InWolvment
Promoting student collaboration and involvement in and around campus.
My Role
Duration
Team
Solo Project
Product & Interaction Designer
12 Weeks - Fall 2021
SI 582 (University of Michigan ) - Introduction to Interaction Design
Project Context
User Research, Interaction Design, Wireframing, High-Fidelity prototyping
Skills
What was the problem?
Joining a grad school is no less than a big life decision. There are a lot of factors that help in this decision. Every new student looks for a helping hand that could make this process easier and smoother. Not only does an incoming student need support but at times current students look out for more socializing aspects through their hobbies, gatherings, etc.
It’s time to address this problem and get InWolvment to the University of Michigan.
Tackling the Problem
Joining a grad school is no less than a big life decision. There are a lot of factors that help in this decision. Every new student looks for a helping hand that could make this process easier and smoother. Not only does an incoming student need support but at times current students look out for more socializing aspects through their hobbies, gatherings, etc.
It’s time to address this problem and get InWolvment to the University of Michigan.
Goal to Achieve
The primary goal of this solution-finding endeavor is to create a dynamic interactive environment within the diverse schools at the University of Michigan. This initiative also seeks to optimize the onboarding process for incoming students, providing tailored support to facilitate their adjustment to life in a new and unfamiliar environment.
Tool/Systems to be used
The journey towards resolving this issue would commence with comprehensive research, including user surveys and interviews. Subsequent steps would involve defining the design scope, refining the problem statement, and progressing through phases of ideation, such as sketching, persona development, prototyping, and usability testing.
Target Audience
There are a wide variety of users that are being
targeted with this application:
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Incoming/International students
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Current cohort
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Alumni network
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Students across all the schools at UofM
Key Features of InWolvment
Research Insights
Turning into Design Ideas
Students felt dissatisfied with superficial mentorship programs, which prioritized addressing immediate concerns over providing genuine support. Both mentors and mentees lacked commitment, hindering the effectiveness of these relationships.
Dissatisfaction with Superficial Mentorship Programs
At the college level, students often demonstrate enhanced performance beyond academics when tasks are incentivized. They actively seek out engaging and rewarding experiences, such as extracurricular activities or projects with incentives like awards or recognition, which serve as powerful motivators to persist and achieve success in their endeavors.
Incentivized Tasks Drive Enhanced College Performance
Connecting with numerous individuals daily, both within and outside class, often relies on social media contacts. However, establishing connections based on validated academic profiles facilitates deeper understanding and easier connections grounded in shared interests.
Enhanced Connections Through Validated Academic Profiles
With the University of Michigan spread across a vast area, it offers students numerous opportunities beyond academics. However, navigating the plethora of events and resources available can be challenging, leading to feelings of being left out or sadness among students who miss out on activities they see advertised.
Challenges in Navigating University Resources
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Users can connect with mentors, peers, and friends based on their official school calendar through this offering. Many survey respondents reported not participating in mentorship programs due to mandatory time commitments.
Flexibile Time Commitments
Motivate students to contribute to the community by rewarding them with incentives like free food, merchandise, and other perks. This approach not only fosters a sense of motivation to give back but also amplifies community support and engagement.
Reward Students for offerings
Foster approachability among upperclassmen by creating a community Q&A platform where they can engage with new students. Encouraging communication beyond academics will promote greater interaction and relationship-building across the campus student community.
Establish Open flow of Communication
Active student participation in campus offerings is crucial for their mental health and well-being. Engaging in cross-school activities fosters relationships and networking opportunities, enhancing students' overall experience and personal growth.
Stay updated with the University
Fostering Communication
The core value of the app is in its social features to help mentors connect with mentees. This app also tries to circumvent in-person interaction as well as encourage it by smart calendar integrations, and badges to give ideas on possible things to do while earning rewards.
Students can easily update their profiles, view and redeem accumulated points for campus dining, MDen merchandise, and academic incentives like early career fair access. They earn more points by referring peers, a key aspect of the app's strategy for campus-wide adoption.
Earn & Redeem rewards
Here’s what would motivate you to use Inwolvment!
Earn Rewards points for your favorite restaurant as you serve as a mentor to a student.
Want to know what are the live events at the North Campus? Find the live event video and location on InnWolvment.
Find people with similar interest and make connections across various schools on Campus
Get acquainted with fun facts around the campus that students discover and share.
It's a good design because....
Based on Michigan color palette, the colors are chosen to provide a brand themed to the application. Wolverine vectors are also used to relate it well with the University.
DESIGN AESTHETICS
The design provides the students with easy options to access what they are looking for. Triggers and icons are designed that are similar to usual applications that makes the design and task flow easily understandable.
UNDERSTANDABLE
INNOVATIVE DESIGN
InnWolvment is an innovative and inclusive design for the University, engaging students from all schools to broaden their campus networks. It encourages participation based on shared interests such as sports, travel, and hobbies, fostering a vibrant and interconnected student community.
USEFUL TO THE USERS
The application designed is a single platform that provides all the students easy access to the mentors, campus updates, meeting the peers or cohort, chat window etc.
The Home Screen provided displays various options that show Events happening around the campus, Posts about any upcoming competition, students looking for apartment etc.
The fun facts lets the student post new facts they encounter about the school etc which lets the user know more fun aspects about their campus.
Know your campus more!
The Onboarding helps students understand the app's main features, allowing mentors & mentees to create personalized profiles.
To reduce new user registration fatigue, the app integrates with the UMich Login API to auto-fill most of the required data. It also asks them to rank their needs from a mentor to help find better pairings.
Discover Mentors
The Discover tab shows potential matches, focusing on what mentees & mentors can talk to each other about, and a small blurb about themselves. Students also have the ability to quickly change their match filters on the go from this screen.