Salesforce Trailhead

Trailhead is a learning platform for users to understand and learn different aspects of Salesforce: from CRM, to data, and development. Initially launched as a web only solution, Salesforce wanted to create a mobile app for users to learn from anywhere. I was tasked with designing and building a native iOS application as a joint collaboration with Apple Computers and a key marketing push around Apple devices in the Enterprise.

Problem

The Trailhead team have created a set of RESTful APIs that provided access to all of the raw learning content. On the web, it was pretty easy to filter and find the information you wanted. On a mobile device, sorting through all of the content needed to be more optimized. And, just like any mobile app, it is important to design for engagement by using things like push notifications and the newly launched Apple Watch.

I started by designing the onboarding experience in sketch as a way to better identify the exact topic a user wanted to learn. I took heavy inspiration from apps such as Apple Fitness and DuoLingo by including daily goals and motivators. This allowed me to centralize all of a users activities through a single profile and progress screen, which they could share with others to compete for leaderboard awards as a way to further motivate learners.

Users could then easily jump back to personalized learning plans rather than attempting to find and filter on what they needed to continue.

Finally, we wanted to take advantage of the Apple Watch. I designed and implemented a companion app that users could view on the goal. After working closely with the Apple Design team, the final implementation focused on motivation and encouragement rather than trying to provide a learning experience on a very small form factor that is only viewed for a few seconds at a time.

Final Thoughts

This was one of my favorite projects. I got to work with early stage APIs and had to create a number of frameworks which are still in use today, and working closely with the Apple Design teams is always a great way to improve your skills. I had helped build the initial Salesforce Watch app which was used on the stage during the Apple Watch announcement, and always enjoying building for wearable devices. Their form factor and different usage models mean you have to be very intentional about UX design.