Course Planning Concept
ITS enhances higher education and research in Sweden by developing, managing, and operating IT systems for universities and colleges. For this project, I created a conceptual design for a course planner on their University Admissions website. The idea was to provide students with a tool to help them prioritize and easily overview the courses they are interested in.
My Role: Solo designer
Timeline: Feb 2024 - Mar 2024
01
Problem Statement
The problem that many students struggled with was organizing and prioritizing their courses effectively. Their current solution involved extensive research and creating Google Docs or Excel sheets to figure out how to accumulate enough university points, avoid scheduling conflicts, and ensure they weren't inadvertently prioritizing less preferred courses. Therefore, we saw a need to provide the students with a tool that would simplify this process.
02
Research
To kick off this project, I began by analyzing previous user data to identify usability issues in the course application process. I also examined various designs for course planners and planners in general, exploring different functionalities and solutions available in the market. Drawing inspiration from these observations, I focused on conceptualizing a course planner tailored to user needs. My key inspiration points based on user data and market exploration:
Visualizing courses in a timeline format
Ensuring a clear distinction between visualization and actionable sections
Prioritizing clear labeling over explanatory text.
03
Concept Development
In order to assess and develop a concept that would enhance user experience, I crafted several versions and proposals for integrating and visualizing the course planner tool. Initially, I considered incorporating the course planner as a tab within the course search. However, following discussions with my team, I opted to explore adding the planner to "My Selection" as well. Below are some mockups of the final design concept.
04
Outcome & Takeaways
Through this project, I learned the importance and challenge of naming titles effectively. Clear titles are crucial for user understanding; vague titles can complicate a tool unnecessarily and affect users' cognitive schema. After creating prototypes and receiving feedback from other designers, I realized that adding functionality like "add" to the time visualization could confuse users. To simplify, I removed all functionality from the timeline, aligning its behavior and placement with the website's existing features. While this approach may not suit all projects, it proved suitable here, especially in projects with multiple buttons and choices for users. The key lessons I learned from this project was:
Making clear titles is essential
Separating actionable vs unactionable sections can be a solution for simplicity