Problem: Lack of participation in school events and elections.
Solution: An app where you are given real rewards for completing tasks, such as voting for SGA elections, to encourage the student body to participate more, and also inform them more about what is going on in school.
Rewards should appeal to the students
Should inform the user enough about the task for them to be able to effectively complete it
Filtering (search, sort by button, task tagging with corresponding labels) - to allow the user to engage in areas that interest them most
Start page: Log in/create account page
Two tab focus: at the top, there is the task tab and a rewards tab, where you can easily switch back and forth between
Main page: after logging in, it will load into task view
If you click on a task, it will expand to show more information on how to complete the task and any other information the user would need to know about it
filtering options immediately below tabs + tags assigned to tasks
The rewards tab has the same filtering options and shows all available rewards
After testing our paper prototype, the only usability problem we came across was that users were confused about how to proceed after finding a task they wanted to complete. We refined the prototype by better detailing the expanded view of a task and also adding an unchecked box to the bottom right corner of each task. This better aligns with what is expected from a task completion app and communicates to the user what they must do once they have completed the task. After this box is checked, it changes to a bright green color, and the points are given to the user's account
See below updated paper prototypes!
This was a very interesting experience for me because I have never done anything like this before. What became apparent quickly was that designing a product with the user in mind is much harder than it seems. As a designer, certain features or flows feel obvious, but during testing, we realized that what makes sense to us is not always clear to the user. This became one of the most important lessons for me throughout the process. It became clear to me why user testing is such a critical step when designing - it exposes blind spots and highlights where our assumptions don’t hold up.
When my group and I were creating our prototype, we drew some inspiration from apps we were already familiar with, but a lot of our work came from ideas we imagined ourselves. On the one hand, it gave us creative freedom; on the other hand, it made it difficult to translate what was in our heads into something tangible and user-friendly. I kept asking myself: how do you communicate functionality clearly so that the user not only understands it but feels comfortable engaging with it?
Through this process, my confidence in my abilities has grown. At the start, I wasn’t sure if I would be able to predict what users wanted or needed, but by the end, I felt more aware of user perspectives and better equipped to think critically about design choices. I also realized that “good” design often goes unnoticed, while poor design becomes obvious right away. This made me appreciate how much thought and effort go into creating seamless, intuitive products. Overall, this project helped me see that user-centered design is not just about creativity, it is about empathy, clarity, and a willingness to adapt.
This prototype was made to showcase three key features of our application:
Easily filter through tasks
Completing a task - including: learn about a task context/information needed to complete, mark the task as complete, and collect stars (app's point system)
Redeem a reward - including: selecting an available reward, exchanging the required number of stars for the reward, and getting a QR code that will allow for the collection of the reward
The main change I see in myself is my attitude towards Figma. I used to be the biggest Figma hater ever, but after spending so much time working on it, I actually started to enjoy the process. I began to appreciate the tiny details and the intricate structure that Figma allows for. I kept discovering new features - like how you can create a pop-up screen on the same frame instead of duplicating it just to show an interaction. I even caught myself wanting to simplify and polish my whole design just to make it cleaner. It is very time-consuming, though, so I did not, but this experience gave me a newfound respect for designers. Turning a simple idea into a full prototype takes so much effort, research, and creativity, and that’s just the pre-work!