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Helping learners find the right instructor
...while giving instructors more control over how they present themselves and attract new learners.
Outcome: More informed learners | More valuable instructor profiles | Direct booking
The AA
Consumer
The problem
The instructor profile wasn't helping learners choose
The existing profile provided little more than an instructor's name, location, test centre and a map. Learners had limited information to help them understand who they were booking with or whether they were the right fit.
For instructors, there was an opportunity to create something much more valuable — but it needed to be easy to manage without adding another task to their already busy day.
“People can share my profile with their friends, but when those friends go to book, there’s no way to book straight with me. They just get matched with someone randomly, so I’m losing referrals that should’ve come to me.”
- Driving Instructor
Limited information
Learners had little insight into an instructor beyond their basic details.
Poor matching
The existing experience didn't help learners find an instructor suited to their needs.
Limited control
Instructors had little opportunity to personalise their profile or communicate what made them different.
No direct booking
The lack of a direct booking option added friction to the learner journey and made it harder for instructors to convert leads.
Understanding the experience
Designing for both sides
I needed to understand what learners wanted when choosing an instructor, while also finding out what would make instructors actually want to invest in their profile.
I surveyed and interviewed instructors, spoke to learners and reviewed competitor experiences. I also worked closely with instructors, learners, legal and the product team throughout the process.
Instructors wanted their profile to feel like them — but didn't have time to create it from scratch.
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Personalisation shouldn't mean more work: Instructors wanted their profiles to feel unique, but struggled with tasks like writing a bio.
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Learners wanted to know more: Learners wanted to understand things like an instructor's languages, car and experience before deciding who to book.
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Better matching matters: The existing experience could feel random, meaning learners sometimes switched instructors when the initial match wasn't right.
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Small signals can communicate a lot: Instructor awards gave learners a quick way to understand an instructor's strengths without having to work through lots of reviews.
WHAT I LEARNED:
More information. More personality. More ways to book.
The old profile was largely limited to basic information. The new experience brought together: Profile photo · Bio · Languages · Car details · Instructor awards · FAQs · Direct booking
The profile became more than a place to display information, it became a way for learners to understand who they were booking with.
THE NEW INSTRUCTOR PROFILE
The redesigned profile gave learners a much clearer picture of the instructor before making a decision.
MAKING PERSONALISATION EASIER
Helping instructors create a profile without creating more work
Research found that 97% of instructors weren’t confident they could write a bio to the standard they wanted, despite understanding how important it was for learners to get to know them. After researching and testing with instructors and learners, we created a simpler way to help. Instructors answer a series of questions about themselves and their teaching style, and AI turns their answers into a personalised bio. They can also choose the tone and add regional slang, making it feel more like them.
HELPING LEARNERS CHOOSE
Giving learners the information they actually wanted
The new profile brought together the details learners told us were important when choosing an instructor.
1. Instructor awards: A quick way to understand an instructor's strengths without having to read through lots of reviews.
2. Languages & car details: Helping learners find an instructor who suited their preferences and giving them more confidence in what to expect.
3. FAQs: Answering common questions before learners needed to ask.
4. Direct booking: Making it easier to move from finding the right instructor to actually booking with them.
MAKING BOOKING EASIER
Turning the profile into a route to booking
The old profile was primarily informational. Learners could find an instructor, but there was no simple way to move directly from discovering an instructor to booking with them.
The redesigned experience introduced direct booking, giving learners a clearer path from finding an instructor they liked to taking the next step.
For instructors, the profile became something they could actively use to attract learners rather than simply a page within the AA platform.
Shareable profiles
Instructors could share their profile directly with potential learners, giving them an easy way to showcase who they were and what they offered.
Direct bookings
Learners could move from the profile straight into booking with that instructor, reducing the gap between discovery and conversion.
More value for instructors
This gave instructors a tangible reason to invest in their profile. The more complete and personal their page was, the more useful it became as a way to introduce themselves and attract new learners.
From a static profile to something instructors could actively use to attract and convert learners.
A more useful experience for both sides
THE RESULTS
The new experience was well received by stakeholders, instructors and learners.
Instructors particularly valued being able to personalise their profiles, use AI to help create their bio and share their pages to generate direct bookings.
Learners responded positively to the additional information and felt better equipped to find an instructor who suited them.
The experience was shaped collaboratively throughout, with instructors, learners, legal and the product team involved from early exploration through to delivery.
Designing for both sides changed how I approached the problem
Reflection
The project reinforced the importance of designing beyond the immediate user journey. The profile wasn't simply a learner-facing page — it needed to create value for instructors too.
One of the biggest learnings for me was that personalisation only works when the effort required is proportionate to the value it creates. The AI-assisted bio was a good example of this: it gave instructors more control without asking them to spend time creating content from scratch.
It also highlighted the value of bringing users and stakeholders into the process early. Working closely with instructors, learners, legal and product helped shape the experience as we went, rather than treating feedback as something that happened at the end.
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Design for the ecosystem, not just the screen.
Consider how a product decision creates value for everyone involved.
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Remove unnecessary effort.
Personalisation shouldn't become another task for the user.
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Bring people into the process early.
Early collaboration creates better decisions and stronger buy-in.
What I'd take forward