The Problem?
The professors at UVU have been tasked to schedule their classes with a very cumbersome and confusing app in which they are required to manually parse through loads of data and organize their schedules manually. It takes too much time and there is little pay off for the amount of effort required.
Screenshot of UVU's current calendar system
User Story:
Ada is a professor at UVU and loves to teach. She wants to make sure the students have the greatest experience they can, so she has joined some committees to help students, including the class scheduling committee.
Scenarios:
Ada tries to spend as much time as she can to help students, but she has to spend so much time on class scheduling, because of the terrible system, that she doesn’t have the time she wants with her students.
Ada talks with many of the other people on the scheduling committee who all complain about the terrible scheduling system and want a less time consuming system.
User Goals:
Ada’s goal is to find a better system for scheduling so that her and all the other professors have more time for their students.
The Proposition?
Our hope as a team of developers and designers was to create a one stop app that professors could upload their proposed schedules (csv files); our app would then parse the data automatically, and then professors could view/filter their schedules as they please.
We strived to make an app that streamlines the process of scheduling and would in turn save time for the professors. We sought for the same simplicity that calendars like Google and Outlook provide.
Google Calendar
Outlook Calendar
Design Approach?
In order to make a better calendar app than what the professors were using previously, we wanted to focus on Progressive Disclosure and Hick’s Law.
In one whole space, we would need to the user to be able to upload a CSV file with their data, a calendar that the data would be displayed on, a filter system, and more.
With these design design principles as the focus, we knew we would be able to accomplish our design goals.
Progressive Disclosure: “A strategy for managing information complexity in which only necessary or requested information is displayed at any given time.”
Hick's Law: “The time it takes to make a decision increases as the number of alternatives increases.”
Surface - Style
We were asked by our client to use the Utah Valley University style guide for this calendar app. Also, we were asked to make the app similar to the pages found on the Academic Scheduling pages on UVU’s official site.
First Design Iterations
In the preliminary stages of designing the surface concepts, we wanted to refine the look of the calendar, import button, and filters. As we iterated on our design, we tested with various users to see how we could improve. As shown below, the design drastically changed from its inception.
Unfortunately this app was only designed for desktops; as such only desktop mockups are showcased here.
New Features and User Testing
After refining the visual design; we wanted to validate the look of the calendar and some new features that we added to the experience. We wanted to establish what an “Add Class,” “Print,” and”Export” windows would like and how they would function.
Although COVID made testing a bit of a hurdler; we were able to pull through. We were able to successfully test remotely with Zoom calls. We did this by sharing the prototype to the user, and then having them share their screen, and then from there we would ask them to perform tasks with the prototype.
Results and Application
From the testing, we gathered we needed to add some more context to our icons and overall design. On top of that, our client asked us to design a change log in order to see the changes made from calendars imported in the system; we were also asked to add some extra printing and exporting options.
These additional features were unfortunately not validated in the timeframe I was working on the project.
Conclusion and Current Progress
Since I left the project in September of 2020, our client was please with the progress we made. Despite the hiccups with COVID, we were able to make some amazing strides.
Since I left, functionality wise, the app can only import a CSV file and have the app parse the data onto the calendar. The filters also work. However, I was able to play a major role in finalizing a design; especially with the user testing. I am proud I was able to headline the user testing and provide my design expertise with this project.
Final Landing Design