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SYNC APP

10 weeks | UX & UI Designer

As a UX & UI designer, I worked with my group members to develop an academic organisation app specifically for students. My key contributions were user research, wireframing, high-fidelity prototypes, and usability testing. I also spearheaded efforts to improve user engagement by focusing on simplicity, customization, and accessibility.

The Challenge

Research Insights

Interview Questions:

Card Sorting:

Interview Findings:

Card Sorting Findings:

Managing academic schedules, deadlines, and personal responsibilities can be overwhelming for students. Existing tools often lack integration and personalization, compelling students to rely on multiple apps to fulfill their needs. Our challenge was to answer the question: "how can we design an app that seamlessly integrates task management, academic tools and mindful features into a single platform, enhancing student productivity and well being without adding to their overwhelm?"

We did interviews and card sorting to gather insights from six students. Our research explored students' existing practices, challenges, and preferences for organizational tools.

User Personas

How do you currently manage your academic schedule?
What do you like or dislike about your current method?
What features are essential in an academic organization app?
How important is customisation and visual appeal in such apps?
Are privacy, security, and potential data bugs concerns for you?
Do you prefer apps with academic-only features or a mix of personal and academic tools?
How often do you use organizational apps?

Interviews with six participants provided us valuable insights into their experiences with academic organisation tools. Most participants expressed a preference for simple, minimalistic app that requires minimal effort to use and could be accessed across devices. Customization was a key priority for participants, with features like colour-coded schedules, personalised reminders, and flexible layouts being highly desirable. Many participants highlighted the need for a unified platform that integrates academic and collaborative tools, eliminating the hassle of using multiple apps. Notifications were another crucial feature, with participants emphasizing the importance of customizable and clear alerts to stay on track. While some participants preferred grid-based layouts, others favored lists or calendars, underscoring the need for adaptable designs. Privacy concerns varied among users, with some prioritizing secure access and others placing less emphasis on this aspect. Overall, the interviews revealed a strong demand for tools that balance simplicity, customization, and functionality while catering to individual preferences and reducing the complexity of task management.

As part of the research phase, we conducted card sorting exercises to better understand how users categorise and prioritise different aspects of academic management. This activity helped identify patterns in user preferences, leading to a more intuitive app structure.

Methodology

We engaged six participants, asking them to organize pre-defined topics into categories they deemed logical. The topics included elements like class schedules, budgeting, and upcoming events. Participants were also asked to highlight the five most challenging topics to manage.

Card Sorting Questions:

Can you please organize these cards into categories? You can create whichever categories youthink are appropriate.

Which of these options do you find the most difficult to keep track of? Please pick 5.

Card Sorting [Participant 1 & 2]

Card Sorting [Participant 3 & 4]

Card Sorting [Participant 5 & 6]

One of our research methods was to conduct a card sort. For this card sort, we asked six anonymous student participants to answer our two questions using the cards provided. To make the experience smoother, the cards were made using Google Slides to facilitate easy sharing and reduce the effort the participants needed to put in to complete our task. When conducting the card sorting, we asked participants two questions. The first is “Can you please organize these cards into categories? You can create whichever categories you think are appropriate.” and the other was “Which of these options do you find the most difficult to keep track of? Please pick 5.”. The most common result we received from the first question was that most participants had categories of Finance, Career, and Academics. The most common result we received from the second question was that most of the participants had a difficult time tracking their Portfolios/Resumes, Student Social Networking, Budgeting, and Upcoming Workshops/School Events. Results of question 2 can be seen in the image below.

These questions helped us determine which topics we need to focus on in our app. Commonly picked cards in question two are clear pain points and were taken advantage of in our design. The results of question one allowed us to see how potential users would organize the topics, giving us insights in how to structure our app intuitively.

Usability Report

From our research we concluded that most users wanted a simple and easy-to-use app that they could access from any device. Interviewed students confirmed a desire for lists, notifications, and the ability to track classes and assignments.We also found a preference on appealing layouts and designs for the overall app. These features became the foundations of the subsequent prototypes that were created.

To test the usability of the designs, 5 metrics were measured. Are users able to successfully complete core tasks? How long do users spend on each task? Do users encounter any obstacles while completing the tasks? Did users find the tasks to be easy? And finally, do the users find the app easy to use and relevant to their needs? These tasks evolved alongside our prototype as we focused on what features were the most important. For each usability test, user’s were encouraged to follow the think-aloud approach from which further insights about the app’s design could be derived.

Low Fidelity Prototype results

High Fidelity Prototype results

The results of the usability tests showed us a positive performance of the system over a variety of tasks. Task 1 consisted of signing up in your account and users were able to complete this task efficiently with 0 errors and full success rate achieving an average completion of 8. Similarly, task 3 where the user had to locate the settings/profile also had a full success rate with 0 errors. For these areas the user’s particularly liked various options under the “theme” and easy sign in process. This also indicated seamless navigation and an easy to understand user interface for the people. However, for task 2 and task 4 where the users had to add an event to the calendar and find the to-do lists respectively, showed low success rates and some errors as compared to other tasks. This pointed out areas which can be improved in terms of assistance and clarity for user’s experience while navigating through the app. Instead of the average completion time for tasks being 6 seconds the participants were able to finish the activities rather quickly. User’s expressed satisfaction with the system’s capability to meet their requirements and also found the system easy to use, which is demonstrated by the success rates in most of the tasks.

Analysis:

Our Prototype

Low Fidelity Prototype

High Fidelity Prototype [Onboarding screen]

High Fidelity Prototype [Login Page]

High Fidelity Prototype [Home Page]

High Fidelity Prototype [Course Page]

High Fidelity Prototype [Task Page]

High Fidelity Prototype [Profile & Settings Page]

High Fidelity Prototype [Calendar Page]

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