Indiana & U
Overview
Indiana & U is a student-centered, interactive platform that supports students from every walk of life to connect to their campus and peers. I&U can be thought of as a gamified version of campus, accessible from your desktop or laptop anywhere in the world.
Students create avatars that they use to interact with the virtual campus and those around them. They can meet others that have similar interests, join virtual job fairs, or enjoy some downtime in a virtual meditation room. With user- and faculty-created rooms, events, and forums the possibilities are endless!
Our Process
1
Problem Statement
Competitor Analysis
User Survey
2
Personas
Requirements
3
Idea 1: Desktop
User Flow
Idea 2: Mobile
4
Paper Prototype
+User Testing
Mid-Fidelity Prototype
5
Test Results
Recommendations
Research
Because of the complex nature of this problem, we conducted various primary and secondary research in order to determine the best direction for our application
What was the problem?
Students may not be accustomed to the fast-paced, professional environment of college
Competitor Analysis
In order to better understand the current market of virtually accessible spaces, we decided to find different applications that envisioned how our product would operate. We researched half a dozen similar applications, and I conducted a SWOT analysis on four of them.
These applications provide elements of what we were envisioning, but we were unable to find any products that provide everything in one place, and were designed with the college student experience in mind.
Our envisioned product bridges the gap between existing tools that support aspects of student life and resources tailored to college students' specific needs.
User Survey
Following our identification of the problem space, we conducted a survey of 11 individuals aged 19-30, which were undergraduate college students. We explored ways in which they currently connect with their campus as well as how they take mental breaks and connect with others. The survey consisted of multiple short response questions through Google Forms, which were then analyzed to identify similarities and trends among our users.
Synthesis
Personas
Using this data, we created two personas to create empathy and guide our design decisions.
Requirements
We synthesized our findings into actionable steps to guide the direction of our application.
Ideation
Following our requirements, decided to design two different interaction systems that could adequately meet these requirements and solve our problem space.
System 1: Desktop Application
The first system was designed as a desktop application, integrated into One.IU, which is the main student hub for IU students. Our application contains social elements like a friends list and forum, connects users with campus news and a map, and offers virtual spaces for events and interactions, such as a meditation room.
User Flow
A storyboard for the desktop version of the application
Our second system integrates both a smartphone application and smartwatch application. These serve as more convenient solutions for students on the go.
Smartphone Application
Smartwatch Application
Storyboard for watch prototype
Prototyping
Paper Prototype
Following our decision on our system design, we created and tested a paper prototype. We executed these steps to ensure a comprehensive validation of our system design and to guarantee a seamless transition from the theoretical concept to a practical implementation.
User Testing - Paper Prototype
Convenience sampling was used to collect qualitative feedback from the target demographic for the I&U project.
Participants were presented with a prototype in a slide deck format and encouraged to provide feedback while a team member guided the observation.
The findings were categorized into 'General' and 'Screen-Specific' categories, leading to four key recommendations for the next iteration of the project.
I&U needs to integrate a way to add favorites, deepen interaction with friends, and edit privacy settings.
Consistent breadcrumbs and a back button should be used.
The calendar warrants its own tab, rather than being embedded within the notifications tab.
Scroll bars should be added once the screens are built out and contain more information.
Mid-Fidelity Prototype
Taking feedback from our prototypes into consideration and collaborating on our approach to the next iteration of I&U, we moved on to creating a dynamic prototype.
Key Features:
On first-time setup, users are prompted to create an account including entering personal information, a username, creating an avatar, and letting I&U know what they're interested in.
After account creation or upon subsequent logins, users are directed to the page above. It gives an overview of what's going on around campus and suggests clubs, forums, and friends they might be interested in.
In this tab, users can join recommended clubs or search for clubs or organizations that they are interested in. They can also view the clubs and organizations that they are a part of.
News
Here, users can view recent news articles related to IUPUI and other IU campuses.
Forums
An overview of the Forums page. Users can select from different categories of forums, such as "How To's", or access their favorited forums to interact with other students faster and easier.
Friends
The Friends tab has two different sections. The left section shows users' current friends, and the ability to view their profiles, while the right section shows people from your current classes that you can add as friends, as well as people near your current location that you can add as well.
Calendar
The Calendar shows a monthly calendar view for special events as well as users' class schedules. The bottom section shows important IU events that students might be interested in adding to their calendar.
Campus Map
The Campus Map is a bird's eye view of a user's current IU campus. In this image, it's IUPUI. Each building is labeled, and users can see where their friends are located from their avatars.
Testing
User Testing - Mid-Fidelity Prototype
After creating our dynamic prototype in Figma, we conducted user testing to gather feedback on improvements that need to be made in the next iteration of our design.
Results
Through our analysis, we were able to identify six common themes in the data.
1
90% of users were confused when finding a specific friend and forum
2
100% of users would like to search for and add friends and see a friend’s status and location
3
50% of users would like to customize their avatar and control it's visibility
4
50% of users had trouble navigating in the Campus Map section
5
100% of users had some confusion about how to access their badges
6
100% of users would like more features in the meditation room
Recommendations
Some key recommendations we should implement for the next iteration of the design, ordered from most to least important
View the full prototype!
Reflection
What worked?
Teamwork makes the dream work! Our team was very communicative during the entire process, allowing us to easily designate tasks to work on separately.
Our user research was solid. In the short time allotted for this project, we were able to conduct multiple usability sessions and a few iterations of the design.
We received extra credit for "Excellence in a Team Submission"! We were so proud to receive this honor.
What didn't work?
We were assigned to create designs for multiple devices, spreading our focus a bit thin. If this were a commercial product, we would have focused on two devices (desktop and phone) rather than a third, at least to start out.
Meet the Team!
Ashley Wilkeson
awilkeso@iu.edu
Amrita Datta
amdatta@iu.edu
Scott Shimala
sshimal@iu.edu
Michael Dukes
midukes@iu.edu
Joanna
Schweiger
joaschwe@iu.edu
