CIRC
RESEARCH | USER EXPERIENCE DESIGN
A mobile application that provides a way where new university students can browse, search and propose student organizations.
OVERVIEW
Connecting and getting involved with school culture is one of the biggest anxieties of new students, especially in a college setting. For them, it is a time of new beginnings, developing their passions and forming new friendships. Circ is a mobile application that enables new and current students to navigate and create student organizations based on their specific universities, without hassle and on the go.
TASK —
To provide a well thought and empathetic experience for incoming university students to browse, search and propose new student organizations.
DURATION —
Conceptualize and create an application with a strict 7 day deadline.
ENGAGEDU
EngageDU is my university's (Dominican University) personalized student organization navigation website. This website includes the different events that the university clubs are hosting as well as the different organizations. There is a filter option to select the categories of which club a user wants to see, and the clubs are sorted by alphabetical order.
SOKAP
Sokap is a mobile application based in Europe. It lists all of the types of clubs a school has according to the specific university that the user chooses from a list, during the onboarding process. The landing page provides an aesthetic way to group each club by type. Once a user chooses the type of club, the user is redirected to a list of clubs given in alphabetical sort.
COMPETITIVE ANALYSIS
After planning out my project based on my given timeline, I researched the different sources that also provide students with the experience of searching, browsing and creating new organizations. Some of my troubles came from not being able to find general applications for college students, and not having the security requirements for specific college sites. EngageDU and Sokap were the two applications that resonated with what my vision was for Circ.
EMPATHY + EMOTIONS
A product that brings comfort in the ways students can collaborate.
SECURITY
A flow that takes into account security of students.
ACCESSIBILITY
Simple and informative way to create a great overall experience.
TARGET AUDIENCE
University students within the demographics of:
Incoming students + recruitment team
Freshman students
Club organizers
JOURNEY MAP
TASK FLOW
PRODUCT SOLUTIONS ↓
Based on my observations on different applications that do the same job as Circ as well as user interview/survey results, I consolidated the current problems into three main points —
SECURITY
Circ is only accessible through your school email address with an (.)edu domain. This is to ensure safety of the students and that someone random will not be able to access.
The university has to be partnered with Circ, in order for the email addresses to be synced up and accessible.
CONCLUSION
This challenge reminded me of my love for user research and creating personas/boards/task flows! It's always a challenging and interesting task to design an experience that really takes into account the emotions of the users and audience.
If I could do something different, I would implement user testing. Testing is such an important part of the design process as a whole, to really ensure that the system is a human-centered one. Due to the time constraint, I wasn't able to include that.
Overall, this project quickly turned into a meaningful experience- being a student myself.
HIGH FIDELITY WIREFRAMES
ACCESSIBILITY
Circ portrays accessibility is through its quick add feature. When browsing through the club list, you can quick add through the (+) on the top right corner and it will automatically add to your club list.
INCOMING FRESHMAN
ESTHER KALU
SCARED, ANXIOUS, NERVOUS
Esther Kalu is a bright young woman who will be studying English and minoring in History at a majority arts college. She chose this school because it was close to home and gave her a generous scholarship. All her life, she's been comfortable in her own home. Now college is approaching, she's scared about the dangers she's heard in the "real world" especially in the big city.
Esther is an introvert who loves building strong connections and sharing values with others once she gets to know them. She doubts that she'll find her group of friends right away. Once you get to know her, you'll see that she's passionate, opinionated and creative!
Reading is her hobby, but she loves her informational mobile apps more than social media
SOCIAL ANXIETY, EXCITED OVERALL
Joshua Maghirang is a new student at an overwhelmingly huge school. Coming from a small, 100 student populated high school from Southern California, this is a change! He has mixed emotions of nervousness but is mostly excited for new beginnings. He's ready for a new adventure and excited to find his group of friends and study his passion.
Joshua uses social media on the daily and advocates or AAPIA rights through these mediums.
