Navigate
School Resources Case Study
Navigate partners with universities to provide student resources for their college journey. This case study delves into a specific college to discover new solutions for current and future students
Project Information
Who is our Client
Our client, Navigate, is a Student Success Management System that allows students to keep track of their college resources
Navigate and SAIC - The School of the Art Institute of Chicago
The School of the Art Institute of Chicago is one of the many colleges and universities that partnered with Navigate to ensure these students are keeping track of their school-related tasks during their college journeys
What seems to be the Problem
Despite having a tool, previous data from SAIC and Navigate had shown that many student don't actually engage with this app
What is our Stakeholder asking for
That's why we believed it was time for a change with the goal of increasing users throughout the years
My Responsibility
With gathered information on the context, I was ready to create a case study process for SAIC and Navigate to prove why there needs to be a design change
Analyzing the Current Designs
With the current design, I used the stakeholders' information to pin-point both the interface and experience to further test these concerns with current Navigate users
To Understand Them
Before delving into specific users and hearing their pain points, I gathered over 70 responses from SAIC students who uses Navigate and some who never used Navigate
Current frustrations while
using Navigate
After reaching out from the survey responses, I interviewed users by hearing their experiences with Navigate and how it has affected their college journey
Current frustrations
without Navigate
In addition, I interviewed students who never used Navigate and discovered what they use as resources and what they struggle with
Key Takeaways from Both Groups
Based on both groups, its come to a conclusion where Navigate users struggle due to a confusing experience along with an outdated experience. While non-Navigate users struggle with keeping track due to having limited resources
The Complete Problem Statement
Based on the gathered information from both stakeholders and current users and non-users, this is the problem statement that Navigate faces
The Complete Solution Statement
This gives us a better understanding of how to solve this problem to ensure current and future students can successfully utilize Navigate
Implementing to a Current Flowchart
This flow chart is from the original design where my mentor and I implemented more student centered resources as working solutions
Creating a Restructured Flowchart
These new ideas were implemented based off the idea of engagement, keeping track, and becoming more student-centered
Low Fidelity Designs
With a restructured vision in mind, it was time to start designing from scratch on how these ideas can be successfully implemented
Mid Fidelity Designs
Presenting the mid fidelity designs gave us a better understand of how approachable and friendly the experience can be for students
Final Designs Ver. 1
From ideation to structure and from structure to experience, Navigate is proud to present a new design with a full working prototype
Before and After
Going for a modern design layout for user friendliness and approachability, the before and after designs will focus on how the after designs are presented with a more structured-hierarchical layout
User Testing and its Outcomes
With a working prototype, it was time to test this and gather data from student who have used Navigate and students who haven't
Design Feedback and Critique 1
Based on the user testing feedback, there were some areas that were confusing whether or not if users were able to interact with certain areas
Design Feedback and Critique 2
My design mentor provided feedback to help me understand personalization and customization since each user may want more than fixed options
Design Feedback and Critique 3
Lastly, users weren't sure if they could look at different transaction list since the buttons look deactivated. They weren't sure if those four buttons were clickable
Outcomes with User Testing
Presenting this data to the stake holder and mentor, we decided to collaborate with a third party testing agency to conduct future projections if this design change were to happen. After getting back the results, we reached our goals, providing future SAIC students an updated way of utilizing their resources
Future with Navigate
By presenting all this information to Navigate, the reality is how long would they take to complete a prototype version on their end. Despite this process, I also want to iterate the designs based on the user testers to ensure SAIC students feel comfortable using Navigate
During our Valuable Time
Yes, there are still areas to improve on, but I couldn't have accomplished this without a proper structure and plan. Without my stakeholder, it would have been difficult to understand Navigate's business goals. Without my mentor, it would have been difficult to design without guidance and feedback. Here is to a successful future for both Navigate and The School of the Art Institute of Chicago
Check out my last project down below
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