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In Spring 2020, COVID-19 hit, shutting down campuses and forcing everything online. Students like me faced a new reality: juggling virtual classes, remote social lives, and constant uncertainty. It was tough. That's why my team and I built an app to help students adapt and succeed in this new atmosphere.
UX Designer - My team and I collaborated on the full end-to-end design process for ReCOVIDry, including empathizing, ideation, defining, and prototyping. I took the lead on the visual design aspect, and created a lot of the interactive elements - this included crafting the style guide and ensuring all screens adhered to a cohesive theme and brand.
Senior Capstone Project - March to June 2020
Competitive Analysis, Journey Map, Personas, User Flow, Sketches, Wireframes, Style Guide, High-fidelity Designs, End-to-end Design Process
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THE WHOLE WORLD WAS SHUT DOWN! The transition to remote learning presented a brand new set of challenges for students. These include:
This shift impacted over 1.5 billion students globally.
"Some professors are great at online teaching, but others haven't figured it out yet. It takes a lot of self-discipline to stay motivated in a virtual classroom."
"Not everyone has a good internet connection or a reliable computer at home. This pandemic has widened the gap between students who have resources and those who don't, making online learning even harder for some."
Recognizing a need for student support while navigating this “new normal,” the idea of ReCOVIDry was born. The app aims to be a companion in going through a pandemic-impacted college experience. By optimizing daily tasks through unique schedules and customized routes, ReCOVIDry focuses on task management to empower students to:
+ Improve academic performance
+ Reduce stress levels
+ Enhance mental well-being
Target Audience: College Students
College students like Sabrina faced a massive shift when COVID hit. Their education and social lives went online, disrupting everything. By understanding Sabrina's struggles, we can design a product that helps students not just get by, but actually thrive in this "new normal."
Researching market competitors for existing task management apps to identify areas of opportunity in the low subscription cost and a minimal learning curve space.
The featured products are commonly used by college students to organize assignments, tests, projects, and notes. By analyzing this market during COVID and building on features that were already available, we were able to create a product that stands out from the crowd - one that offers a unique value proposition by focusing on the "adjustment" aspect of student life in the pandemic.
Identifying pain points: in this scenario, Sabrina struggles to create an effective schedule for her daily life and balance priorities.
User Journey Map Insights
ReCOVIDry App Needs
Creating a user flow ensures the app focuses on the most important features: suggesting optimal schedules. By inputting students' classes and preferences, ReCOVIDry can suggest ideal study times, helping with time management and passing classes.
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Drafting screen layouts & creating first-iteration interactions.
Defining the structure of each screen, including user flow and information hierarchy & creating second-iteration interactions.
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Before investing so much into a high-fidelity design, sketches and wireframes were critical in working out all the kinks in the flow.
Key Functions
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ReCOVIDry aims to improve academic performance by carving out time in between set schedule classes and appointments to address student needs - such as more study, self care, or free time to use as one pleases. By curating three different schedule options for the week, users can choose which best suits their personal preferences, in turn enhancing mental well-being reducing stress levels.
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Were this app to officially launch, user testing would have to be conducted first on the wireframes and low-fidelity prototypes, iterated on, and then again on the high-fidelity prototype and final designs. From there, I would record relevant metrics to showcase the app's success, such as improved test scores due to effective use of scheduling on the app.
These data metrics would determine the direction of marketing campaigns to increase app usage and user downloads to further support business initiatives.
ReCOVIDry, my final project at UCSD before graduation, was a brainchild project and one that resonated closely to the experiences my colleagues and I faced at the time. The quarter didn't go as planned, but it taught me a lot about constantly adjusting to the circumstances. I was so used to working with teams in person, so meeting through Zoom was a challenge at first, but enabled our team to efficiently allocate tasks and build trust.
This experience solidified my passion for UX through my ability to adapt, learn quickly, and thrive in collaborative environments. I discovered the convenience of Figma plugins in this project and built on my visual design skills also. I can't wait to learn more and leverage these skills in my next UX role -- bring it on!
[Spring 2020]
