Can teens spot misinformation?
In today’s media environment, young people encounter news primarily through social platforms, short‑form content, and algorithm‑driven feeds without clear signals of credibility. Over 8 weeks, I conducted mixed‑methods UX research and early concept design to understand how teens evaluate information and how their ecosystem (parents and teachers) shapes trust. The work resulted in a research‑backed service concept, validated information architecture through participatory methods, and a cohesive low‑fidelity product direction.
SCOPE
Discovery research, qualitative synthesis, stakeholder research, service design, concept development, prototyping, IA validation
TOOLS
Dovetail, Figma, Mural, Google Forms, Excel
TIMELINE
8 weeks
Background
This project originated from an academic design brief addressing the growing impact of mis‑ and disinformation on youth—especially as more content is consumed online and increasingly influenced by AI‑generated media.
Our team was asked to explore how people ages 11–18 consume local news, how they determine what is trustworthy, and what socio‑cultural and contextual factors shape their judgments. The intent was to understand the problem space before proposing solutions.
Due to time and resource constraints, we refined the scope to focus on high school students (ages 14–18) as primary users, while including parents and teachers as secondary stakeholders because of their strong influence on teens’ media literacy development.
The project followed three phases aligned with real‑world product cycles:
Discovery and understanding of the problem space
Concept exploration and definition
Early prototyping of a potential solution direction
My role was UX Researcher and Designer, contributing to research planning, qualitative synthesis, persona development, journey mapping, service modeling, and early design direction.
Goals
Understand the challenges teens face when evaluating online news credibility
What patterns exist in how they consume and share information?
Identify the most important factors influencing trust in news
How do parents, teachers, and peers shape these perceptions?
Translate research findings into actionable design direction
What kinds of services could realistically support better media literacy?
Format
Phase 1
Secondary research to understand the broader problem space
Surveys to gather directional quantitative insights
Semi‑structured interviews with teens, parents, and teachers
Phase 2
Synthesis workshops using affinity mapping and inductive coding
Concept development through personas, journey maps, and service modeling
Phase 3
Low‑fidelity prototyping using wireframes
Rationale
Because this was a discovery‑stage problem with many unknowns, qualitative methods were prioritized to uncover underlying attitudes and behaviors. Surveys were used to complement interview findings and identify broader patterns. Synthesis and modeling methods ensured that design decisions were grounded in evidence rather than assumptions, demonstrating methodological triangulation.
Audience
Interviews: n = 12 (teens, parents, teachers)
Survey respondents: n = 11
Mixed gender
Primary users: Ages 14–18 (high school students)
Secondary stakeholders: Parents and high school teachers
Participants were regular users of social media and online news sources
Insights
Discovery Phase
Teens distrust online information but feel unequipped to verify it
Participants expressed strong skepticism toward what they see online, yet struggled to describe concrete strategies for evaluating credibility. This often resulted in disengagement rather than critical thinking.
Trust is often outsourced to authority figures
When unsure about credibility, many teens defaulted to parents or teachers—even when those adults expressed uncertainty in their own media literacy. This revealed a dependency on social trust rather than evaluative skills.
Education strongly shapes opinion formation
Participants consistently linked their confidence in evaluating information to whether they had been explicitly taught media literacy skills in school, positioning education as a critical leverage point for intervention.
Design & Concept Development
Personas and Journey Mapping
Using patterns identified across surveys and interviews, I synthesized findings into three persona archetypes: a high school student, a parent, and a teacher. Journey maps surfaced emotional highs/lows, breakdown points in critical thinking, and opportunity areas where support would feel natural rather than intrusive.
Competitive Analysis
A competitive analysis of five fact‑checking and media literacy tools revealed common gaps: solutions that were overly academic, insufficiently engaging for teens, or disconnected from the broader parent–teacher ecosystem. This clarified differentiation opportunities for a service approach rather than a standalone tool.
Service Design and Storyboarding
A service model canvas was used to connect user needs, value propositions, stakeholders, and success metrics. Storyboards then translated the abstract model into realistic scenarios, helping validate feasibility and guide feature prioritization.
Prototyping
User Flows
User flows were developed based on synthesized research themes and validated through five card sorting sessions with potential users to ensure an intuitive information architecture. Due to time constraints, detailed flows focused on the student persona as the primary user.
Low‑Fidelity Wireframes
Using the flows as a foundation, I designed low‑fidelity wireframes to explore structure, content, and interaction patterns. This allowed for rapid iteration and team alignment around core experience principles, even though a fully interactive prototype was not completed within the timeline.
Impact
While this was an academic project, the outcomes were framed to mirror real-world product and organizational impact. This work demonstrates my ability to reduce ambiguity, align stakeholders, and translate complex social problems into actionable research direction.
Research-driven outcomes
Reframed the problem from “teens need a fact-check tool” to a broader ecosystem opportunity involving students, parents, and educators
Identified education as the highest-leverage intervention point, influencing concept direction toward school-integrated support rather than standalone apps
Produced a validated service concept grounded in behavioral insights rather than assumptions
What this would enable in a real organization
Clear discovery evidence to support roadmap decisions in EdTech, Trust & Safety, or Civic Tech contexts
Reduced product risk by validating user needs before investing in high-fidelity builds
A strong foundation for MVP definition and future usability testing
This project showcases my ability to operate upstream in the product lifecycle: defining the right problem, synthesizing complexity, and shaping strategic direction through research.
Conclusions
This project demonstrates how discovery research can meaningfully shape both the framing of a problem and the direction of a solution. Rather than suggesting a simple fact‑checking feature, the research pointed toward a broader ecosystem approach that supports teens alongside parents and teachers.
The outcome was a research‑backed service concept and early product direction grounded in real user behavior, with clear implications for how future solutions could integrate into educational and family contexts. In a real organizational setting, this work would directly inform roadmap priorities such as piloting in schools, refining trust‑building features, and validating usability through iterative testing.
Limitations
The participant sample size was modest, limiting demographic diversity
Time constraints prevented progression from wireframes to usability testing with a functional prototype
Most detailed validation work focused on the student persona rather than all stakeholder groups
