Project Brief
Background - As a member of the “Solent Digital” Club at Solent University, I occasionally took part in the monthly challenges. For this challenge, the prompt was to improve any existing digital part of Solent University
Objective - Redesigning the MySolent app to fit the student’s needs - flexible to the individual interests and desires of the Solent University student. Offering an easy subscription function to learn about and attend relevant events. The app was redesigned to enhance the Solent University experience.
Role – Product Designer
Skills & Tools – User Research, Ideation, Prototyping, User Testing, Design System, Motion Design, Figma, Invision, Adobe After Effects
Team - Me
Timeline - 2 weeks
Research
The Problem
Current app
After a long-awaited time, Solent University finally released a mobile app for students. All students highly anticipated it however it was a big letdown due to the fact the mobile app did not offer any unique value and just included all the information which was already provided on their website. Therefore, I asked myself these questions:
What do the students actually want?
How can the mobile app add value to the student’s Solent University experience?
Intended Users
Students at Solent University - from all majors, years and interests.
User Interviews
I wanted direct insights from the students themselves on how we can enhance their holistic university experience. Due to the time constraint of the design challenge, I was unable to hold personal interviews with students from every major. However, I interviewed one student from 5 different undergraduate majors ( Arts & Fashion, Business, Engineering, Sports and Science students). From these 5-10 minute conversations, I gathered recurring themes of:
School Community
Time management
Staying motivated/proactive
Surveys
Pressed for time, I sent out 30 surveys using Qualtrics to filter participants by majors. The sample consisted of students from 5 different undergraduate majors: 6 Arts & Fashion students, 6 Business students, 6 Engineering students, 6 Sports students and 6 Science students. An example of the survey
Secondary Research
From students’ feedback and personal knowledge of communication at university, we found that most students mostly receive event updates and information from “The Week @Solent” (a university newsletter).
Problem Identification
Design Opportunity
Solent Student Event Scheduling App
From our research insight, I found an opportunity for a more personalised activities calendar that is more flexible to personal interests and university life.
Unique Solution:
The highly personalised, smart scheduling app uses an algorithm to show the best events most relevant to the user interests indicated, using machine learning technology.
Ideation
Design Influence
The product was redesigned to still be a mobile application as university students are typically active on their phones and other mobile devices.
Functional Influence
Google and Apple Calendars
I wanted it to have all the successful, intuitive qualities of the calendar app most commonly uses, while also addressing places of improvement.
Visual Influence
Final mood board
I wanted the app to bring blissful satisfaction students often get from checking off a goal and making planning ahead something desirable and not stressful
User Journey Mapping
Information Mapping
Prototyping
I created a low-fidelity prototype of the algorithm that would be used in the application setup process.
Then, I largely focused on the user interface of the three main feature pages. Calendar, Explore and Profile
User Testing
I asked some of the users to try the application and comment on what they liked and didn’t like about it. I also observed how they used existing products like Apple Calendar and Google Calendar.
UI style guide
Final Product
After receiving feedback about some overwhelming and confusing aspects, I iterated the design based on those feedback
Final Prototype
The new Solent app prototype showcases personalised event filtering and provides scheduling capabilities.
Onboarding
For the onboarding journey, I wanted to elevate the UI from just static screens. I added liquid animation to make the onboarding journey feel a lot smoother and visually pleasing too.
Transferred Figma design to Adobe After Effects to create the liquid animation
Onboarding liquid animation
Reflection
This project allowed me to dive into all aspects of product design and I learned how to plan and prioritise my work in the limited time I had. It was definitely a learning experience and I also got to experiment with UI design such as motion design. Regarding the timeframe I believe I was constrained in the user research phase, for future consideration I would take my time to get more participants for a better insight.