Context

A real business losing 30–40% of students every course cycle. Not because of bad courses, but because the system made it too easy to walk away.

Problem

University Dance Center had no deposit system, no digital registration, and no automated communication.

Every signup, cancellation, and reminder was handled manually by phone and email, including weekends. With no financial commitment from students, 30–40% simply didn't show up each cycle.

Goal

Reduce the student dropout rate from 30–40% to 10–15% within 6 months of launch.

Secondary goals

• online registration with advance payments

• automated email and SMS communication

• self-service cancellations

• waitlist management

Process

Understanding the user

To validate the owners' hypotheses, I designed a questionnaire targeting current and former students. 80 people responded.

As a dance instructor at the school, I also had direct access to candid, unfiltered feedback from students. The kind that formal surveys sometimes miss.

What the data showed

Dropout reasons had nothing to do with course quality:

• 31× Change of plans: family, work, schedule conflicts

• 20× Health issues

• 17× Schedule conflict

• 9× Logistical issues: course moved, no space, organisational problems

• 3× Course wasn't the right fit

Key insight

When cancelling costs nothing, students disappear. The problem wasn't dissatisfaction, it was zero commitment friction. No deposit, no digital confirmation. Even with reminders sent, students who hadn't paid felt no real obligation to show up.

Affinity Mapping

Define

Based on the research findings, I reframed the challenge into five core design questions:

• How might we create a sign-up form for users so that people come and owners don't lose money?

• How might we make students feel financially committed before a course starts?

• How might we reduce the time owners spend answering repetitive questions?

• How might we give owners real-time visibility into who is actually coming?

• How might we make cancellations and waitlist management automatic?

User journey maps

SCENARIO 1 - STUDENT SIGNS UP FOR A COURSE

SCENARIO 2 - OWNER MANAGES COURSE DAY

Due to the wide age range across different course types (18–75+), creating a single representative persona would have been misleading. Instead, I mapped two user journeys to capture the real pain points on both sides.

User flows

The school offers two activity types each with a different payment model.

I designed one unified flow that handles both, merging at checkout for a consistent booking experience.

Paper wireframes

Before moving to digital, I sketched the key screens by hand. This helped me quickly explore layout options and validate the flow without getting stuck on visual details too early.

Hi-fi UI design

The owners wanted the website in the colors: deep purple, warm yellow, and clean white. My focus was on clarity, trust, and making the booking process feel as straightforward as possible.

Key screens designed so far: homepage with live schedule, course listing with filtering, instructor profiles, and the "About us" section with key stats.

Before/After

Homepage before

Courses before

Timetable before

Teachers before

About us before

Homepage after

Courses after

Teachers after

Timetable after

About us after

Current status & Next steps

Current status

Completed:

• user research

• user journey maps

• define phase

• user flows

• paper wireframes

In progress:

• hi-fi wireframes

• prototypes

• client's review

Planned:

• usability testing with real students

• iteration based on feedback

• developer handoff

Expected impact

If successfully implemented, the system should reduce the dropout rate from 30–40% to 10–15% within 6 months. Owners will no longer manage registrations, reminders, or cancellations manually. This will save dozens of hours every month, including weekends.

This case study will be updated with usability testing results and live data once the system is deployed.