Rutgers Wyr

Skills
UX Design, Information Architecture, UX Research, Usability Testing, Wireframing, Prototyping, Visual Design

Role
UX Designer & Researcher

Overview

This project was part of a university club and organization called Blueprint.  Throughout this project, I got to work with other students in a cross-functional team that consisted of designers, engineers, managers and marketers to help create a university web application targeted towards students to help them with their academic studies.

Our team consisted of: 

Designers: 4 (including me)

Managers: 3

Marketers: 2

Engineers/Web Developers: 6

Brainstorming

I worked alongside other designers and the product managers as to what kind of features we wanted to include in this website. The main features we decided on the end were:
  • Help students find reviews for courses and professors
  • Make sure students can search for topics of interests to help find courses that best align with their goals and career choices
  • Help students connect with those who share similar interests as them
After this, we created an initial user flow to determine the different methods and scenarios users can use and go through while using the website.

Initial User Flow

Research

Alongside the managers and marketers, we conducted some research on students on their opinions about existing apps and websites that are often used to facilitate communication among students and to see ratings and reviews for specific courses. 

After conducting this research, there are some key points we found: 

1

Negative survivorship bias with ratings and reviews seemed very common in other applications. 

2

Students wanted to improve communication with fellow students at the same school as them and have the opportunity to connect with students that are studying the same or similar field as them

3

The previous apps and websites they used were not user-friendly and intuitive.

Our overall arching idea was to create a website specifically for Rutgers students to help facilitate easy communication with other students and also giving them the opportunity to search for topics of interest, and/or potential courses of fields they may want to pursue. 

Wireframes and Prototyping

We started off with the initial sketching that took place in Figma. During this time, we were trying to create templates and sketches to see what worked and what didn't work. Our team of UX/UI designers created a draft sketch of the UI, and changed it over time as more research was conducted, and as more features were added or removed. 
While creating the wireframes, we made sure to refer back to our user flow chart to make sure the experience was seamless for the students who would be first interacting with the website, and those who would continue to keep using it. 
We eventually also created a color palette considering of a mix of blue/teal and orange colors combined. 
After adding the colors to the wireframes, our team made the landing page and added various components to it. For example, when a student first visits the website, they will see the main features on the first page, and examples of what they will be able to do. Thus, giving the student a sense of security before they decide to sign up for this website

Landing Page