StudyBuddy
DESIGN FOR USER EXPERIENCE COURSE @ USC VITERBI SCHOOL OF ENGINEERING | JAN. 2019 – MAY 2019
Created on Figma
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For the course, each student was asked to submit a brief pitch on an app idea, and mine was voted as one of 7 the class would form subgroups into to develop UI/UX designs for as a team.
Problem: Students facing difficulty having effective group study experiences.
Solution: StudyBuddy is an app that streamlines the end to end collaborative studying experience for academic success.
User Research
User research was conducted frequently and also very feasibly as our product pertained directly to college students. After holding initial user interviews myself to determine if there was a substantial enough need for a solution to an identified human problem, my team helped identify key issues we needed to fully understand before publishing a strategic solution.
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In forming our interview questions, we were careful not to write leading questions that would potentially skew respondents in the direction of our own opinions.
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Interviews were conducted with diverse undergraduate students across majors at the University of Southern California, age range 18-23.
Preliminary Interviews
Pitched the initial idea below to potential users:
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An app to search for study group hotspots where students willing for other peers to join can turn on their study group map location for others to find.
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Key Findings
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Too many assumptions on how people find others to study. Interest evident on studying with others, but not in this manner
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Want some predetermined structure to it that reduces social friction when studying with strangers
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Awkwardness when asking a stranger to study in a very forward way ​
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Potential freeloaders
Based on these findings, I realized I needed to reframe the app idea because I jumped too quickly to finding a solution. I went back to the drawing board to identify key user issues with group studying.
In-Depth Interview Key Findings
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Difficult to find a mutual time
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Uncomfortable meeting strangers
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Want peers that they study with to be on a similar progress level with the course
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Can be distracting
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There are other alternative sources of help (professors, TAs, friends who have taken the class before)
In-Depth Interviews
People want better groups studying experiences but there are social and logistical barriers– our app needed run very smoothly to facilitate online and in-person study experiences effectively.
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Instructors/student ambassadors can help facilitate students joining the platform
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Take a mobile-first approach to help reduce accessibility-related friction while on-the-go
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Clarify and simplify calendar planning
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Allow for sending and receiving student reviews and endorsements for skills to better indicate effective partners/group members
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Make strangers less foreign with messaging capabilities and profile details
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An app that streamlines the end to end collaborative studying experience for academic success.
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