CUC Helper
How a mobile assistant on the phone makes college life easier.
Duration
03/2017 - 05/2017 (3 months)
Role
Sole UX Designer & UX Researcher
Living on campus at my undergraduate school for four years, I found that students and teachers always complain about the complex procedures of trivial things, such as refilling student card, booking a room in the library, or requesting a transcript.
Therefore, for my thesis project, I started an exploration of how to make our college life easier with the power of modern technology.
My Story
One day of the 3rd year living at the college, I needed to request for an official transcript. What I didn't expect was that such a simple, common task took me 7 days only to begin with.
That was when I realized how painful it could be to deal with campus errands.
Stage 01
Identify The Problems
To better identify and understand the problems & pain points, I used both quantitative and qualitative methods to get insights, including questionnaires, user interview, and competitive analysis.
Research questions include:
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How people use, react to and think about the current campus service system?
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How does the current campus service system work?
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What unique needs do different user groups have?
RESEARCH
QUESTIONNAIRE
I made questionnaires and got valid results from 191 people in the college. Among the responders, 57.1% thought there were some problems needed to be fixed in current campus service system. And 25.3% said they often found it difficult to complete their tasks.
The research also showed the top 3 in-demand functions are:
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Clearer instructions,
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Online ID card system,
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Online Campus news.
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RESEARCH
USER INTERVIEW & PERSONA
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By conducting interviews with users from various groups, I was able to gather the unique needs from different people at my college.
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By summarizing the interviews into personas, I could demonstrate user behaviors, scenarios, and specific expectations from their points of view.
RESEARCH
COMPETITIVE ANALYSIS
I analyzed apps from other colleges and products from third-party companies that provide the similar functions, focusing on interaction framework and interface design. Aiming to identify pros and cons, and to look for potential opportunities for my design solutions. One of the common problems throughout these competitors is the high density of information displayed on the UI.
Besides, I also investigated the current service system of my college. I found that there are separate services on separate platforms from both online and offline without clear instructions on how to approach them.
PROBLEMS
APPROACHES
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Separate, complex systems.
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Unclear task flows, lack of instructions.
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In-person services are time consuming.
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A unified service system
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With clear task flows and instructions
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On an online platform.
Stage 02
Design Solution
After understanding and summarizing the problems, I built the iterative designs by system mapping, wireframes, user flow analysis, and high fidelity prototypes.
DESIGN
System Mapping
& User Flows
I utilized flow charts to represent the information architecture of the product, and some major user flows.
DESIGN
Wireframes
Wireframes
Iteration
Given the feedback I got from user testing, the users were confused when they needed to slide between two pages.
Therefore, I redesigned the homepage layout using 3 tabs at the top, in order to provide clearer signifiers, while not losing the real estate on the page.
After
Before
DESIGN
High Fidelity Prototype
The overall aesthetics of CUC Helper is based on three insights: the temperament of the college, the preference of students, and current mobile design trends.
Since most programs in my college are in the area of art, drama, journalism, and literacy, the students there are more sensitive to visual aesthetics. Therefore, I created the visual style with a sense of youth, artistry, and passion.
