Fordham App

UI/UX Re-Design Case Study

WHAT IS FORDHAM?
Fordham University is a Jesuit University in New York committed to the discovery of Wisdom and the transmission of Learning, through research and through undergraduate, graduate and professional education of the highest quality.

As home to people from all over the globe, as a center of international business, communication, diplomacy, the arts and the sciences, New York City provides Fordham with a special kind of classroom. Its unparalleled resources shape and enhance Fordham's professional and undergraduate programs.

WHY THIS REDESIGN?
During the newly established COVID-19 world, while mindlessly scrolling through social media, working remotely, and feeling lazier than ever, I wanted to break the cycle and be productive by learning a new skill.

During my Fall 2021 semester at Fordham University, I was taking a few media and technology classes traveling from the Manhattan campus to the Bronx campus. I was constanly using the Fordham App to book ramvans, view my schedule, and scan my ID to get into buildings, but, with the unsurmountable topics and categories presented on th eapp, it was almost impossible to use easily and efficiently as a student at Forhdam.

During my social media class during this semester, we had a speaker from the UX design team at Target. His presentation inspired me to look into both UI and UX design, and look into creating solutions for those small challenges that our day to day life offers.

Being that the Fordham App was something I used daily and was continually disatisfied with, I decided to take it on as my next Case Study. The troubles I was having with the app included trouble navigating through and finding the specific things I needed. There was no personalization or any sections geared toward the actual use of the app by students, you'd think the app was made for only those who created it and knew how to navigate it. The design itself felt outdated with very poor organization, labels, layout, and consistency.

After a thorough review of th app, I set out to reimagine the Fordham app and improve the experience in any way I could.

GOALS AND MOTIVATION FOR THIS DESIGN

GOALS:

To deliver a beter student experience and intuitive user interface for students
Propose a more engaging and seamless app experience so that users are comfortable accessing grades, IDs, reservations, classes, etc.

PERSONAL GOALS:

Take full ownership of the various roles involved in designing a product such as a User Researcher, User Experience Designer, UI Designer.
Enhancing my learning experience by challenging some design decisions and addressing their solutions.

APP ANALYSIS
Since I had already used the app and had some idea about it, I decided to do an in-depth analysis of the app first. I wanted to understand the functionalities, overall architecture, and navigation.

Through the analysis, I was able to identify some clear usability issues and pain points. I listed all of them to validate them after my User Research.

UNDERSTANDING USERS THROUGH INTERVIEWS

Conducting User Interview
I started my user research by conducting user interviews with 5 users, which vary from daily active users to infrequent users of the Fordham app to understand what motivates or demotivates them from using specific functions as opposed to others.

I conducted all 5 interviews in-person.

The male interviewees’ age ranged from 18 to 21 years old, while all 3 females ranged from 19 to 21 years old, which I felt was a fair representative sample of Fordham's current user base.

Some key insights from the interview

Almost all the participants stated that they use the app daily, especially those who commute to different campuses for class.
Most of the participants said that they wish that the user interface was easier to use and more organized for their needs.
Most of the participants want to be able to book rmavans days in advance without the extra time spent scrolling through ramvans, signing into multiple two-factor authentications, and buying Ramvan tickets.
The features they use most often are booking Ramvans and logging onto Blackboard.
Most of them said that they want their app to have a better class schedule feature in order to organize their classes easier.

THE NEXT STEP WAS TO UNDERSTAND THE EXISTING USERS
Going Through The Reviews
I started looking for reviews on the App Store. Fordham requested app privacy on the app store, so I was unable to find the amount of downloads the app had, but there were 26 reviews confirming my interview results and hypothesis.

UNDERSTANDING USERS THROUGH INTERVIEWS

Usability Testing
After the user interview, I asked 2 participants who hadn't ever used the Fordham app (Ages 19-21). I wanted to see how they will interact with the app’s features. I provided them with my sign-in details and DUO two-factor authentication access in order to explore the app.

Some of the tasks that I gave them during the testing were:

Open the app and note first impressions.
Try to find, "Ramvan", "Class Schedule", "Grades", and eID campus access.
Book a Ramvan for the next day at 9am.
Provide feedback on the UI aspects of app.

Some of the feedback I recieved:

"It was super difficult to find certain features, and I just didn't enjoy signing in everytime I clicked on something"
"I feel like after some use you could definitely figure the app out, but it would bug me having to continue to sign-in. The Ramvan page also frustrated me because if I wanted to book something the next day I had to scroll and reload way too many times"
"The app felt super outdated and not everything really fit on the screen right, It almost feels like it wasn't really made for a mobile screen"

DEFINING THE PROBLEM

COMMON PAIN POINTS & USER NEEDS

INCOMPLETE MOBILE APP- Multiple users clearly expressed that they didn't see much of a mobile interface when using the app. Users pointed out that the app was not even close to as user friendly as the student portal online, but that they also wanted to use the app for specific features that would benefit the student body.
CONFUSING AND CLUTTERED UI- Most users complained that the UI was outdated and cluttered which made it impossible to navigate the app efficiently. No navigation menu or highlighted features made it hard for users to access things they needed daily.
NO CATEGORIZATION- Users also mentioned that there were no categories that allowed them to easily find their features. One user mentioned that, "having specific pages like a "ramvan" page would make it easier to navigate one of the most used features on the app.
LACK OF FEATURES FOR STUDENT ORGANIZATION- Students recalled that they want to easily access their schedules. Multiple users reported that they have to input their schedule and schedule details into their mobile calendar in the beginning of the semester in order to keep their schedule organized. The semester schedule page is highly requested as a main feature of the app.

AFFINITY MAPPING

Next, I compiled all feedback, insights, and pain points and grouped them. This helped me brainstrom potential ideas and gave a clearer view of what wa simportant to users.

WIREFRAMING SKETCHES

COMMON PAIN POINTS & USER NEEDS

INCOMPLETE MOBILE APP- Multiple users clearly expressed that they didn't see much of a mobile interface when using the app. Users pointed out that the app was not even close to as user friendly as the student portal online, but that they also wanted to use the app for specific features that would benefit the student body.
CONFUSING AND CLUTTERED UI- Most users complained that the UI was outdated and cluttered which made it impossible to navigate the app efficiently. No navigation menu or highlighted features made it hard for users to access things they needed daily.
NO CATEGORIZATION- Users also mentioned that there were no categories that allowed them to easily find their features. One user mentioned that, "having specific pages like a "ramvan" page would make it easier to navigate one of the most used features on the app.
LACK OF FEATURES FOR STUDENT ORGANIZATION- Students recalled that they want to easily access their schedules. Multiple users reported that they have to input their schedule and schedule details into their mobile calendar in the beginning of the semester in order to keep their schedule organized. The semester schedule page is highly requested as a main feature of the app.

AFFINITY MAPPING

Next, I compiled all feedback, insights, and pain points and grouped them. This helped me brainstrom potential ideas and gave a clearer view of what wa simportant to users.

SOLUTIONS & COMPARISONS

REFLECTION & LESSON LEARNED
At first, I was a bit nervous as I knew this would be a lot of work. But, despite my fear and nervousness, I knew this was the perfect opportunity to hone my design skills.

Looking back on the whole process, redesigning this app and working on this case study reminded me that users are always the center of every design decision and the impact the smallest of a thing can have, such as changing an element’s position. I learned about figuring out what works and what doesn’t and implementing them, and the best part is doesn’t end. The learning process is continuous.

Thank you for taking an inside look at my design process!

I had a lot of fun doing this project, and I hope you enjoyed it too :) Contact me with any feedback or to discuss any work opportunities!