RU ACTIVE
Overview
When I started university in 2018, I was overwhelmed by the sheer size of the campus and student population. For some people, this seems like it would be an easy opportunity to explore different activities and meet large groups of people. But for people like me, I didn't know where to start. I struggled socially and academically, and being a first-generation college student, I had little guidance from my family. After some research and ideation, I pictured RU Active. RU Active is a social networking mobile app that makes exploring, collaborating, and interacting for Rutgers students easy.
Role
UX/UI Designer, UX Researcher
Tools Used
Figma, Whimsical, Miro, Tableau
Duration
2 weeks, Aug 2021
PROBLEM ⚠️
Students, especially freshmen, can feel stressed and intimidated when entering university due to a number of reasons, including not having a sense of direction, struggling to make fulfilling connections, and not having access to resources. Furthermore, remote learning can exacerbate these conditions as students become isolated and are cut off from receiving in-person guidance.
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LITERATURE REVIEW
I first did some secondary research regarding the struggles that college students face. One ACHA STUDY showed that out of about 31,000 college students, 63% said they had felt “very lonely” within the last 12 months. Students also reported feeling emotionally and mentally “exhausted" (83%), “overwhelmed” (86.5%), and “hopeless” (51%).
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COMPETITIVE ANALYSIS
I conducted a light analysis of different platforms to get an idea of what existing solutions are already provided to students. I wanted to understand what made students prefer these platforms to solve their issues, and what these platforms are not able to address. I found that generally, sites such as LinkedIn, Facebook, and Twitter aren’t great resources for students specifically, as they don’t really provide school-specific information and resources. However, Reddit is quite popular as it allows students to offer in-depth insights and flairs to specify posts. Unfortunately, Reddit is not the ideal platform to create solid personal connections.
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USER SURVEY
I created a Google Forms survey, in which I gathered insights from 131 students at Rutgers University regarding their experiences at school. According to the survey, the biggest goals for new students are meeting new people (95.4%), joining a club/Greek Life (85.5%), and getting into their majors (82.4%). The biggest struggles for new students are dealing with their course loads (87%), making friends (83.2%), and having a sense of community (61.8%). New students could benefit from support with making connections during class (78.6%), career development opportunities (64.1%), and developing a community (52.7%).
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USER PERSONAS
I then created two personas, a transfer student and a freshman student, based on my research to guide my design for the target users.
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SOLUTION 💡
RU Active provides an experience for students at Rutgers University to feel part of an inclusive community, where they can receive advice from their peers and form fulfilling relationships.
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USER FLOWCHART
I created a user flow to synthesize all of these requirements and have a visual of how they would best fit with each other.
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LO-FI WIREFRAMES
My low-fidelity wireframes were created with Whimsical to display the main screens.
01. Tags to specify topics within posts, similar to Reddit's "flairs"
02. Anonymous posting to allow users who fear judgment an option to comfortably share questions or other opinions
03. Messaging and creating group chats to encourage interactivity and forming connections
04. Joining and creating different communities to meet others who share similar interests and lifestyles
KEY FEATURES:
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HI-FI WIREFRAMES
02. EXPLORING + POSTING
Users can view and interact with posts from people and communities that they follow, or trending posts throughout the campus. They also have the option to post anonymously to improve confidence and add tags to specify their posts to certain audiences.
04. ESTABLISHING A COMMUNITY
Users can browse through different clubs and organizations on the application, sorted by different categories. Each community’s page displays all of their posts, a description, and the ability to join. Users can create their own communities as well.
01. LOGIN + SIGN UP
Users are prompted to either login or sign up using their student information. The onboarding screens are critical to make the right impression and give users a basic understanding of what to expect.
03. MESSAGING
The messaging feature provides and additional way for users to communicate and collaborate with one another. Users can create group chats or send private messages with other students.
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INTERACTIVE PROTOTYPE
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USABILITY STUDY
I conducted a remote task-based usability study with 10 students. During each test, I prompted a qualitative survey asking participants to describe their thought process while performing the tasks. My general plan consisted of the following steps:
01. Provide participants with a description of the app concept.
02. Walkthrough users along benchmark tasks one by one.
03. After each task, ask participants for input on what went well and what didn't.
I also considered Google’s HEART framework success metrics to evaluate the app solution.
84% of participants said they would feel comfortable posting questions.
72% of participants said the app would lead to connecting and engaging with other users beyond a one-time interaction.
88% of participants said they would register for the app.
68% of participants said they would use this app on a daily basis.
92% of participants said completing in-app tasks was easy to understand.
HAPPINESS 😊
ENGAGEMENT 💬
ADOPTION ➕
RETENTION 🧲
TASK SUCCESS 🏆
REFLECTION
Going through the process of my first solo case study was a learning process. I was able to utilize UX design methods and techniques that I have learned through my coursework and past projects, but I was unsure of where to start and initially felt underprepared due to my lack of experience. Because the struggles of students are quite general and vast, I had to spend a considerable amount of time going through the ideation process to figure out which features to prioritize. I also found myself focusing too much on the design aspect at times rather than the system structure. To improve on this, I'd like to set up a component system to make prototyping and a consistent UI more efficient.
I hope that I may apply these lesson in order to improve my design skills and design with greater clarity and efficiency.