FRESHMAN
JOSHUA MAGHIRANG
SECURITY
Circ disables students to create
random clubs out of nowhere. Circ also work together with the university student involvement office, to filter out which clubs are real, fake, or disrespectful. Once the school's student involvement office approves the petition, the student will get a notification and an email.
LUPITA COSIO | FRESHMAN
FIRST IN THE FAMILY MEMBER
INSIGHTS
WHAT DO YOU LOOK FOR IN A COLLEGE?
I look for a safe campus where I feel comfortable walking around and secure.
HOW DO YOU FEEL ABOUT ENGAGEDU?
EngageDU is really helpful in ways where you can see events and register for them. But there's not much to do with the clubs section. I also want to make a club, but I don't know what I have to do, so I'm running around all the time.
HOW DID YOU FEEL ABOUT GOING INTO COLLEGE?
Honestly, scared to interact with new people.
BEA PENAREDONDO | SOPHOMORE
FASHION CLUB SECRETARY
INSIGHTS
WHAT DO YOU LOOK FOR IN A COLLEGE?
The different majors, activities, clubs and distance from home!
HOW DO YOU FEEL ABOUT ENGAGEDU?
It's alright and self explanatory. As an org president, It's been easy to upload photos and put events. But it would be cool to have an app on my phone to update faster.
HOW DID YOU FEEL ABOUT GOING INTO COLLEGE?
Nervous and stressed!
GIAN CHO | FRESHMAN
GRAPHIC DESIGN CLUB
INSIGHTS
WHAT DO YOU LOOK FOR IN A COLLEGE?
Somewhere that feels like home but also brings new experiences and opportunities to me.
HOW DO YOU FEEL ABOUT ENGAGEDU?
I recently started using it and so far, it has been easy to navigate and get involved in. The only problem is that it feels somewhat limited in terms of accessibility.
HOW DID YOU FEEL ABOUT GOING INTO COLLEGE?
Quite excited to further my education but unsure about my major!
INTERVIEWS AND INSIGHT ↓
SCARED ABOUT SAFETY ON A NEW CAMPUS
NERVOUS ABOUT MAKING NEW FRIENDS
ANXIOUS ABOUT FINDING A GROUP THAT FITS THEIR PERSONALITY
EMOTIONAL FEEDBACK AND CONCERNS ↓
PROBLEM —
Every university has their own requirements, documentation and meetings to consider before creating a club. This process can be long and drawn out. Most times, the student does not have as much guidance or is running around all over the place to figure out the next step.
SOLUTION —
Circ makes it easier for students because all the documentation is in one area of the app which is accessible anywhere they go. It's as simple as signing up for a club, singing a petition for a future club you believe in, and sending in your application/proposing a new club to get approved.
PERSONAS
JOSHUA MAGHIRANG
SCENARIO FOR: ACCESSIBILITY + SECURITY
It's the third week of school and Joshua has been to most of the club fairs on the quad, but not once has he found one that he is truly passionate in. He wants to create an Advocate for AAPIA association, but since Berkley is a huge school, he does not know where to begin to even propose a club or see who's interested.
Finally, he remembers his orientation leader mentioning Circ, and goes on the app to find what he's looking for.
He opens Circ, clicks on the Create feature at the bottom of the page and follows the steps: reads requirements, sign petitions, and continues on to create and propose Advocate for AAPIA association. In a matter of one week, Joshua got 60 signatures and created his first association! How fast and easy!
EMOTIONS
Photos, likes and comments enable students to collaborate with each other, pertaining to one's emotions. New students will see the community and involvement, and feel at ease and wanting to join in.
The university has to be partnered with Circ, in order for the email addresses to be synced up and accessible.
After a student joins a club and the messaging feature is activated, the group messaging feature is activated. This is where group members can collaborate and plan together as a group.
Human connection, community and accessibility are what drives individuals to not only participate but to stay and enjoy.
