Academic Project
Design Challenge:
For this project under the direction of Professor Bhavi Patel we were tasked with building a mobile application in an area we were especially interested in and passionate about. My research team was mutually interested in education. At the time, we had no idea COVID-19 would present itself and be especially relevant to our project. The initial research was completed as a group and the additional design process individually.
Role:
User Research, UX Design, Mobile Design, Visual Design
Year:
Spring 2020
Research Team:
Joy Lin, Jeffrey Reyes, Kevin Faircourt
Timeline ⏱️
Week 01 - 02 | Week 03 - 04 | Week 05 - 06 | Week 07 - 08 | Week 09 - 10 | Week 11 - 12 |
🤯 | 🔎 | 🧩 | ♟️ | 🎨 | 🚀 |
Brainstorm Define Problems | Research Interviews | Storyboard
Flow Chart
Wireframes | User Testing
Logo Sketch | Style Guide
Asset Library | Hi-Fidelity Design |
Problem 🔎
Students completing online coursework are struggling to connect with one another and stay engaged with their remote learning environment. Students are also finding it hard to build professional relationships with professors that might have otherwise helped them to launch into their careers. The project took place at the beginning of the pandemic where students were also experiencing social isolation. We heard stories of how the social isolation had an impact on certain student’s mental health and made completing their academic goals especially challenging.
Insight 💡
Our research team focused specifically on student needs and found insights around student connection, messaging culture, and professional opportunities.
Student Connection: This was the main theme that continued to come up in our research. The insight sprouted from speaking with international students. We started to understand that most students found motivation through interaction with their peers. Students were missing the conversations with one another between classes that helped to do small things like clarify assignments or big things like decipher their career path.
Messaging Culture: Students found teacher email response times to be a huge pain point. The concept of waiting for an email response for a simple clarification seemed outdated to most. Students needed a faster way to communicate with teachers and other students in a professional context.
Professional Opportunities: A big fear for students was missing out on professional opportunities. Students felt like the were not able to build a professional network for their future online.
Solution ⚡
The mobile application Connect helps to overcome the social distance between students and uses their mutual academic interests to facilitate engagement. Connect seeks to create a virtual bridge between students that cultivates inspiration and collaboration despite the physical distance of online learning. Connect is also designed to foster professional connections where students can stay in touch with professors and find opportunities as they transition into a career.
01. Research
Initially our team started conducting interviews with both teachers and students. We quickly learned that their needs were quite different. Once we made the decision to focus entirely on student needs we were able to concentrate our research more effectively.
We started asking students about the platforms they were already using like Canvas, Gmail, Zoom, Slack, and Instagram. We wanted to know what was or was not working and why. In order to complete our research we sent out surveys through Google Forms and interviewed students through Zoom.
02. Interview Questions
- How many classes are you taking online?
- What is going well?
- What could improve?
- How often do you login to Canvas? Zoom? Other Platforms?
- On which platforms do you interact with other students and how?
- What are some of your biggest frustrations right now?
- What do you enjoy most about learning online and why?
- What motivates you to check in with your online coursework?
- How are your professors keeping you engaged?
03. Interview Insights
Lucy Chepizhenko Extension Program UCLA
04. Observations
05. Underlying Themes
💡 MESSAGING CULTURE / INSTANT MESSAGING
💡 STUDENT TO STUDENT INTERACTION
💡 PROFESSIONAL OPPORTUNITIES AND COLLABORATIONS
06. Deconstruction Process
In order to understand how to build a navigation system for students I went to the tools they were already using like Canvas and Slack. I noticed they both used embedded navigation and tried to mimic this approach in my design.
One important insight in this process was how many unnecessary paths and categories Canvas had with their information architecture. Slack in comparison held a lot less clutter and effectively organized large amounts of information with channels.
07. Connect Flow Chart
08. Early Ideation Sketches
09. Low Fidelity Wireframes
MAIN CONCEPTS
⭐ Search system that connects students through courses.
⭐ Display of portfolio pieces for student feedback and social engagement.
⭐ Integrate #channel system and clean drop down menu for same page transition
⭐ Mimic discussion board in a more fluid chat like way with various options for responses and student to student conversation.
⭐ Pull inspiration from Slack’s information architecture.
⭐ Quick chat access for student to student conversation and minimize email wait time with professors.
10. Zoom User Testing
Testing was done through Zoom video conference with a total of 5 different students and 2 professionals working within teams through online platforms.
11. Findings And Surprises
12. Style Guide
My concept behind Connects brand identity was an attempt to visually recreate the feeling of connection. The final logo and graphic elements are inspired by night light photography, electricity, and neon lights.
13. Reflection
Connect’s inception began at the very beginning of the pandemic in the Spring of 2020. It was really a chaotic time looking back. Our group split up after our research as a few classmates had to drop the course. Despite the world falling apart Professor Bhavi Patel really pushed us forward into the semester. Her leadership kept us accountable and ultimately inspired. Although we were online, we were still presenting our work almost every week. The consistency paid off and helped me to build strong presentation skills along with a deeper understanding of my process.
With all of that being said, Connect also helped me to reassess my workflow and create better organization systems. Working mostly alone for the project I found my documentation sometimes in a complete disarray. Because of this there were many times I felt like I was working backwards.
Overall I loved this project. Looking ahead I’m really interested in exploring what educational experiences look like in the augmented and virtual reality space.