Path@Penn Redesign
Winter 2024 (4 weeks)
In under four weeks, I have conducted user research and synthesis and, based on the findings, redesigned Path@Penn, the University of Pennsylvania’s current website where students can select and register for classes.
Role: Graphic Designer, UX/UI Designer
Skills: UX Research, User Interview, UI Design, Figma
Overview and problem
The current platform that Penn offers to its students for registering for classes often receives backlash from students regarding its usability and interface design, so I have decided to 1. conduct user research interviews across all four departments at Penn, 2. synthesize my findings and create How Might We statements, 3. create design iterations for low-fidelity prototype and test its usability, 4. design the high-fidelity frames based on the feedback.
After the 10+ user interviews I conducted and the research synthesis, I have decided to focus on two main areas that would fall under a broader problem: the process of selecting, submitting schedule, and registering is sometimes not clear and too cluttered. The first area is the confusing Submitting Registration vs. Submitting Schedule function. The second area is the search and filter options for classes, which can be hard to navigate around.
How Might We
How might we reassure the students that their schedule was successfully submitted during the advanced registration period?
How might we design the function of filtering classes based on time slots (and if this function already exists, how might we make it more obvious?)
+1: How might we allow the students to find non-major classes that would be interesting and easier for them?
(creating an experience that would be more fun to students)
With my design, I aimed for a cleaner, more modern look. I utilized simple geometric shapes and modified Penn’s original colors, red and blue, to different hues and shades in order to achieve that. I played around with the idea of making selecting classes similar to an online shopping experience and designing the user interface similarly to a school paper folder to tie back to the school experience.
The Final Design
I have included an AI feature where the students can search for a ‘fun’ class outside of their major, or a class that would fulfill general requirements:
Similarly to online shopping platforms, I included a quick view function so students can briefly read about the most important information about the selected class:
The user would be able to stack the different pages onto each other, and in the cart, the student can differentiate the status of each class by icon and color (added/registered/dropped):
I have changed the ‘Submit Registration’ button’s shape as well as reworded the function to ‘Confirm Changes and Save Registration’ to differentiate it from ‘Submit Schedule’ :
Through this project, I learned about the whole process of UX research, low-fidelity design iterations, and high-fidelity UI design. I realized the difficulties of asking the right questions from the potential users and that how one design goes through many iterations.
Key Takeaways