iHUB

Ideation

The main goals that we wanted to address in our design was to make this interface simpler and easier to use than the current communication system. It was important to have a good feedback system to reduce frustration on both for both end users. To make the interface simpler, we tried to limit the number of steps that it would take to get to the end goal as addressed in the scenario. To make the interface easier to use, we tried to make the system work proactively to assist the user in their inquiries. To meet these goals we plotted out flow diagrams to visualize the path of the interface and created wireframes based on the flow. Then we cleaned up the wireframes that we thought would work best to make paper prototypes so that we could do some user testing.

The features of the student interface include:

• making urgent messages very visible to catch attention of the user
• as user types in message to the HUB, smart system displays possibly related FAQs based on message keywords
• confirmation page to verify that message has been sent, and expected response time
• message thread that is accessible throughout system to avoid confusion

The features of the HUB interface include:

• ticketing system to help prioritize messages
• message thread that is accessible throughout system to avoid confusion
• improved access to student account information, to facilitate answering of personal questions
• assignment option to pass inquiries on to the appropriate assistant director

Flow diagrams

Wireframes

The wireframes were very rough and quick because we went through many different sketches and screen layouts to figure out which one was most suitable.

Paper Prototypes

The wireframes were further refined into paper prototypes for user testing, but not too realistic looking because we didn't want to give the false impression to the test subject or even to ourselves that it was finalized. Still having a rough look allowed room to improve and polish the interface after the user testing.