Laurier Connect App

An application designed for Laurier students to make new connections.

Project Overview

During the winter term of 2021, The Deans of Student Offices at Waterloo and Brantford campuses started a multi-campus review of Laurier students' wellness. 

This comprehensive review was conducted with the assistance of the Unless Design Partners whom our UX Design Thinking II class were able to work with throughout the semester. Therefore, we had the opportunity to work with clients in order to present different solutions concerning student wellness at Laurier University.

Roles

User Research, User Testing, Prototyping

Duration

4 months

Tools

Figma, Canva, Google Surveys

Team

Ameet Armacy, Nicholas Mueller, Erica Wang, Hannah Lee, Het Patel

The Design Challenge

“Neglecting to tackle wellness in integrated ways hurts students.”

This quote taken straight out of the Report on Engagement which highlights that nothing being done to help students can hurt their well being and mental health.

Our group decided to brainstorm ways to help students that face challenges engaging with other students.

User Need Statements

Based on our initial UX research, including user interviews and surveys, we identified key insights that informed our solution for supporting student mental health. Below are the findings that shaped our design approach:

  • Throughout the interviews conducted with Laurier students, we found that users struggle to join clubs which leads to them lacking motivation to successfully partake in these Laurier clubs that are provided for them.

  • Connecting with others is an important aspect of improving student wellness at Laurier. In addition, we acknowledge that students don’t always know each other from the beginning and many need assistance on where to start looking for those with similar interests.

  • Our users need to be seen and understood during hard times throughout the school year. Often times students wish to connect with their classmates or Laurier acquaintances who are going through the same stress levels as they are.

Design Goals

After conducting our user research, it gave our team a better understanding of what our users desire for our app. Our solution must help our users:

  • Search for students within the campus that share similar interests

  • Creating safe and comfortable student community where students can be heard 

  • Interact with users through the app during midterm and exam season to minimize stress 

Envisioning Users Needs

Users Personas

In order to visualize who our main users will be after conducting the user need statements, our group developed data-driven personas that will help us understand and guide us through our solutionary process of improving the wellness of students at Laurier.

Journey Maps

Furthermore, we generated journey maps based on each of our represented personas shown above to showcase our users process and what they go through to achieve their desired goal.

Design the App - Test it Out!

Our team carried out cognitive walkthroughs with 8 Laurier students to participate in completing our tasks. As a result, our users had a task success rate of 100%. Here are some of our findings and changes that we made:

Useless Feature Removal ❌

Removing features within our app was vital to eliminate any user confusion. For instance, the introvert-extrovert slider was deemed unhelpful by our participants. Therefore, the feature was completely removed.

Enhancing Personalization 👤

Users suggested that we include the ability to search for, add, and receive recommended passions. Therefore, we created an About me section where users can discuss their interests and who they are with other users.

Easier Navigation 📍

We introduced a back button for our main pages to improve the overall functionality, accessibility, and navigation through the Laurier Connect app. This allows users to move through the app more intuitively.

Final Design 📱

An app made to to fabricate relationships among Laurier students in order to induce an inclusive and harmonious community.

Reflection

Our team wanted to create an app that sufficiently addresses and aids students with their wellness and connecting with other Laurier students. Through thoughtful design and user research, we aimed to foster a sense of belonging while providing accessible resources to support student well-being.

📈 Despite these efforts, there is still room for growth. As we move forward, our team recognizes the importance of refining onboarding, enhancing personalization, and improving in-app engagement. For example, features like interest-based group recommendations, real-time chat support, and mood tracking integrations could further align the platform with student wellness needs.