WayIn
WayIn promotes interdisciplinary networking for undergraduate students. Users can build strong peer and faculty networks to strengthen their resources.
Duration: October 2020 - December 2020
Background
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I conducted UX research for University of Michigan, where I interviewed administration, communications directors, and surveyed the student body in efforts to strengthen department communities and school-to-school collaboration.
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Jump Ahead
Problem
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Students struggle to find mentors and peers who share similar academic interests.
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Students aren't informed about majors and career paths early enough
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Inequitable networking experiences for students
Goals
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Help students discover what they want to study and navigate departments
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Strengthen community
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Build meaningful relationships between mentees, mentors, and peers
Project Idea
Make a social platform where users can discover individuals with similar academic interests in order to facilitate academic relationships. This platform should help students discover majors and career paths.
Market Research
University department sites, Facebook, and Linkedin
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Pain points
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Not conducive of casual conversation between students and professors
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cannot find individuals based on skills or fields on interest
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Groups do not include all students
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each site is organized differently, which creates confusion among students from other schools
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often does not have contact information for faculty
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Faculty cannot find student information and cannot indicate their interest in finding prospective mentees
Research
I interviewed peers, graduate students, and professors. Here are my key findings.
Questions I considered
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How do students discover career opportunities?
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How do students find career opportunities outside of their own school?
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What are common blockers that prevent undergraduate students from making connections with professors?
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Do students wish they could learn more about their field of interest?
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Do students have a space where they openly share school-specific opportunities and career events?
Key Findings
63% of students wished they were more informed when they declared their major
Most students reported that they discovered their majors through parents or peer recommendations. Many feel paralyzed by information overload and end up switching majors mid-way. Students with limited peer networks or limited early exposure to diverse career paths have a disadvantage.
Strong internal communities elevate both students and faculty.
It is helpful for students to see what classes their peers are taking or what important career fairs are coming up. Students and faculty benefit from sharing a platform where they can find opportunities, get feedback, and keep up with important information outside of class.
Intimidation stands in the way of collaboration with superiors.
Students struggle with approaching professors due to intimidation and lack of communication transparency. Among undergraduate students, graduate students, and professors, it is difficult to find people’s names, fields of study, and contact information.
User Types
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Mentor and Mentee Manatees
Undergrads, grads and professors will be represented with a user type system with the icons and colors below. These help individuals interact with the diverse user groups in WayIn.
Undergraduate Student
Graduate Student
Faculty
Personas
Solution
Students can discover like-minded peers and professors to form more diverse academic relationships
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Users can interact with their network of peers, mentors, and mentees alike.
Site Map
Usability Testing
I divided my usability testing into 3 rounds:
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Low-fidelity wireframe to test for structure
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Med-fidelity prototype for content
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High-fidelity prototype for visual experience
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For this case study, I'll be focusing on the journey of users finding peers and mentors with similar interests.
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Low Fidelity Structure Assessment
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I asked 5 students from different schools, geographical locations, and seniority to click through a wireframe prototype and complete a few networking tasks.
My goals were to discover trait patterns that user work for and learn what prevents people form making connections. ​
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From this round of testing, I found that categories needed to be simplified. Users should be able to find connections and be as specific or broad as they want to be.
We needed to cut down on trait-selection time and make the people filtering journey more scalable.
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Med-Fidelity Content Assessment
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Now that I got my networking structure figured out, it was time for me to test the components and layout interactions.
I asked the same group to come back for another click-through assessment. I found that the advanced filtering options for the people finder journey were too complicated and time consuming for the average user.
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So, I tested a simpler version of the app, and found that version 1.2 on the right was more efficient and effective for a variety of users. While improvements of the content feedback were great, users reported a certain brand impression by the visual design of the interface. They weren't quite sure who this app was for.
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With all this feedback in mind, I knew I had to create an environment that felt uniquely to the college campus appeal without being too adolescent.
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High-Fidelity Visual Assessment
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I tested 3 different visual design identities of the app in a variety of color and illustration assets and asked users how they felt about each one. My feedback for this screen was that V1 on the left was more formal and the v3 on the right really felt like it was for students.​​
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Another compelling insight from my user feedback was that the profiles of users, needed to be focused on their academic info, rather than their face. While this is a social app, the users are interested in finding their academic buddies and therefore the profiles should be more reflective of their titles and less of their headshot.
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Users were much more interested in the people’s titles and related info than how they looked, so v2 and 3 were preferred.
User Testing Takeaways
The presence of my colorful ui elements, visual assets, and supportive copy made for a digital experience that promoted campus socialization.
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I was surprised to learn how much the manatee character influenced the users perception of the app. After understanding that the character has a supportive role their journey, users really appreciated the friend.
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When asked who they would want to connect with, students reported that they would want to meet friends and mentors on the V3 design compared to the V1, where they said they wouldn't form friendships on the platform.
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When asked to draft a message to someone on the app, the users writing tone became more relaxed, and the time it took them to draft messages was shorter. Users said they were more comfortable reaching out in a casual way.
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One user noted that the visual assets and styling of the latest interface felt like if Linkedin was made for student clubs.
