Club Day Roadmap
PRODUCT DESIGN
Keywords: Event planning, orientation, student organizations.
GOAL
To design an
an experience for freshman college students to discover clubs and orientation events on campus.
MY ROLE
︎ Research & Persona
︎ Ideate
︎ Userflow & Wireframes
︎ Mockups & Prototype
RESEARCHTarget User
Freshman undergraduate students entering college at the beginning of a school year:
I chose freshman undergraduates, because they would likely need the most help from orientations. While not the primary target, transfer students can also be potential users.
To understand the existing problem space and key challenges involved, I asked a few friends around me to share their experiences about how they discover, join, or create student organizations.
Lacking of/unaware of online platforms that agglomerate different campus clubs
Navigating around a large number of student organizations to:
ONLINE PLATFORM
Important alternative for those who can’t make it to orientations, or for those who prefer not to be physically present in a large crowd.
LARGE NUMBER OF CLUBS
There are usually a lot of student organizations serving different interests/student bodies. The concern is too many clubs, not too few.
SCHEDULE PLANNING
Some feedbacks expressed the importance of attending club welcome events/info sessions on campus, and some experienced not being able to join certain clubs due to absences in their events.
Target User
Freshman undergraduate students entering college at the beginning of a school year:
-
Around the age of 17-20
-
With little to no prior knowledge about student organizations and campus life
- Open and excited to explore new student organizations
I chose freshman undergraduates, because they would likely need the most help from orientations. While not the primary target, transfer students can also be potential users.
Interviews
To understand the existing problem space and key challenges involved, I asked a few friends around me to share their experiences about how they discover, join, or create student organizations.
Identifying Pain Points
Lacking of/unaware of online platforms that agglomerate different campus clubs
-
Limited reach on social media without proper connections/significant effort
Navigating around a large number of student organizations to:
-
Find specific clubs they’re already interested in
-
Shop around potential clubs of their interest
Strategically plan around schedules to attend mandatory/optional club events
Key Insights for Design Decisions
ONLINE PLATFORM
Important alternative for those who can’t make it to orientations, or for those who prefer not to be physically present in a large crowd.
LARGE NUMBER OF CLUBS
There are usually a lot of student organizations serving different interests/student bodies. The concern is too many clubs, not too few.
SCHEDULE PLANNING
Some feedbacks expressed the importance of attending club welcome events/info sessions on campus, and some experienced not being able to join certain clubs due to absences in their events.
IDEATION
Existing Solution: School Website
The University maintains a
website that aims to collect and
present information about all
on-campus groups.
This is usually where new students will be directed to during their orientation, and is the most “official source” of information on clubs.
This is usually where new students will be directed to during their orientation, and is the most “official source” of information on clubs.
Problem: Information overload and poor organization.
There are 1275 Organizations in 37 Categories.
I tried to look for a design club that I’m involved in - it’s listed under “Government Programs”, instead of “Arts Student Organizations”.
Existing Solution: Facebook
Clubs have dedicated Facebook Pages and Events for their organization. Facebook events and profile posts also boost and advertise student organizations.
There are 1275 Organizations in 37 Categories.
I tried to look for a design club that I’m involved in - it’s listed under “Government Programs”, instead of “Arts Student Organizations”.
Existing Solution: Facebook
Clubs have dedicated Facebook Pages and Events for their organization. Facebook events and profile posts also boost and advertise student organizations.
Problem: You have to know what you’re looking for, or have the right person in your network to be able to have easy access to these information.
Students have attempted to build solutions to mitigate the problems. This is a student-built web game to help navigate around club day/orientation:
Existing Solution: Student Efforts
Students have attempted to build solutions to mitigate the problems. This is a student-built web game to help navigate around club day/orientation:
Problem: They are temporary and short-termed.
This web game is no longer running live on the internet.
Tumblr is a social media platform popular amongst young people. Its intuitive onboarding process helps people discover and sort through their interests.
This web game is no longer running live on the internet.
Inspiration: Tumblr onboarding
Tumblr is a social media platform popular amongst young people. Its intuitive onboarding process helps people discover and sort through their interests.
Brainstorm & Criteria
To decide on which idea to proceed with to further build and test, I set up a few criteria for judging, given realistic constraints and limitations in this exercise:
Feasibility: Easy to build and test.
Accessibility: Independent from student’s existing social networks.
Clear Organization: Intuitive for people to use and sort through.
Based on the criteria above, I’ve decided to try and build out the idea of having an official web app for club day events.
Club Day Roadmap
Feasible: This would be a simple website with few screens involved.
Accessible: This can be incorporated onto the official website/distributed as a link.
Clear Organization: Information arranged intuitively, inspired by Tumblr
DESIGN
User Flow
Some important functions and features include:
- Browse clubs based on interests indicated
- View club events
- Create schedule based on club events selected
Sketches
I sketched out a few screens of this Roadmap web app, which will have the following main functions:
- Browse different student organizations on campus based on selected interests
- Display basic information clubs based on indicated interests
- Select areas of interest based on categories
- Browse relevant club events and add to calendar
Wireframes
Mockups
I designed higher fidelity mock-ups for 3 key screens to highlight what the product looks like. For the visuals, I utilized bright, high contrast colors to create a light-hearted, playful atmosphere.
Searching
Browsing
