A rapid paced discovery phase for the Duke of Edinburgh's Online Record Book

Overview

The International Award Foundation commissioned a discovery project to explore the future of its Online Record Book (ORB), the platform used by Award participants and Award Leaders to manage progress through the Duke of Edinburgh's International Award.

Working alongside an agile multidisciplinary team, our objective was to understand the needs of a diverse global audience, identify opportunities for improvement, and define an MVP roadmap that would modernise a complex legacy platform while supporting the Foundation's long-term product vision.

Role & Process

As Product & Interaction Designer, I worked remotely as part of the core discovery team while collaborating directly with Foundation stakeholders throughout the project.

My role extended well beyond interface design and was extremely T-shaped, spanning research, synthesis, service design and product definition.

Key responsibilities included:

• Planning and facilitating moderated user research sessions with Award Participants, Award Leaders, National Award Offices and National Directors.

• Conducting research across multiple countries including the UK, Australia, New Zealand, Canada, Bermuda, Nigeria, Bulgaria, Malta and the Czech Republic.

• Analysing existing qualitative research.

• Creating journey maps, user flows for as-is and future states.

• Developing user needs, user stories and opportunity statements.

• Contributing to service blueprints and end-to-end service mapping.

• Designing and prototyping concepts for asynchronous user validation.

• Facilitating workshops and presenting findings to project stakeholders and the working group.

• Helping translate research insights into prioritised epics and recommendations that informed the beta roadmap.

Challenges & Solutions

The Online Record Book supports a wide variety of users across numerous countries, each with different responsibilities, processes and operational requirements. Understanding these interconnected journeys required balancing participant needs with those of Award Leaders and administrative teams while maintaining a realistic scope for an MVP.

Rather than jumping into interface design, the project focused on understanding the wider service ecosystem. Through extensive international research, collaborative workshops and iterative concept testing, we built a shared understanding of where the greatest opportunities existed.

By continuously synthesising research into user needs, journeys, service blueprints and prioritised product requirements, we helped transform a large volume of qualitative insight into clear, actionable recommendations for the next phase of development.

Outcome & Reflections

The discovery culminated in a comprehensive set of recommendations, prioritised epics and a roadmap for the proposed beta product, providing the Foundation with a clear direction for future development.

For me, the project was particularly rewarding because of its complexity. The Online Record Book is a highly interconnected product supporting multiple user groups across an international organisation. Developing a deep understanding of these relationships, then translating them into practical product decisions, was both challenging and incredibly satisfying.

The project reinforced the value of evidence-led design, collaborative discovery and continual user involvement when shaping complex digital products. It also strengthened my experience working at the intersection of product design, interaction design and service design, helping multidisciplinary teams move confidently from research to strategic product direction.