Designing and prototyping an app for lost university students
Developing a mobile app to assist students with navigating their university campus, while creating connections with other students, and building awareness of campus facilities.
Goals and Requirements:
Through insights gathered from desktop and user research, it was determined first year university students find navigating their way around a new campus difficult, even with the resources provided by the university. With little to no prior knowledge of the university campus, students find it difficult and stressful to navigate to classrooms, campus facilities and find friends easily and quickly on campus.
To reduce some uncertainty students face with a new campus, the proposed app aims to familiarise the user with their new campus over time. The proposed app* offers individual students directional paths tailored to their individual accessibility needs (mobility and accessibil, the ability to share their location with friends and navigate a direct path to them and have location recommendations based on the users current location. The app aims to assist these first-year university students navigate their new campus with ease and relieve some of the first year stress and anxiety.
Future development to integrate messaging services and user profile pages could help to build a social media platform for students. Limiting account creation to verified and active student email addresses that are specific to educational institutes would negate some issues with non-students attempting to create their own profile. This limitation keeps the platform a student only space.
*Concept and Proposal only
Strategies Implemented:
- User Research,
- Desktop Research,
- Wire Framing,
- High Fidelity Mockups.
Tools Used:
- Figma (Design and Prototype),
- Adobe Illustrator,
- Adobe Photoshop.
User Testing and Refinement:
Utilising the prototyping feature in Figma, each screen of the app was built out and mapped through different types of potential user journeys. User testing was then done to understand whether the project met its goals, and to identify areas and issues that needed to be changed to better reflect the proposed goals.
While testing the prototype some users commented on aspects of the app that could be improved to assist usability. From this feedback, changes were made to increase ease of usability, improve functionality and create overall unity in the app.
Meet up's made easy - onboarding
Pages and notification concepts
Key features - onboarding
Prototype development: Using Figma to build out usable workflows to conduct user testing.
Acknowledgement of Country
I acknowledge the Whadjuk and Bindjarep Noongar people as the Traditional Owners and Custodians of the lands and waterways on which I live and work. I extend my respect to their Elders, past and present, and acknowledge their continuing connection to country, history and culture.
