Problem 1
Students have no central location to find information. Instead information is scattered across multiple webpages which are difficult to find and often out of date.
Problem 2
The existing approach was to surface all the information available. The result, students quickly get overwhelmed as they attempt to seek and find what they really needed.
Problem 3
It’s assumed students know what they want and have existing knowledge to know what to search for. Students have no provision to discover or explore.
Problem 4
Website usage was found to be in decline and the trend showed no signs of slowing. Over the past 5 years the student web homepage had seen a 47% reduction in visitor numbers. Despite enrolled student numbers increasing by 17%.
My research journey began with five days of on-the-ground engagement with students across the campus, supplemented by a questionnaire to compare individual attitudes with collective trends. This approach, combined with pre-existing secondary research, enabled me to swiftly gain valuable insights to point me in the right direction.
As areas of interest emerged, I facilitated a workshop to prioritise research focus, ensuring alignment with team objectives. With team consensus reached, I delved deeper, gathering comprehensive user feedback to understand their challenges and aspirations for digital campus improvements.
Web analytics
Upon exploring website analytics, a clear funnel emerged. 79% of visitors to the Campus Map who clicked on the ‘more information’ link for an eat & drink venue subsequently navigated to the eat & drink opening times webpage. At which point 96% then exited. This indicated that people were primarily visiting the map to find venue opening times. Despite the cumbersome process of navigating through three different web locations.
Further analysis revealed that whilst the website listed available venues, opening and closing times were presented on a separate webpage, forcing navigation between tabs. This ignores the next step of actually attempting to navigate to the venue. This fragmented experience illustrated a lack of foresight on the holistic experience and was particularly inconvenient for the individual seeking a quick meal.
Follow-up research indicated users often sought venue opening time information in the moment, at the point of need. Mobile devices accounting for 74% of visits to venue opening information, which could be suggestive users were on the move when visiting the page. Student feedback highlighted the need for a more user friendly solution.
Insights
After conducting a range of research techniques, analysed and gathered the data I was able group the most prominent insights into 3 themes.
Finding my way around
Students found it hard to get to where they wanted. 1960’s buildings coupled with 3 separate campus locations led to plenty of head scratching when needing to find locations and rooms.
Room codes provided little help. SLB/009 anyone?
Multi building departments and different entry / exit points compounded the problem. Finding Cookies in biology could mean 3 different buildings and 6 different entry / exit points
Time for breaks
Students had low awareness of all eating & drinking venues available
Navigating around campus was difficult
Multiple Eat and drink venues are run by the university and student union. Students had no way of seeing all the venues available together
Finding opening and closing times for the venues was surprisingly difficult. In holiday periods venues opening times became unpredictable.
Couldn’t see what a venue served until committing to a visit in person. An issue when most students are limited to one hour or less before the next lecture.
I never knew that existed
Awareness of all the venues and services available was low
Students had to purposely seek out the information and was reliant on them already having some awareness such key terms or names
Points of discovery become moments of delight. Such as a student service they never knew existed. Or a new place to eat which they inadvertently bypassed for the past term
I started with the information architecture and lo-fidelity concepts based on the primary happy path. I then started covering the edge cases including error screens and access denied notifications. With regular check-ins with the product owner, developers and our senior stakeholders. The design process isn’t linear and this project was no exception. I had to adapt the design on a number of occasions because the concepts didn’t work as envisaged. It was an iterative loop, with regular usability testing when necessary to help refine multiple ideas into a well executed final design.
People couldn’t find the filter
Testing showed the importance of positioning. The filter was placed top right, but task based scenarios confirmed it wasn’t working as expected with people bypassed. Gestalt law of grouping was at play, with the filter shown out of context to the information they sought to filter or sort against.
Solution idea: Moving the filter down, positioning next to the filter / sort content will improve recognition and recall
Returning back
When presenting college information we had a problem, a college encompassed multiple building blocks and accommodation. Presenting each building as a card would be too much. One concept looked at a secondary list, but we found the back button and list return back button for the college was interchangeably tapped causing issues. Testing showed the concept didn’t work and I needed to go back to drawing board.
Solution idea: Introduction of a bottom sheet overlay to creating clear separation between both. It also allowed for bespoke filters to be added and was scalable.
5 second Icon recognition
How well did our icons resonate? We did a flash card 5 second test out of context as a robust measure of Icon understanding. A good icon shouldn’t have ambiguity or need a description to distil understanding. The activity found 75% of our icons had good recognition. We identified 10 icons which may need changing.
Solution idea: As a team we proposed 10 new icons, validated as performing better with a small testing group before implementation.
