NET-Y-U
A networking tool designed to help graduate students at NYU advance their professional and academic goals across disciplines.
Overview
NYU is a unique university as its campuses are spread across different parts of New York.
This project showcases the underlying issues surrounding networking for NYU graduate students, and addresses these issues through the design solution of an NYU Networking site called “NET-Y-U.”
Role
UI/UX Designer
UX Researcher
Group Members
Srishty Bhavsar
Lourdes Keochgerien
George Wang
Kathy Laguerre
Tools
Figma
Fig Jam
Duration
12 weeks
Class
User Experience Design - New York University
Introduction
Problem
NYU graduate students with full-time jobs feel isolated due to insufficient time for their studies and career exploration.
How Might We?
How might we help NYU Graduate students build cross-departmental relationships with students and faculty in other disciplines to broaden their academic and professional perspectives?
Research
User Interviews
We first conducted 5 user initial user interviews amongst NYU graduate students about their experiences balancing their job and school. This involved designing an interview brief with questions about their background, community experience, challenges, and values at NYU.
Affinity Diagram
All responses from the user interviews were clustered into an affinity diagram to observe the main themes of the issues presented. We learned that most NYU students interact with students within their classes however feel isolated from the rest of the NYU campus. In addition, some students expressed its difficult to balance their work life, personal life, and school life.
Affinity Diagram of User Interview Responses
User Surveys
To gain more user data amongst a larger audience of working graduate students in the NYU community, we conducted 17 google form surveys.
Through this survey, we were able to collect both quantitative and qualitative data about our users. The data from the surveys and the interviews ultimately informed our key findings and insights about NYU working graduate students. Users had various feedback about networking and events. In addition we learned the primary modes in which NYU students currently network so that we could evaluate if there was a potential scope to research the theme of Networking at NYU.
Qualitative Data Example
Quantitative Data Example
User Personas
The first persona is based on the qualitative data about being a graduate working student that was found from the user interviews and the free response section of the survey. The second persona is primarily based on the qualitative and quantitative data results of the survey.
Qualitative User Persona
Quantitative User Persona
User Need Statement + Insights
Working NYU graduate students need to bridge the gap between different programs, and their academic and professional careers because they feel isolated.
Insight #1
Students want to network outside their program:
Insight #2
Students feel distant and secluded amongst other programs
“[I] Felt a bit distant from the NYU community. That may be attributed to my personal endeavors but also there was a bit of seclusion between disciplines.”
- User 6; Survey
Insight #3
Cross-department interaction is difficult
“It's really difficult to interact with other departments because some are in Manhattan and we are in Brooklyn.”
- User 5; Interview
Design
How might we help NYU Graduate students build cross-departmental relationships with students and faculty in other disciplines to broaden their academic and professional perspectives?
Sketching and Ideation
SCAMPER Ideation Method
Currently, NYU has a website called “NYU Engage” which has some existing networking features. Because NYU Engage does not solve our design problem and has its own issues, we decided to use the SCAMPER ideation method to analyze the website, and potentially generate design ideas for our product.
Existing site screenshot: “NYU Engage”
SCAMPER analysis of “NYU Engage”
In the sketching and ideation phase of the project, our team wanted to generate as many free flowing design solution ideas as possible. This was done through quick hand-drawn sketching and the Scamper process.
We each critiqued each others idea sketches with feedback. In summary we enjoyed ideas that gave users an aspect of personalization as current networking sites such as "NYU engage" lacked features allowing students to customize their profile. In addition, we enjoyed the idea of event organization through a map or calendar. Finally, we were interested in a design style that resembled a network map.
My hand-drawn Sketch Ideas
Sketches of George Wang, Kathy Laguerre and Lourdes Keochgerien
Lo-Fidelity Prototypes and Usability Testing
Upon agreement, we each decided to design 3 lo-fidelity screen interfaces for our potential networking website product.
Home Page that allows users to access the various different pages and is reminiscent of a network map diagram.
Event map that visualizes event locations on a map while allowing users to filter by time, category, or proximity.
Profile Page that allows users to customize information about themselves such as their interests.
These lo-fidelity prototypes were tested by users and we were able to gather insights about how to redesign our final high fidelity prototypes. The testing process was accommodated through a usability testing plan, and helped us observe how users interacted with the prototype in real time.
Task 1
Locate the the map feature to find networking events for that day and return to homepage
Task 2
Locate the profile page and communicate/view connections.
Home Page Lo-Fi
The idea of the home page began with the concept of a traditional network map with nodes and links. We wanted to make the profile button the biggest node in the center the aspect of profile personalization. Around the profile button are various other pages on the networking tool. We additionally included some basic CTAS about Net-Y-U at the footer of the page.
Usability Testing Notes:
Users did not know how to choose the profile option or what all the icon buttons represented because there was no text
Users were confused why the buttons had different sizes
Users also did not see importance in the bottom CTAS as they were not key features of the product
Event Map Lo-Fi
The event map was designed to accommodate feedback about users wishing they could have a more intuitive and organized way to look for career and academic events at NYU. Currently "NYU Engage" lists the events happening through lengthy grid and filter format. In our map design we were inspired by UI of Google Maps.
Usability Testing Notes:
Users found the filter labels too generic and visually overwhelming
Users wished the filters had iconography or color
Users did not know how to return to the home page
Users liked the map functionality and the ability to see the pin points of different events
Profile Page Lo-Fi
Our profile page was design primarily with the notes we observed about "NYU engage" lacking elements of profile personalization. We thought about tools like handshake and Linkedin, and how the users own personal data and interests should drive the connections and events they are interested in. We additionally speculated the use of AI recommendations within our design.
Usability Testing Notes:
Users liked the idea of a customizable profile
Users could not make sense of the panel on the right hand side of the screen with connections
Users could not figure out how to message others
Users could not figure out how to get back to the home page
High Fidelity Prototypes
After the usability testing of the lo-fidelity prototype, we needed to consider the deadline of the final prototype and figure out which feedback we should prioritize. For our high fidelity prototype we prioritized developing the most design changes with the home screen and event map. The profile page would still be designed in greater detail but its functionality would be limited in respect to managing our time.
Event Map Hi-Fi
Changes Made:
Universal navigation bar
Filter drawer with checkbox selections
Icons
Cohesion with NYU brand colors
Improved layout and font selection
Home Page Hi-Fi
Changes Made:
Universal navigation bar
New Hoverable Icons
Moved notification center
Profile page clearer
Cohesion with NYU brand colors
Improved layout and font selection