Key Strategic Goals
Foster a more communal and enjoyable time for students at General Assembly by:
Conducting user interviews to gain insights and trends.
Creating a prototype that syncs with the user’s calendar to remind students of upcoming social events.
The Design Process - GA Social & The Double Diamonds
1. RESEARCH
I conducted User Interviews with 5 General Assembly (GA) students to gain a better understanding of the problem space. According to a majority of the interviewees, prior commitments including family and GA assignments hindered socialization.
2. SYNTHESIZE
I synthesized the data into an Affinity Map, which later informed me of the Persona I crafted. In addition, during this stage, I created a Problem Statement, given all the user feedback.
3. IDEATE
With a better sense of direction, I sketched out low-fidelity and then mid-fidelity wireframes. I made sure to include features that my users desired like alert systems on a phone’s calendar application.
4. IMPLEMENTATION
With both a low-fidelity and mid-fidelity wireframes complete, I then proceeded to work on a working prototype. With a tangible product in hand, I tested the prototype with 4 new users. Given the testing, 4/4 users found the mobile application easy to navigate. In addition, 4/4 users found the application both useful and usable.
Research/Synthesize
Affinity Map
Persona
Problem Statement
When User Experience Design Immersive students were interviewed, they identified time constraints as a hindrance to socializing at GA. Matthew has too heavy of a workload at GA to socialize.
How might we help him enjoy a more active social life while at GA during the next 10 weeks?
Ideate
Wireframes
Implement
HIGH-FIDELITY SCREENS
My eventual problem statement framed the social issue at GA as one that could be solved with proper time management tools. Namely, a feature that would alert a user of a social event anywhere from a week to 30 minutes in advance of the looming date.
As someone who has had the experience of missing out on scheduled social outings due to forgetting the date until the day of, the alert/reminder feature on a calendar seemed like an intuitive fix. Giving me a week’s or three days’ notice of a classmate’s birthday party not only raises the stakes of the quality of gift I have to give, but also essentially ensures that I would not overbook or forget that date.