- Quantitative and Qualitative analysis of primary research data
- Rapid ideation to come up with potential solutions.
- Lo-Fi and Mid-Fi prototyping.
- Analysis of usability test data.
Kshitij Anand, Yunzhuo (Sabrina ) Ma, Kendra Dizon, Rebecca Chiu, Julia Rose Horn
U of T Student Life - Innovation Hub
Figma,Figjam, Canva
There are over 1000 clubs and student organizations at the University of Toronto, which can make it challenging for students to find relevant information about them. This can lead to a lack of satisfaction with the clubs and missed opportunities for students to gain professional skills.
Clubhouse is a mobile app for University of Toronto students to find extracurricular clubs that align with their interests and provide opportunities to develop new skills. It allows students to explore different clubs and expand their professional network, helping them prepare for the future.
000 : Background + Design Process
What the existing product/service fails to address is the lack of helpful information, clubs not meeting expectations, and students not seeing clubs as professionally advantageous. Our project will address this gap by offering sufficient information about club events and opportunities, connecting students with current members, and recognizing club experiences to promote professional skills.
Our initial focus will be on providing U of T students’ access to information, opportunities to strengthen connections, and professional skills needed after graduation.
001 : Secondary Research
Findings FROM RESEARCH
We conducted a thorough investigation of the issue by reviewing a range of sources including articles and forum discussions. This allowed us to gain a deep understanding of the existing solutions and their strengths and limitations. We also considered the reasoning behind these solutions.
002 : Primary Research
ASSESSMENT OF DATA
As part of our primary research, we collected 36 valid survey responses and conducted interviews with 5 students on campus. I was responsible for organizing and analyzing the survey data. To identify trends and patterns in the qualitative data, the team used affinity diagrams.
INSIGHTS FROM 36 RESPONDENTS
We used an google forms to distribute the questionnaire to a diverse sample of participants. The survey consisted of a combination of multiple-choice, open-ended and rating scale questions.
50%
11%
67%
THEMES DEDUCED FROM THE INTERVIEWS
To conduct thematic analysis, we first collected data from user interviews. The data was then transcribed and coded to identify common themes and patterns. We then grouped similar responses together and began to assign them to broader categories.
Most of the students found information about clubs from social media and through their friends .
Students feel limited and outdated information is the major barrier while searching for info about the clubs .
Students joined clubs to learn new skills and network with people that would ultimately help them after they graduate .
003 : Creating Empathy
MEET HANNAH !
She is a humanities student who is dedicated to full-time studies and is seeking ways to enhance her professional abilities beyond the classroom. Creating a persona helped us to better understand the perspective and needs of our representative users.
EMPATHISING
To gain insight into how users may respond to different situations, we created an empathy map to document their thoughts, feelings, actions, and words throughout the process. This allowed us to understand their perspective and identify potential areas of concern or need.
004 : As-is Scenario
By mapping out the user's journey through the problem scenario chronologically, we were able to identify opportunities for improvement through an anonymous voting session. Each team member was given a set number of votes to allocate to the pain points that they considered to be most significant and impactful. This allowed us to prioritize areas for improvement.
005 : Needs Statements
BRAINSTORMING ideas
To avoid group think and encourage diverse perspectives, each team member individually analyzed the identified pain points and identified potential solutions (action-benefit pairs). This helped us arrive at unique and well-rounded solutions, while also maintaining a healthy team dynamic.
POTENTIAL SOLUTIONS
Once we had identified potential solutions, we held a discussion to refine them and develop "needs statements" that effectively captured the core needs of the user. These statements served as the basis for our design process, guiding our decision-making and helping us stay focused on meeting the needs of the user.
Hannah needs a way to find info about clubs easily so that she can ensure the club aligns with her interests.
Hannah needs a way to gain professional experience so that she can be prepared for her post grad life .
Hannah needs a way to remain connected with the club members after the end of the term so that she can have long term connection with the people who share same interest.
006 : Big Ideas + Prioritization
GENERATING THE IDEA
During this phase of the process, the team focused on generating as many ideas as possible within a set time frame, without worrying about feasibility or impact. The goal was to generate a large quantity of ideas, rather than focusing on the quality or practicality of each one.
Voting for the IDEAS
After presenting all the ideas, team members anonymously voted on the feasibility and potential impact of each cluster of ideas. This helped us to prioritize and focus on the most promising concepts.
prioritization grid
To help us compare and evaluate the different clusters of ideas, we plotted them on a prioritization grid based on the number of votes they received. This allowed us to easily visualize the relative importance and potential of each concept and made it easier to select the ideas that we wanted to pursue further.
