StudyTop

Overview

In this class project we explored how the concept of the "shared economy" could be used to find solutions to problems that students can experience on campus. My team decided to take on the challenge of improving study spaces on campus.
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Team: 4 students
Timeline: 3 months

The Problem

Study spaces are often a big concern on college campuses, and especially at Georgia Tech. While building more spaces is one solution, it is often costly and is a long term process for the school. Instead we looked to the shared economy to see if we could redesign the study space experience without building any new physical spaces.

Research

We began our research by conducting some ethnographic observations and user interviews. Additionally, the team conducted secondary research by browsing sites like Reddit, to see what frustrations students experience while looking for a study space on campus.

User Persona

We created 2 basic personas from the research.

Click on the images to expand.

Insights

We found that students look to three criteria when searching for the ideal study space: personalization, convenience and security.

• Personalization: Each student has different learning styles. Some students prefer an entirely quiet environment, while some prefer to be around other students for motivation. Additionally, when students have to do group projects, they often look for areas with more whiteboard space and would like to converse. Thus, the study space area needs to be tailored to fit the students’ needs and project.
• Convenience: When students go out to study, between study sessions, they often have to suddenly charge their dying laptops or realize that they are hungry. Students would like a space with amenities such as outlets and whiteboards. Students also want the option to get food nearby, even if it is a vending machine for a snack.
• Security: When students have to leave their space, one concern is the security of their belongings. Some students carry all their stuff with them because they fear it will be stolen if it is left at the table. But this can cause students to lose their existing study spaces.

Ideation

With the research complete, the next step in our the process was ideation. Together, my team and I came up with 40 ideas and categorized them by our 3 design criteria: personalization, convenience, and security.

Proposed Solution

After identifying some solution ideas, we created a few low fidelity prototypes to test with students in our class and identify which of the 3 ideas would be a better direction: VR, a table interface, or an app.

After the initial impressions, the table interface was the clearest option that was easiest to understand.

User Testing

We moved into paper prototyping and used the "Wizard-of-Oz" technique for user testing within the target user group. Based on the user feedback and due to the simple nature of paper prototyping, we were able to make real time changes to the prototype building upon each test.

Low Fidelity Product

After the user testing, data was collected through think aloud feedback and a short survey (including the System Usability Survey questions). This data was then analyzed to discover the changes to be made. The final step in the process was to create a higher fidelity prototype using Balsamiq.