QUT Student App
Client:
Queensland University of Technology (QUT)
Role:
UI / UX
Tools:
Sketch, Adobe Illustrator, Adobe Photoshop, Invision
o1. The Problem
The Queensland University of Technology (QUT) is one of Australia’s leading universities with over 49,000 students enrolled. The university required an app to assist its students in all walks of their university life.
Our goal was to create an app that addressed the desires of the students while still remaining in line with the business goals of the university.
o2. The Process
User Journey Mapping workshops
We conducted extensive user journey mapping sessions with staff and students present. This highlighted assumptions, pain points, and areas of opportunity.
Insights
Each student tackles their degree differently so it would be impossible to design an app that would address every student’s individual needs. Therefore, being able to personalise their app experience was key.
Getting a degree is stressful and therefore anything that could be done to minimise stress was a priority. This included providing real-time data for classes, exams, bus timetables, etc. It was also important to highlight but not overly emphasize negative outcomes that may have been achieved such as low grades.
Wireframing
The app was developed in agile, and as such features were designed individually and iteratively. Rough wireframes were rapidly produced before moving onto hi-fidelity mockups.
Prototyping
Mockups were produced in Sketch and prototyped using Invision for testing. Feedback from user testing was provided via Invision.
o3. Visual Design
Colour
I developed a colour scheme of twelve bright colours to distinguish between units. Twelve unit colours covered the average full-time student for a year and a half before any colours would have to be repeated.
In selecting the colours, each had to meet the following criteria:
- They had to be distinct enough so that units would not be confused for each other,
- however they also had to be cohesive amongst each other, and
- they had to fit in with the existing QUT primary blue
Primary colours
#28487B
#1F385E
#7F9CCE
Unit colours
#F56D5F
#E794B0
#785CBC
#7B87C6
#5DA4EF
#53B9D1
#52A39A
#7BB872
#B5D38A
#FCD16D
#F4B14E
#EE7850
Design System
Due to the size of the app and the fact that each feature was designed separately and in agile, a design system was developed to ensure consistency was maintained across all features.
o4. The Outcome
The result was an app that despite being highly complex, felt very familiar. Over the course of 18 months we developed a student dashboard, inbox, calendar, study hub (including access to grades, exams, and assessment information), shuttle bus timetable, parking availability around campus, wayfinding, and a student help hub.
Calendar
The calendar encompasses the class timetable, events the student may have signed up to using the QUT event system, exams, and assessment due dates. Students are able to create events and reminders for themselves based on how they personally like to manage their time.
Units
The units feature is an extensive overview of all the units a student has enrolled to in the past and present. Students have access to their teachers contact information, an overview of the assessments required, exams, and their grades achieved.
Grades
Students are able to find a complete history of their grades for a course, see how this affects their overall grade and apply for any reviews necessary.
Get Help
The Get Help feature is a hub of contact points available for students in their time of need. The idea was to create a simple point of call in which they could get access to whatever help they needed, in whatever contact method suited them.
Events
A complete list of events happening on campuses to which students are able to register and add to their student calendar.
Parking
A list of all the parking facilities around campuses with the number of available spots. A map view of the parking feature was also developed.
HDR Overview
Higher Degree of Research (HDR) students required a dashboard to manage their post-graduate degree. This included a progress summary, information about their next milestone due, links to educational events, and relevant information about their scholarship.