Course Planning Concept for University Admissions
My Role: Solo designer
Timeline: Jun 2023 - Aug 2023
Deliverables: UI/UX
Tools: Sketch, Jira, Confluence
Team: Worked within a design team and discussed with stakeholders
ITS supports higher education and research in Sweden by managing IT systems for universities and colleges. Students applying through University Admissions often struggled to organize and prioritize their courses effectively.
The existing process was manual and time-consuming — many relied on Google Docs or Excel sheets to:
Track university points
Avoid schedule conflicts
Compare and prioritize course choices
We saw an opportunity to design a built-in course planner tool that would simplify this process and help students make better-informed decisions.
01
Problem
To understand the challenge, I analyzed user data and previous usability insights from the admissions process. I also explored how planners and course selection tools were designed in other systems.
Key Insights & Inspirations
A timeline visualization could help students see overlaps and scheduling conflicts more clearly
Clear separation between visualizations (overview) and actionable sections (decisions) reduced confusion
Labels should be concise and direct — too much explanatory text created unnecessary complexity
02
Research
I designed multiple versions of the course planner to explore different placements and interactions.
Initially, the planner was considered as a tab within course search, but after feedback, I explored integrating it into “My Selection”, where students already manage choices.
I iterated on layouts to balance clarity with functionality, ensuring that students could mark, prioritize, and review their selections without adding cognitive overload.
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
The course planner concept provides students with:
An easy way to mark and compare courses
A timeline view to identify potential conflicts
A structured space in “My Selection” to prioritize final choices
What I Learned
Clear titles are critical — vague names make tools harder to understand
Separating visualization from actions (timeline vs. selection tools) reduced complexity
Simplification matters — removing functionality from the timeline and aligning it with existing system behavior improved clarity and user trust
This project strengthened my ability to design conceptual tools that simplify complex processes, with a focus on clarity, usability, and alignment with user workflows.
