This project is focused on the remote university problems and the need of the people working and studying there to create a community. It was part of my information architecture subject for the master's degree in UX Design at the Open University of Catalonia.
Adobe Indesign • Optimal Workshop • Figma
The solution that I created for this project is focused on creating community by knowing other students and proposing a solution to their needs. In this app, users are able to study virtually together following the "Study With Me" method. Also, users are able to see what subjects are other users studying, the languages they speak and understand as well as recommend resources to others. With the solution I propose, they are also able to see all the events or reserve a place (virtually or presently). Students and professors are also able to have a virtual private meeting that can be reserved previously through the app.
In the first phase of this project, I created the Scenarios and User Journey Map, with which I was able to emphasize with the users and understand their needs. With the information provided by this phase, I was able to discover which are the information requirements to create the platform. Next, I created the content inventory. With it, I started to create the structure of a monitored card sorting in the Optimal Workshop. In this part of the process, I had to supervise the users and ask them to think out loud making sure I can identify more insights if this is the case. Later, I started to work on the navigation tree and User Flow, which gave me the ability to create the low-fidelity prototype.
Scenarios can be used in different circumstances but in this case, I used them for ideation to create brief stories about the users using my product to complete a specific task. They provide me with useful context and common ground as I attempt to come up with design solutions.
Journey Map allowed me to identify and strategize the key moments in the experience of the users with the product I was designing.
Card sorting is a research technique for discovering how people understand and categorize information. For this project, I decided to go for a monitored hybrid card sorting. In this research process, users were able to sort the given cards, but also create new ones if they felt the necessity.
By using the navigation tree to evaluate the UOC app structure, I was able to measure how easy it is for users to find items within the app.
A wireframe is a basic outline of a digital experience, like an app or a website. There are many reasons to create paper wireframes, but the ones that always determine me to use them are: they are fast, inexpensive, let me explore lots of ideas, and narrow my focus. For this project, I had to create 21 different paper screens to show the interaction of the users with the platform.
This project was an information architecture project which finished at this point, however, these are some further steps in the process:
Please follow the next links to access the prototype or to see all the documentation. This project was part of my Master's Degree at the Open University of Catalonia, Barcelona, Spain. That's the main reason why all the documentation is in Spanish. Sorry about that.