 programs for each tier of MTSS intervention. We train and equip school staff with the necessary skills and resources to support their students' mental health.
Problem
TRAILS makes updates frequently—users struggle to understand when and what updates are made causing some staff to be operating on different versions of the same curriculum causing confusion during moments of co-implementation.
Solution
A strategy around communicating out updates. This includes update indicators, notifications, and a changelog.
Team
2 product designers
1 product design director
1 UX writer
2 engineers
Several clinicians
Timeline
3 months
Process
Through continuous interviews with users, we learned they were frequently surprised to hear we had made updates and didn't understand the importance of accessing the new ones
Survey to understand regular download patterns
Brainstorm workshop with other product designer and UX writer on communicating product and material updates
Developed final communication strategy
Design concepts
Testing
Refinement
LAUNCH!
What comes next
Watch analytics for download patterns and learn through continuous interviews general awareness and understanding of updates
Ensure cadence of communicating updates maps to the school year and when users will see them