HCD Final Project: Information Accessibility @ UC Berkeley Student Org Space
The Problem
At the beginning of every semester, a few experiences are universal for the average Berkeley student. We can probably all relate to some aspect of the grueling experience of being bombarded with flyers on Upper Sproul, facing decision paralysis about what infosessions to attend to explore your varied interests, faced with an assortment of 'Why XYZ club?' in lengthy applications, filling your bCal with coffee chats... you get it.
From user surveys:
- 73.7% our of 19 responders reported facing difficulty with accessing information about student organizations.
From user interviews:
- Students hesitate to download another app, considering the amount of different apps required when first coming to Cal
- Need for a unified platform
After conducting preliminary user research to scope out the problem space, we crafted a problem statement:
How might we enhance the experience of finding clear information about Berkeley student organizations?
Insights from User Research
Key insights that we took away from our surveying and interview process:
1. Instagram seems to be the most utilized information source.
2. Majority faced challenges with club recruitment and finding information
3. Event dates are hard to keep track because clubs use many platforms
- Calendar is a highy desired feature
2. Majority faced challenges with club recruitment and finding information
3. Event dates are hard to keep track because clubs use many platforms
- Calendar is a highy desired feature
User Persona
Low-Fidelity Prototype
One of my first ideas was an all-in-one announcement board, which is a platform that ideally integrates with one of the current popular platforms for club recruitment information. It would be an accessible way to browse different student organizations and visualize their deadlines, announcements, and links.
However, because many of the students we conducted user research on reported not using CalLink frequently, and prefer tools like Instagram or Facebook, the actual practicality of this idea might not be very high.
Mid-Fidelity Prototype
This prototype, although not functional, is to convey the concept of integrating a social calendar within the Instagram app, accessible through one of the perimeter icons on the bottom bar and would include functionality to be able to add social events a user is interested in from different accounts (such as student organization accounts) to you personal calendar.
Opening the announcement bubble would link to a post from an account advertising a specific event, and would be an in-app interaction.
Insights from Usability Testing
From conducting usability testing to assess the accessibility of my mid-fidelity prototype, I discovered a few key insights:
1. Users prefer integration into commonly frequented platforms such as Instagram, but value consistency and dislike disruption to habitual user flow. It is important that features do not impede on existing functions.
2. Calendars are valuable in visualizing social events and are frequently used among the user demographic, and a seamless integration to personal calendar such as Google Calendar is helpful.
Final Prototype
