Badger Tours
UI/UX Design & Research
Overview
Badger Tours serves as the essential tool for UW Madison students, offering personalized, self-guided campus tours. Tailored for new and returning Badgers, as well as prospective students exploring from a distance, it is the go-to companion for uncovering the essence of UW Madison. This innovative app is crafted to empower prospective students with the information needed to make informed decisions about their academic journey before stepping onto campus.
Problem
Traditional campus tours often lack personalization, offering a generic overview that may not align with individual interests or academic pursuits. This can lead to an inefficient use of time as students navigate the sprawling campus, potentially missing key areas relevant to their needs. The absence of a tool that allows students to tailor their exploration and gain insights into various facets of university life leaves them with a limited understanding.
Goals:
1. Personalized Exploration: Customizable, self-guided tours tailored to individual interests.
2. Interactive Exploration: Navigate the campus seamlessly with an intuitive and interactive map, effortlessly locating buildings, landmarks, and green spaces for an efficient self-guided experience.
3. Community Engagement: Platform for users to share experiences and insights.
4. Virtual Assistance: Real-time guidance and information without in-person interactions.
5. Crowd Avoidance: Encouraging independent exploration to minimize exposure to crowded areas.
ROLE
Visual UI/UX Design
UX Research
Concept Development
TIME FRAME
10 weeks
PROCESS
Discovery Contextual Inquiry, user persona, journey map, conceptual model
Development Mid-fi prototype, usability testing
Refinement: Hi-fi prototype and implementation of design implications
How do students feel about traditional campus tours?
Contextual Inquiry
To create an app that truly resonates with the target audience and meets their expectations, I interviewed eight subjects with diverse backgrounds, including incoming, current, and graduated college students, as well as parents. All subjects had experience with college tours, ensuring valuable insights for the integrated experience. I considered factors like gender, age, area of study, hometown, and progress in college for a well-rounded representation. Additionally, I included individuals who toured schools other than UW Madison for insights into varied university tour experiences.
Objectives for 1:1 Interviews
- Understand participants' expectations and preferences for college tours
- Uncover challenges or frustrations participants faced during college tours
- Capture insights from participants who toured universities beyond UW Madison
- Gauge participants' interest and engagement during previous college tours
Overall, people desired a more personally tailored tour experience.
Affinity Map
With each major insight on a sticky note, I grouped the insights by similarity and topic. The following themes emerged:
- Familiarity with Campus: Participants commonly exhibit prior familiarity with the school or campus before embarking on an official tour
- Valuing Campus Environment: The prestige and overall environment of a university hold significant value for individuals participating in college tours
- Interest in Major-Specific Exploration: Participants express a preference for exploring campus buildings and departments affiliated with their major or area of interest during the tour
- Limited Input on Tour Details: Participants generally express a lack of involvement in the planning details of the tour, suggesting a desire for more personalized and informative experiences
- Yearning for Immersive Experiences: There is a collective preference for an immersive tour experience that involves interaction with current students and offers a glimpse into campus life
User Persona
I summarized the most glaring motivations, goals, and frustrations into a single persona.
Journey Map
Based on the user persona, I created a journey map to visually represent the key stages, touchpoints, and emotional experiences that the user goes through when engaging with the integrated campus tour experience. Visually mapping out these stages helped me identify opportunities for improvement and areas to enhance user satisfaction.
From the major frustrations that most interviewees expressed, I outlined the main features that Badger Tours could have and organized them to form a concept analysis.
Conceptual Model
Next, I created a conceptual model diagram for Badger Tours to visually represent the fundamental concepts and their relationships, providing a clear, high-level overview of how the user can interact with the system.
Mid-Fi Prototype
Due to the complexity of this project and the level of detail required for testing, I opted to skip the lo-fi prototype. Using artifacts from the Discovery phase, I created a mid-fi prototype with the following key screens:
- Home Screen with prompt to create tour
- Token scanner and camera
- Information on campus locations and buildings
- Tour creation
- Itinerary
- Slideshow generation
- Ask Questions page
Usability Testing
In a mix of in-person and Zoom 1:1 usability tests, I tested the prototype with eight users and gauged their abilities to complete four major task flows. I aimed for a diverse participant group that includes incoming freshmen, current students, parents, graduates, individuals with varied technological proficiencies, and diverse majors to ensure a comprehensive assessment of the app's effectiveness and user-friendliness.
Tasks:
1. Learn more about campus buildings and create your itinerary
2. Ask a question on the forum
3. Scan location tokens for a scoop of ice cream at the terrace
4. Take photos and generate a slideshow
Spoiler Alert: They liked it a lot! But I still had some things to fix...
Menu
- The “Ask Questions” and “FAQ” options might be too close together and they convey ideas that are similar and could have easily confused the users
- One user commented that she wishes the menu items were further apart so she doesn’t click on the wrong one
- Users were overwhelmed by number of menu choices. They had to read through all before making a selection
Design Implications:
- Consolidate menu items into broader categories
- Display menu differently across bottom of screen
- Put “Ask Questions” and “FAQ” in the same menu category
Before
After
Itinerary
- The edit icon might have been too unclear for the 7 users to realize they had the option to go back and modify their itinerary.
- The “VIEW ITINERARY” button could be too confusing when it’s on the homepage, especially when a lot of users wouldn’t even have one yet.
Design Implications:
- Create separate button for itinerary in menu bar
- Make edit icon more visible with label and placement
Before
After
Locations
- “...it would be easier for people if they could search for a location rather than scrolling through them all.”
- 6 out of 8 users reached the “Locations” page by clicking the linked button in “Create My Tour”; 2 got there by clicking it from the menu.
- It was hard for users to keep track of locations they'd like to add due to having to navigate back and forth between the "Locations" and "Create My Tour" screens.
Design Implications:
- Implement search bar and category suggestions on locations screen
- Make location information immediately accessible under “Create My Tour” with ability to add to itinerary without having to go to a separate page
Before
After
Participants had no trouble navigating through the token scanner and slideshow features. Many expressed interest in the features and felt like it would make the experience more engaging. These features will be refined aesthetically in the hi-fi prototype.
"It's like I have little tasks to complete for a reward at the end. Plus I'd get to see the Memorial Union and get ice cream like I'm one of the students!"
Reflection & Next Steps
For the most part, this project went very smoothly. The main concern overall had to do with information architecture and how menu items were categorized and displayed. The next step involves creating a functional, high-fidelity prototype. This prototype will be strategically designed based on the usability testing insights and will serve as a tangible representation of the planned enhancements. The intention is to present this prototype to a broader user base for additional feedback, fostering a continuous iterative process. Moving forward, the goal is to enhance the application's usability and user experience systematically. The iterative nature of the project will persist, with a commitment to refining based on ongoing user feedback and aligning the application more closely with user needs until the problem is successfully addressed!