Brief

The project was to analyze the insufficiency of the current app called Boiler Gold Rush App, which is used for orientation week to support incoming students to check the schedule, get familiar with the campus and build relationships at Purdue University. After primary and secondary research, we found some issues from people who have used this app and participated in the activities, including the lack of social opportunities, incapability of maintaining the relationship, and poor design of some activities and in-app map guidance. As a result, our team improved information architecture and UIs, added a game feature to increase user engagement in activities.

My Role & Contributions

Conducted users research by interviewing freshman at Purdue University; discussed interview questions with teammate
Researched on AR technique and analyzed similar apps, such as My Disney Experience
Provided the game activity idea and structure; discussed with teammates with detailed information such as the questions design, layout and game rules
Developed user experience map based on primary and secondary research
Conducted two rounds of usability testing
Modified final design pages according to usability testing results

Duration

2 Weeks

Team

4 UX Designers

Secondary Research

The secondary research involved three parts of analysis: Boiler Gold Rush App, AR & Gamification and My Disney Experience App.

Boiler Gold Rush App

We analyzed the current app used in Purdue orientation week; therefore, we could find out our redesigned direction by understanding its advantages and disadvantages.

Advantages

Provides information about activities during each day (schedule, times, locations, generic information about event)
Ability to add event to your phone calendar
Provides information about academic programs. Sessions, and resources around Purdue

Disadvantages

Lack of help desk information, shuttle schedule
No social or interactive component

AR & Gamification

We thought the tourism can also be related to the concept of “orientation”. We found a paper, Mesároa, Peter. (2016), introducing the AR and gamification techniques using in this field, which helps tourists not only have better knowledge of the city and attractions’ history , but also improve engagement through different interaction. The app uses different navigation systems, such as live navigation, navigation map, guided car navigation, navigation index, and navigation comments, they allow tourists easily locate items and get direction, and deeply connect with environment. In addition, the app uses interaction application, such as social sharing function, collecting virtual objects. Our team got the ideas from this paper, and since there are many overlapping design thinking between tourism and the spirit of BGR orientation, we also wanted to apply these techniques to broaden the possibility of BGR app.

Reference: Mesároa, Peter. (2016). Use of Augmented Reality and Gamification techniques in tourism. E-review of Tourism Research, 2(1/2), 366-382.

My Disney Experience App

We analyzed the popular app, Disney Experience, which gives us a direction of designing an app combining multiple functions. In Disney Experience, users can first use website to see the events and do the planning, including adding events to their schedule, adding accompanies and let them get the same information as you. Besides, it allows users to download the app and login to see everything they saved before. The app shows clear map which allow users to see where and how they can go and look at, and the app will help navigation. Also, users will know the waiting time in advance to decide whether they want to go to the attractions. Our team got the ideas from this app that we could design a map to show all events scheduled before, and users can switch the screen between map and the list.

Primary Research

We interviewed 6 people, five of them were freshmen, and one of them was a BGR coordinator. We learned from the BGR coordinator that the purposes of the BGR app and activities in orientation week are to provide reminders, help students gain basic knowledge of academic and social resources, and build connections with others in different departments. However, the challenges involved incapability of customizing activities for different students and diversities of apps used to report attendance, manage teams and collect feedback. On the other hand, freshmen stated that schedules and information were unclear in the BGR app. Moreover, the map provided in the app did not properly guide students. Regarding the activities, although they help familiarize the campus resources and history, students reported that the team-building activities were not engaging, the schedule was intense, and teammates lost interaction chance after orientation week.

Affinity Diagramming

After we collected the data from freshman students and the BGR faculty member, we tried to use affinity diagramming to organize and find common themes from both perspectives. A brief summary was that the app needs to improve information hierarchy and interactivity.

Persona

User Experience Map

Ideation & Sketches

Proposed Solutions

Facilitate communication between BGR freshmen

Design new features in the app to increase interaction opportunities. For example, friends’ adding and chatting features, which can also be utilized in a game.

Assist in following the schedule & navigating the campus

A proper schedule and guidance are needed for students. For example, a daily schedule and events check with a list and a map, and reminders customization.

Motivate students to participate in activities and events

Provide some incentives or design new activities to improve user engagement. For example, design a medal collection game used in orientation week.

Mid-fidelity Prototype & Usability Testing

Eight participants were recruited in the two rounds of usability testing. Our team used Invision to create a digital version of the prototype to collect feedback from them. Participants were asked to follow a think-aloud procedure during the testing process. Several main issues were identified, which were unclear navigation, insufficient instructions, and poor readability and legibility.

Final Design

Personalized Profile

Students are able to use hobbies options to personalize their profile in addition to find friends with similar interests from the profile.

Personalized Schedule

Students are easy to navigation and keep tack of upcoming activities through a list mode and a map mode. In addition, they can use a heart icon to remember their interested and favorite activities.

Team-Building Activity

Similar to a treasure hunt game, students can join this medal collection activity to increase interaction with teammates as well as be familiarized with the campus.