As a distributed team spanning Europe, seamless collaboration and prompt feedback were key to swift delivery. Figma emerged as our go-to-tool, enabling direct commenting within designs, it also centralised our information sharing for transparency. This was welcome as it eliminated last minute searches for forgotten post-it notes and streamlined the design workflow. Allowing us to deliver new features fast.
Campus Explore aims to hide the complexity and surface the information that really matters when it matters. A guiding principle is making daily tasks simple, allowing students to focus on what really matters.
Make finding that hard to reach location a breeze. Packing with navigational tools students are already familiar with. Getting from a A to B has never been easier whilst on campus.
We introduced a maps to make finding campus facilities nearby much easier than before.
We support you beyond the lecture hall, with integrated services covering health and wellbeing. Allowing you to be the best version of yourself.
As Oliver Gaspirtz once said, “sometimes the most valuable treasures are found in the most unexpected places, hidden in plain sight waiting to be discovered” With a little help, Campus Explore intends to get people closer to them hidden gems available in plain sight. Making the most of the amazing facilities on campus.
Connecting you to amazing pubs on campus
For the perfect hangout spot after dark, or that must-have post-lecture pint.
Did somebody say food?
From fresh salads to handmade burgers, we have something for everyone — covering breakfast, lunch and dinner.
Finding great food nearby has never been easier
We use your current location to show what’s nearest to you. See how far away it is and get directions to the front door, all in one place.
For every 9am lecture, a freshly ground coffee awaits
From Starbucks and Costa Coffee to local favourites like York Emporium, find the perfect coffee to get you through.
The impact
The results speak for themselves. With over 62% increase in weekly usage, the new app has transformed the digital campus experience.
Rated by students. Used every day.
Android
4.7
/ 5
Overall app star rating
“I find it so convenient to check to my timetable and quickly check opening times when grabbing a bite to eat when on campus”
Harry R
iOS
4.2
/ 5
Overall app star rating
“Anybody york student will know getting around campus is tricky. This App really does make life that little bit easier”
Sally G
“I never knew we had so many places to eat. I’ve tried so many new places over the past semester”
Lizzie S
“It’s such a game changer, I use it everyday now to help me get around”
Samuel W
Very handy
Rated 4 / 5
Really convenient for checking my timetable and accessing the library.
Talon F · 12 Oct
Amazing app
Rated 5 / 5
Great for timetable checking and also booking accessible library and rooms spaces
Rosie B · 22 Sep
My involvement as UX lead directly helped shape what a great connected campus experience could be. From concept storyboards to delivery of high fidelity screens. Driven by the principles of great service design and human-first thinking. The University of York is now a pioneer in this space, having launched multiple UK higher education firsts originally seeded by the vision and work from myself and the talented UX&D team I led.
1. Simplicity to deliver value at pace
As a designer it’s our job to imagine the possible even when everybody around you can’t see the vision. But we also need to balance design with business needs. In one such case, we sought to develop our own turn by turn campus navigation. It would have created a more cohesive experience, but the reality of delivering an extensive data remodelling alongside a 6+ month development timeline was a big product bet. It’s important as designers to always return back to the ‘why’. In this instance our primary goal was getting people to their location hassle free. It shows the importance to remain flexible and by working closely with the product owner I pitched a new vision. Direct integration with Google Maps and What 3 Words provided accurate step by step navigation with a delivery timeline of less than 2 months from concept to delivery.
2. Embedding long term cultural change
Like exercise, we often understand what’s beneficial, but how frequently do we meet the NHS recommendation of 150 minutes of exercise per week? Similarly, when I joined the App team, they acknowledged the importance of direct user engagement, yet surprisingly hadn’t spoken to an MyUoY app user for the past 18 months. A crucial learning for myself was to empathise, tunnel vision can easily ensnare any team as they become absorbed deeply in delivering minor enhancements, overlooking the biggest picture and deeply understanding the problems and people we delivering for. I needed to shift them from small change thinking to innovation leaps.
Upon arriving, it was imperative not only to provide UX support but to instigate profound team changes by ingraining collaborative research, persisting even when uptake was low in the early days. Additionally, I integrated design iteration, seeking feedback early and often throughout every stage of product development. I also emphasised the importance of context, showing them the value of testing the product in the place it was designed to be used, by the people it’s designed for. Not a home office 20 miles away.
The team transitioned from making decisions primarily based on misguided opinions and guesswork to proactively challenging their own assumptions through self-directed research and design iteration. They became far more people focused, delivering features grounded in a problem with a clear understanding of the ‘why’ before they proceeded forward.
Project information
Tools
Figma
Miro
Maze
Protopie
Expertise
Research
Prototyping
Usability testing
Accessibility
Visual design
Platform
iOS
Android