007 : To-be Scenario
AIM
We visualized the journey of our persona as they sought to find and join a club, in order to anticipate and address any potential challenges or needs they may have in the future. This helped us design solutions that would enhance the user experience.
Purpose
In order to address all the identified opportunities and pain points, we created a "to-be" scenario that incorporated solutions to these issues. This helped us ensure that we had thoroughly addressed all relevant concerns and developed comprehensive solutions.
008 : Team Structure
HILLS
To guide our design process, we developed human-centered statements of intent based on the "Who, What, Wow" framework. These statements defined the scope and desired outcomes for the project, and provided a shared understanding for the entire team to work towards.
Hannah the UofT student can use a club matching system to find new clubs they weren’t aware of .
Hannah the UofT student can can get insight on club expectations to join without surprises.
Hannah the UofT student can can build connections and professional skills outside of the classroom that go beyond the club term.
009 : Storyboarding
AIM
To visualize the persona's actions step by step as they move through the tasks.
PROCess
Members of the team collaborated in pairs to flesh out implementations of the big ideas through low-fi screens. Iterating through this process as a team, we were able to visualize the flow of the app alongside inputs required from the user and their expectations for the output at each screen.
NARRATIVE
Describing the actions of our persona throughout the storyboard provides a detailed structure for the envisioned scenario.
010 : Lo-Fi Prototype + Lean Evaluation
LO-FI PROTOTYPE
We created a low-fidelity clickable prototype using Figma and conducted formative guerrilla testing with the prototype to identify any surface-level usability issues. Team members used the prototype to simulate the user experience and identify areas for improvement.
GUERRILLA TESTING
Four University of Toronto students aged 23-36 were recruited for our project. They were asked to complete three tasks that were aligned with our goals and to speak their thoughts aloud as they completed the tasks. By doing this, we were able to gain valuable insights into their thought process and identify areas where improvements could be made.
ISSUES IDENTIFIED
- Too Much Information : 4/4 participants said that the club profile page was too "busy" .
- Labelling : 3/4 Participants found the ”Connect” button to message members was unclear
- Cognitive Load : 4/4 participants found the pop up screen after matching with the clubs frustrating .
Changes made
The club's profile page had too much information, causing confusion for users.
To improve the usability of the club's profile page, the number of buttons was reduced to make it easier for users to find the information they are looking for.
The participants expressed frustration with the pop-up screen, indicating a negative experience issue with it.
To resolve user frustration, the pop-up screen was removed to allow users to continue the club matching process uninterrupted.
011 : Mid-Fi Prototype + Summative Evaluation
MID-FI PROTOTYPE
I used Figma to create a clickable prototype of the app that mimicked the appearance and functionality of a real product. The prototype included accurate layout, fonts, and functional images and was used for a second round of evaluation. The user was asked to interact with the prototype to complete various tasks. As our understanding of usability principles grew, we made minor adjustments to the prototype accordingly.
Usability testing
For the next round of iterations I decided to carry out evaluations using the following two methods :
Usability Test + Think Aloud
Semi-Structured Interview
012 : Next Steps
CONDUCT MORE USER RESEARCH
Conduct more user research to gather a more diverse set ofperspectives and identify other pain points or needs that have been missed.
New Persona for Club Managers
Investigate into needs from the club admins perspective. Provide data for clubs, help them promote events and recruite new members.
Incorporating gamification
Incorporating gamification elements into the platform to motivate studentsto explore and engage with clubs.
013 : Learnings
Storytelling Enables Better User Experiences
During our twice-weekly presentations, where we had to create interesting stories for the audience, I learned the power of storytelling. Through this process, I discovered the power of storytelling to engage a crowd and enable them to comprehend and empathise with the challenges and problems faced by users. I was able to clearly communicate the problem, the solution, and the design decisions throughout the design process thanks to this ability.
ITERATION IS AN IMPORTANT PART OF DESIGN
Do not fall in love with the first solution you come up with, keep iterating. Sketch out even the ideas you think are unusual/odd. Sometimes unusual ideas can inspire you to come up with ideas for the final product.
Good Teamwork is essential in any project
Our team was composed of 5 novice UX designers, each with diverse educational and professional backgrounds. As we were all working together for the first time, we encountered obstacles in utilizing the varied abilities and work methods of our team members. By establishing clear expectations for each task, we were able to coordinate our strengths and improve as a team.
