Students engaging in UX/ UI
- user experience/ user interface projects conduct deep user research to understand the client's needs and iteratively design a product for them. This comprehensive project includes extensive background research, in-depth field interviews, ideation, and an iterative design process to generate a validated product design for the client.
Deliverables include (but are not limited to), final written report, final presentation, working prototype, experience models and affinity diagram.
Here are some of the projects our students have worked on:
Supporting aging in place for individuals living with early-stage Alzheimer’s disease/related dementia’s (ADRD) and their caregivers
Client: IQ Solutions
Client Information Need
IQS seeks to understand the needs and expectations of individuals with Dementia/Alzheimers for in-home support and remote monitoring for their caregivers. The project also includes a need to develop the designs for the technology to support them.
What we did
The team conducted in-depth research to understand the needs, challenges, and expectations of individuals with ADRD for in-home support and remote monitoring for their care partners:
- They conducted a literature review and did an environmental scan to learn about the pre-existing products in the market
- interviewed subject matter experts and 6 caregivers to understand their needs and issues better
- The team was not able to interview individuals with Dementia/Alzheimers due to the Covid-19 lockdown so they focused on caregivers for the product concept.
From the insights, the team designed an app- Care+ that leverages smart speakers to provide assistance with various caregiving activities and regular subtle check-ins.
This project is ongoing and in the future, more research will be conducted with the people with ADRD and the product will be suitably reworked.
You can view the final presentation here.
Deliverables:
Client Presentation
Affinity Diagrams
Experience Models
Product Concepts
Product Structure
Hi-fidelity prototypes
Improving Media Discovery in the Library of Congress Website
Client: Library of Congress
Client Information Need
The Library of Congress has over 21,000 digitized audio records and 8,500 digitized videos, plus many more records. They needed deep user research to explore new ways for patrons to discover, acquire, and interact with media.
What we did
This team critically evaluated access points to the Library of Congress digital audio and video collections and designed solutions to improve the engagement users have with each artifact and collection.
To understand how to improve media discovery, the team
- conducted a literature review and analysed different websites.
- interviewed subject matter experts and others to gain more insights on accessing media on websites and the technical workings behind it.
They then analysed the insights to ideate some product concepts that included redesigned the media discovery page and the audio and video search pages and adding a curated topics page.
This is an ongoing project and it is in the design phase right now.
You can view the final presentation here.
Deliverables:
Client Presentation
Affinity Diagrams
Experience Models
Product Concepts
Information Resource Center Modernization
Client: IQ Solutions
Client Information Need
Modernize IQS’ information resource center (IRC) platform to support existing and emerging consumer touchpoints, implement self-service solutions, create an omnichannel experience, expand data collection, improve the inquiry response user experience, build knowledge bases, embed machine learning, and integrate with supporting platform APIs.
The goal was to model a modern IRC solution and provide a roadmap with recommendations on a new platform.
What we did
This team evaluated the current IRC system used by IQ Solutions to identify application requirements that could efficiently relay relevant information to inquirers and outlines reporting needs.
Interviews were conducted with employees of IQ solutions to understand their concerns and issues with the current IRC platform, and to know more about their requirements and expectations from a new platform.
They made personas and use cases to further understand the problems and their potential solutions. They used these to come up with a list of requirements and recommendations for the new platform.
You can view the final report here.
Deliverables:
Client Presentation
Personas
Use Cases
Detailed report with research information and recommendations.
Increasing Millennial Engagement in Montgomery County Parks
Client: Montgomery County (MD) Parks
Client Information Need
Montgomery County Parks consists of 422 parks and they work to provide an enjoyable park system that promotes community. Park systems want ways to increase user engagement, especially with the millennials by leveraging smartphones.
What we did
To understand millennials motivations for going (and not going) to parks, the team:
- Interviewed participants from the county
- Generated some design ideas based on the findings collected from the interview
They then applied what they learned to:
- Designing the mockups and low fidelity screens
- Evaluating the mockups with the users
- Refining the designs based on the feedback received
The final Montgomery Parks app mockups implemented user-generated content, social experience, scavenger hunts, a virtual trail guide, and personalized notifications into the app experience.
You can view the final presentation here.
Deliverables:
Client Presentation
Interactive Prototype
Design Patterns
Affinity Diagrams
Experience Models
A Visual 4GL for the Knowledge Graph
Client: Stardog Union
Client Information Need
Stardog Union integrates their client’s data through knowledge graphs(KG). The KG creation process requires expertise and the ability to code in multiple languages and increases the barrier of entry to learning and using this technology. The client wanted us to design a visual user interface that simplifies the current KG creation process for users with limited technological expertise and skills.
What we did
- Conducted background research and competitor analysis. The team interviewed 16 individuals including subject matter experts and other users to understand the needs, the context of use, and current and expected configuration capabilities.
- Created affinity maps and experience models to analyze the data and come up with key findings and product ideas.
- They created a mid-fidelity prototype that was tested with users and then designed another high-fidelity prototype based on user feedback.
Deliverables:
Evaluation and Research findings
Affinity map
Customer Journey Map
High Fidelity Prototype
Design Documentation