Presentation Designer
Storyteller
User Researcher
I learned
Team Diversity = Diverse ideas
Meetings have got to be short
Use effective visual aids for storytelling
User testing is the solution to all arguments
Convey your presentation, don’t make them read
Design Process
Let’s meet Sameed
Sameed is a new grad student joining UofT, St.George campus. He is really excited about School in a new city. He is a social person, loves meeting people from different backgrounds until his interests match with them. He is looking forward to making memories and close friends he can trust.
Meeting like-minded people, building connection
is a UofT-wide issue
7/12
(User interviews)
“Classes & study groups are easiest
ways to make friends”
8/12
(User interviews)
“We are open to making friends from different backgrounds ”
28/40
(User survey)
Participants talk to friends
in anxiety or stress
34/40
(User survey)
Student experience of meeting like-minded people needs improvement
User statements
- “I don’t feel a connection with the group”
- “Is a UofT event worth my time, will I meet like-minded people?”
- “I can only share my issues with friends I trust”
Sameed needs
“As a UofT student, I want to manage my studies as well as meet a
diverse group of students, so that I can make friends and share my experiences”
Meet like-minded people
Manage academics
Build connections
As-is scenario
Ideation: Let's help poor Sameed
Hill Statements leading to features
Our team followed IBM guidelines to write Hill statements, meaningful outcomes we want to achieve. A Hill statement consists of "Who" (who are the users), "What" (what is the user's need), and "Wow" (measurement of success)
1. Sameed can find relevant events with as little as one-time preference and schedule setup
2. Sameed can make an informed decision about choosing & attending events without checking multiple sources
3. Sameed can enjoy a good on-campus social life without affecting academics
Introducing Campus Social
Events for you on your time
Mid-Fi prototype
1. Login using UofT Acorn, one-time setup of the app
2. Home screen, event search
3. Your events
4. Calendar
5. Profile settings
Will this work for UofT students?
Let's test
Semi-structured interviews and questionnaire based testing was conducted with 4 UofT grad students. Task-based Think Aloud protocol was followed. Participants were tested for task performance, efficiency and error rates. User testing was performed on Low-Fi prototype, feedback was incorporated to build the Mid-Fi. These are some statements from Mid-Fi user testing.
- “What does group notification mean?”
Language improvement - “Where do I setup later?”
Feature visibility - “Adding event is familiar with Google calendar”
Familiarity - “It keeps my schedule in consideration, I like that”
Adds value
My next steps
If I were given more time and opportunity to continue this project, I would:
- Make the one-time setup simpler: Probably inform the user of all the steps at the start of this setup so that user can estimate and allocate time to do this setup instead of being frustrated. Although we felt there were hardly three steps and also provided a “Skip” option, users still felt that this took a lot of their time before they could even experience the app.
- Introduce effective on-boarding: Onboarding is marketing and introducing the user to important features that add value. I would include animated and effective on-boarding screens to improve user experience.
- I would create a group organizer version of this app similar to Eventbrite. This would be a place where students could start their own group and invite like-minded users.