JAG

JAG (Join A Group) was created with a partner in an Intro to UX course while in college. The idea stemmed from my partner and I having a tough time socially at school. Similarly to some of the ideas presented in HERO, we wanted to create a way to help students connect with others. The common thread tends to be that the quieter and more shy folks still crave connection, of course, and there’s not much that really speaks to that crowd.

The goal with JAG was to figure out how we could better facilitate connection on college campuses.

Role: Designer & Researcher
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Focus: UX Research, UI Design, Brand Design
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Year: 2019

The Problem

1. There is a disconnect in the technology of the outer world and with what we are provided at universities.

2. For some, meeting others can be a daunting task & there is not much to help alleviate the associated stress.

3. There is no easy way to connect virtually with all students at universities.

The Question

How can we facilitate and encourage connecting with others on college campuses?

JAG (Join A Group) is an experience made to connect people on college campuses through their interests or needs. Whether it be for social or academic purposes, JAG is there to help students create more shared experiences.

JAG does this by allowing students to:
- Make new friends with similar and/or niche interests
- Meet people who have skills they are interested in
- Form study groups that work with their schedules and needs
- Gain awareness of all on and off-campus events

Low-Fi Prototype & Testing

We created a paper prototype and tested with a few students on campus. We tested out two different tasks with the participants:

- Filter and join a social event
- Join and then withdraw from an event

The goal for both of these tasks was to see if the prototype was functional, if users understood the experience, and to get feedback on what was working or not working in the overall experience.

Mid-Fi Prototype

Our feedback from the low-fi testing allowed us to make the changes seen below for the mid-fi prototype.

Information Button Added

Users had a hard time understanding what each mode meant and wanted definitions, so we added information buttons for users to read about them before selecting.

Home Button Added

There was no way to reach the application home during low-fi testing (it was a palm to the face moment).

User Profile Page Updated

Profile Page was not its fullest potential before. The new profile added goals so students may feel like they are held a bit more accountable

High-Fi Prototype

Our feedback from the mid-fi testing allowed us to make the changes seen below for the high-fi prototype.

Color Added For Differentiation

Users had a hard time understanding the difference between each mode when toggling, so we added color to differentiate between each mode.

DM Option Added & Option to Limit Number of Attendees

Users wanted direct messages as a feature on the application. They thought it would be especially valuable when creating an event, so we added an "Allow DMs" check box for users when they are creating an event or post.
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Users wanted to limit how many people could attend events for safety reasons, and just as a general feature.

Heart Removed & Search Bar Added

Heart/Like feature was getting confused with the bookmark feature, so we removed it and kept the bookmark for users to be able to save posts and events for viewing later.

Users wanted to be able to quickly search for events or posts on the feed, so we added a search bar at the top of the screen.

Design Assets & Project Details

Style Guide

User Journey Maps

Personas

Digital Low-Fi Prototype

High-Fi Prototype