Orbit
Orbit is a mobile application designed to help Newcastle University students engage in clubs, societies and other events. The aim of this app to help students find and attend different events, which would facilitate social interactions outside of the app. The app also aims to eliminate the need for clubs/societies to have their own social media profiles, and provides a platform for promotion and communication with all students.
collaborators
Ankush Dogra, Cameron Taylor, Ren Nkomo
project duration
21 November 2022 → 20 January 2023
project type
Social Media Application
UX/UI
skills and tools
state of the art review
literature review
user interviews
usability testing
figma
miro
procreate
google workspace
challenge overview
We had several group discussions about how to approach the brief 'living well with data to enhance wellbeing'. We wanted to focus on current, contemporary issues that were directly affecting ourselves and the wider community.
Our initial focus was on the 'Cost of Living' crisis. We wanted to address this problem space to help individuals with their financial well-being - leading to the increase of other areas of well-being such as social and mental well-being.
We decided to design a product or service that would help with the Cost of Living for students. Our goal was to improve the financial stability of students which would result in increased personal and social well-being to focus on their studies and university life.
discovery
Background Research
After pinpointing our problem space and user group, we looked for specific areas where students were struggling.
"Russell Group says rise in hardship funding also needed as survey shows average maintenance loan falls £439 short each month." - The Guardian (Sep. 2022)
"The atmosphere in university house shares has become "more hostile" due to the rising cost of living, students in Wales have said." - BBC News (Nov. 2022)
"Others said they were not joining certain sports clubs because of costs." - BBC News (Nov. 2022)
"More than nine in 10 students (91%) who took part in the survey said they were worried about the cost of living, and 45% said their mental health had deteriorated as a result during the autumn term." - The Guardian (Nov. 2022)
"If you can't find where you belong, you can't find your friends through clubs and societies and things, you end up dropping out. It's a really tough situation," she said. - BBC News (Nov. 2022)
State-of-the-Art Review
Existing university sites and websites:
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Accessing information is easy
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Content hard to digest (lengthy pages of text)
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Non-specific information to individuals
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Clubs and societies use their own platforms (Instagram, Discord server, Facebook group)
User Interviews
Interviews were conducted with students to understand their university lives and experiences with university services.
Key Takeaways From Interviews
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Time - Students do not have enough time to commit to several societies alongside studies and other commitments
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Communication - Lack of communication prevents students from participating in events and activities
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Finance - With rising costs, students can’t afford to join clubs/societies
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Social - Students are worried about attending events alone and their sense of belonging
define
Concept Development
We used ideation cards to shape our discussions to begin our design. Originally, we wanted to create a platform that could be a one-stop solution for all of these issues. However, we quickly realised that there were too many issues to address.
We decided to design a smaller scaled solution - a university platform with easily accessible information.
Design Decisions
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Focus on social aspect rather than finance
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University-based social community application
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Facilitate social interactions outside of the application
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Students' financial problems need a larger-scaled intervention
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No overlap with existing university websites
We quickly realised that addressing students’ financial issues would be a bigger challenge than this project. Addressing financial issues would likely require a complete service re-design of the student finance system. Although our focus changed more to a social aspect, we tried to include features that could give some support for students struggling with financing.
User Persona & Scenario
Using the key findings from the background research and user interviews, I developed a user persona and scenario.
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develop
Each team member sketched some potential designs. These demonstrated various aspects of the design including homepages, search pages and profile pages.
We selected the key aspects of the application and created mock-ups in Figma. These low-fidelity wireframes show various pages, such as the homepage, a search page, and also a map function.
Following UX/UI principles, we wanted to create a consistent look and feel across each of the existing university websites and platforms. The colour scheme and typography were chosen to match the university colours and existing typefaces.
deliver
Usability Testing
After creating a high-fidelity prototype, we recruited participants for usability testing. Students were asked to complete simple tasks such as, find what event is running on Tuesday at 8pm, whilst following the Think Aloud method.
Key Takeaways from Usability Tests
👍🏼
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Good user interface
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Easy to find out about ongoing events
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Can find out about events in calendar
👎🏼
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Icons difficult to press
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Messages were difficult to find
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Search/Map functions were unclear
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Difficult to find out about user's course information in profile
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Submenu selections were confusing
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Broken transitions
Design Reiteration and Prototype Evaluation
Following the usability tests and feedback, the app was redesigned and evaluated against Jakob's Ten Usability Heuristics.
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Final Evaluation
Our goal was to address the identified issues and create a safe environment for students by making it accessible only through the university SharePoint login.
Design Solutions to Meet Design Goals
Time
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Students can attend events without commitment to clubs/societies
Communication
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One app for users to see all events and announcements
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Promotes new events and clubs that users may be interested in
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Students can ask questions directly to the committee
Finance
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Loyalty features can ease some of the financial worries
Social
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Students can chat to people attending before going to an event
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Event-specific chats which expire to encourage social interactions outside of the app
results and reflections
Project Successes 👏
The team were able to successfully present the design to our peers and received positive feedback on our concept and prototype. We were also able to complete a fully-functional prototype for our final design.
What I Learned 🌱
I am very thankful for this project as I was able to learn a lot as well as grow my existing skills. I learned a lot about Material Design and was able to learn a lot about Figma from my teammates. I developed my skills in using Procreate and the animation feature to create a meaningful logo and the storyboard. I was able to further develop my user researching skills through preparing the ethics and interviews. It was also my first time carrying out usability testing and allowed me to understand the importance of involving users in the design process.
Reflection 🪞
I was really proud of this project because as a team, we put a lot of effort into creating a high-fidelity prototype. Time permitting, it would have been useful to carry out more usability tests with our final prototype. It would also be invaluable to gain some perspectives from the students’ union and club/society committee members. In future work, the app could see more features being implemented, e.g. users can create their own events outside of clubs/societies. Newcastle University released their own Student Union app, promoting events, clubs, and societies, further suggesting that our problem space was one that needed addressing.