" Help college students who take online classes maintain focus and motivation "

Background

This project was part of the CS 220 Human-Computer Interaction course at Wellesley College that I registered for to learn more about the HCI field as a whole and UX Design. The class focused on user-centered design, with lectures and in-class activities about usability, accessibility, and research.

Problem

College students who take online classes struggle with motivation to do work and accountability to complete it from home. They report about poor time management and organization skills to perform well in virtual classes as well as feeling lonely and isolated from their peers.

Preview

Organize & Customize

Socialize

Take Accountability

Solution

GoBuddy is a mobile social productivity app that allows users to interact with each other, while providing them a customizable to-do list organizer with different accountability options.

User Personas

First Designs

We created 2 different designs sketches and iterated over them, combining and removing some of their features.

Storyboards

I created a storyboard scenario to represent our ideas for the app and illustrate how one of our user personas would add a task to a to-do list:
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User Analysis

After conducting user interviews, our team gathered that:

Organization‍

🔴 Pain Point:
College students find it hard to keep track of all the assignments as different professors use different platforms.
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🔵 Insight:
College students seek a platform that is straightforward and easy to use, where they can write down their homework assignments and other work they need to complete in one place.

Loneliness & Motivation

🔴 Pain Point:
College students miss meeting up with their friends, studying together, and helping each other emotionally and academically.

🔵 Insight:
College students feel more motivated working with other students. One student reported: "Having a friend working with me and seeing them work makes me feel motivated and reminds me to get my work done too."

Responsibility

🔴 Pain Point:
College students feel discouraged to do online school work because it does not feel "real" to them.

🔵 Insight:
Some students tick off a task from a to-do list without finishing it just because it is satisfying. Thus, sometimes students need be kept more accountable to complete assignments.

Key Features

Based on user interviews, we determined 3 key features:
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Buddies

Users can message, video, and audio call their friends, create group chats, and share goals

Goals

Users can create goals, customize them, and choose accountability measures to keep them responsible

Find Buddies

Users can find new friends using filters, such as institution and location

Wireframe Prototype

Usability Testing

Heuristic Evaluation & Moderated User Testing

Description

⚠️ Issue
Some elements were not straightforward for users (goals icon at the bottom of the screen).
✨ Improvement
Added descriptions. Learnability improved as users were able to quickly find where they needed to go in the app.
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Wording

⚠️ Issue
Some descriptions did not match actual representations of actions and expectations of users.
‍✨ Improvement
Making new goals became easier as descriptions of actions started accurately representing actions themselves. For example, "description" was changed to "name" because users were prompted to add a name of a goal first.
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Consistency

⚠️ Issue
Some icons were square, while others were round.
‍✨ Improvement
All icons (profile pictures, "boxes" to tick, etc.) were rounded to achieve a consistent look.
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Visual Design

Final Prototype

Creating and Customizing Goals

We wanted to make the interface of GoBuddy straightforward and easy to navigate as well as make customization possible to improve user satisfaction.

Creating goals is simple yet there are options for customization to make them more aesthetically pleasing. Users can choose between different fonts, colors, and text decorations. They can also add pictures and videos of their choice that will motivate them.

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Accountability Measures

It is no surprise that college students tend to procrastinate and need a "push" to complete their work. For example, the anti-procrastination "The Manuscript Writing Cafe" in Japan gained a lot popularity because you cannot leave the cafe until you finish your work.

Users can choose between 2 (or both) accountability measures: location and picture. If a user chooses those accountability measures, in order to complete a goal, the user will be prompted to physically go to a location that they indicated when they made the goal and take a picture of an object of their choice.
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Interacting with Friends - Share Goals

Users have the option to share their goals with friends. The goals can be liked and that way, users can motivate each other.

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Interacting with Friends - Chat & Call

Users can create group chats, call, and use the Pomodoro feature. That way, they can study together and feel less isolated when taking online classes.

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Find Friends

More introverted users can find friends in GoBuddy, filtering by location and institution.

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Other Ways Users are Motivated

Final Video Prototype

Next Iteration

If we had more time, we would implement:

🔔 Reminders Page‍

Users would have the option to set a reminder to complete their goals.

🔒 Lock Screen Accountability Measure

Users would have three different accountability options: location, picture, and lock screen. Locking the screen would help users to put their devices aside to be more productive.

Thoughts

Designing GoBuddy was a deeply enriching experience. I learned several specific lessons through this project:
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- Intuitive Design: Ensuring that app features and icons are intuitive helps users navigate the app more efficiently. I learned this when refining the goals icon and adding descriptive labels.
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- Consistency Matters: Maintaining consistent design elements, such as icon styles and terminology, is crucial for user familiarity and ease of use. I saw this impact when we standardized the icons and revised the language for clarity.
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- Precision in Interaction: Providing clear and specific instructions, as well as appropriately sized interaction fields, significantly improves user experience. This was evident when we adjusted descriptions and field sizes based on user feedback.
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- Motivational Features: Integrating features that address common user challenges, such as procrastination and isolation, can greatly enhance user engagement and satisfaction. Our accountability measures and social features were designed with this in mind.
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This project underscored the importance of a user-centered approach and how thoughtful design can address real-world issues. Working in a team and under academic guidance provided a robust learning environment, reinforcing my passion for UX Design and its impact on everyday life.