Internship Design Exercise
A new school year is approaching and the orientation team is looking to you for some design expertise.
Option 1
Design an experience for new students to browse, search, and propose new student organizations. Provide your overall process, a wireframe flow, and one to two screens at higher fidelity.
Heuristic Review
I started with heuristic review of present website hosted for
clubs and organizations by my college.
I used Jakob Nielsen's 10 general principles for interaction design.
Results:
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Poor consistency
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Higher user memory load on navigation
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Redundancy
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Non-efficient options (browse by alphabets, z-has no clubs)
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Highly minimalist
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[NOTE: I have assumed that the speculated scenario is happening in my university.]
Interviews
To understand more about orientation programs and where does student groups/organizations/clubs fit in it, I interviewed professionals.
"I did not attend that day of my orientation when ..... student club signing was on because back then I didn't think it was a big thing here..."
- Grad Student
(2nd Year, RISD)
"It is necessary that an institution follow C.A.S. norms for orientation programs"
- Marisa Iovino
(Assistant director,
Orientation and New Student
Program, RISD)
"I had so many things on my mind ..... orientation was a bit overwhelming, student groups was the last thing on my mind."
- Student
(Sophomore, RISD)
" Students don't usually engage in the clubs right away..... they take their time, there is some activity after first few weeks"
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- Ashlie Norris
(Associate director, Graduate Experience, RISD)
"Usually the introductory programs related to clubs and organizations happens on the last day of orientation"
- Marisa Iovino
(Assistant director,
Orientation and New Student
Program, RISD)
The challenge was realized here:
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New students are in general not interested in clubs at the beginning.
However, positive experience means more SEARCHING, BROWSING & PROPOSING of student organizations.
Strategy
Flow chart of the strategy to generate interactions to encourage better involvement.
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The elements of the strategy were based on
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The need for interaction to achieve higher indulgence.
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The highest standard of orientation set by Council of Advancement of Standards of higher education (C.A.S.) in the US.
The introduction of the student organizations to the new students even before arriving on campus has an analogical effect to that of trailers in movies.
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News letters
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Posts on University Instagram account
Scope
Importance
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Facebook link to student groups organizations
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Chat options with seniors, orientation leaders and alumni
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Listing the benefits to join the group.
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Videos and pictures of student groups/organizations
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Recognition and requirements of an existing organization
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Cause or motto of a group.
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Common symbols, colors, slogans or phrases.
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Ratings of the groups and organizations
7
6
9
10
7
7
6
8
This rating system helps determine the distribution of onscreen real estate as well as the elements that needs prominence in the design.
User Persona
​Mind set
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Homesick
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Shy
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Excited bout new identity
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Excited about prospects
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Want to look cool
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Happy about the acceptance
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Buying mode
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Overwhelming change
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Looking for fun
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Gadgets
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Mobile Phone + Laptop
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Frequently Used Applications
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Instagram
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SnapChat
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Facebook
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Tinder
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WeChat
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Twitter
Name
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Julia
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Age
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17 to 18
Catchy Phrase
​The catchy phrase to be used on
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News Letters
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Welcome emails
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Social Media Posts
Make it yours.
Many phrases were put to poll, they are mentioned as follows:
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Make it yours.
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You are the fuel.
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Grow in unison.
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Move ahead, together.
Structure
Introduction
Search, Browse, Propose
Wireframes
3 versions were user tested and improved in iterations.
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All the assets decided based on the strategy was put on screen to get a sense of all the required elements.
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I wanted to capitalize on the familiarity aspect of primary users.
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The information card style is decided based on the type of apps. or interaction our primary user group has.
High Fidelity Prototypes
Landing Page
Make it yours.
Thank you,
I hope you liked it.
There is always more.
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Enjoy your day.