Simplifying the College Experience
The Guide App from EAB
At most colleges, and universities, the resources students need are scattered all over the place, managed by different groups. Guide launched in 2014, with a focus on first time college students. It streamlined the process for on-boarding new students and getting them ready for college life.
Guide had become a disorganized library
Since Guide launched with focus on first time students, that content was easy to find and access. However, as students progressed in their academic life, Guide became less focused. The content and resources were there, but buried in what had essentially become a giant library. Because of this, usage was highest at the beginning of the semester and gradually fell off as the semester progressed.
The state of Guide in 2015
The Challenge
Make Guide a platform for every student
We wanted to evolve Guide beyond new students, and make it a platform for all students, regardless of where they were in their college experience. Because of the strict academic calendar most colleges use, we were on a tight schedule to deliver a finished MVP before the school year began.
In addition, the visual design language of EAB and Guide felt very outdated; Guide felt like a business to business product, not a consumer product targeting a younger demographic. We planned to update that as well.
My Role
I was the lead designer on a team that included another UX designer, a UX researcher, a content strategist, and two product managers.
The Kickoff
We ran a series of design studios with internal stakeholders, designers, developers, and product managers with the goal of creating a central space where students can find everything they need to support their college journey.
The key ideas to come out of the design studios were:
A home screen that acts as a central space to find all the ‘tasks’, content, and resources that are most relevant to you.
A way of ‘checking in’ with students, and connecting them with on campus resources if they need help.
‘Tips’ - small bite size chunks of easily digestible content that could be shown on the home screen.
Concept Designs
Building on the ideas that came out of the design studios, we designed several high fidelity concept designs. We used these high fidelity designs to experiment with the visual design system of EAB.
What did students think?
We did some user research at some nearby schools, to see which concepts resonated the most with students. We built a prototype using InVision and put it in front of students. Our testing pool included four-year university students and community college students, as well as first time users of Guide and students that had used Guide in the past. We had 12 participants.
Not all students are the same
The concerns of community college and four year university students differ greatly. Community college students often have more trouble balancing school and their busy personal lives.
An overwhelmed student is a lost student
Separating content between immediate ‘tasks’ that lived on the home screen and additional, less important content on other screens resonated with students.
A time for everything
Surfacing additional content on the home screen worked as long as that content is relevant to that student right now (such as final exam study tips and resources at the end of the semester).
The school is the source of truth
It matters where the information they see comes from. Trust levels were higher when Guide reflected the schools branding and colors. It felt like an official source they could trust.
Making it real
To fully flesh out and build the whole student experience, we taped up the screens we had to figure out what was missing to fully bring these concepts to life. We then began adding those screens and flows that were missing, and updating our whiteboard as we went along.
Final Designs
Results
The updated Guide experience launched for the fall semester of 2017. In the following school year, we saw…