Having some sort of design library to pull elements from makes life a lot easier
It works best when group members are presented with a what rather than a how or why
too much disclosure=invasive/ too little disclosure=impersonal
Respondents appreciated seeing their teams activity and were seemingly ok with the agreement being that they share theirs as well.
Role
Skills
Date
Sole UI/UX Designer
UI/UX
design systems
illustration
16 Apr - 17 Jul
Role
Skills
Date
Sole UI/UX Designer
UI/UX
Design systems
Illustration
16 Apr - 17 Jul
Research shows there are six primary Themes
Research shows there are six primary Themes
Helping students stay on task
Maintaining visual harmony through modular design to help users focus on the experience , not the interface
Helped massively while extending the scope of the project which means that the app can change with ever-evolving education methods.
Instead of the whiteboard, my idea originally was to integrate links to other collaboration
software such as FigJam and ClickUp. This proved to be too wide in scope, it was confusing
and asked already stressed students to download, create an account for, and learn
new, moderately difficult to learn software.
This would likely end up discouraging users from live collaboration and deprive the group of the aforementioned "contribution recognition" that is so important for a positive working environment. Additionally, software being overly complex or too reliant on the user knowing and trusting adjacent products, is one of the major issues with existing technologies.
The Main Prototype designed for desktop
The Main Prototype designed for desktop
The Main Prototype designed for desktop
Overview
The issues with group work
The issues with group work
The issues with group work
02 - the solution
02 - the solution
02 - the solution
04 - The Design System
04 - The Design System
04 - The Design System
05 - experiments
05 - experiments
05 - experiments
limitations
limitations
limitations
01 - The Groupwork Problem
It is all about perspective
It is all about perspective
Ineffective tools
Ineffective tools
Ineffective tools
Interactive Whiteboard
Interactive Whiteboard
Interactive Whiteboard
A Design System helps avoid over-complexity in the visual design
A Design System helps avoid over-complexity in the visual design
More information about group members' individual tasks
More information about group members' individual tasks
"Collaborate" Widget
"Collaborate" Widget
"Collaborate" Widget
00 - Introduction
Files shared during meetings and in the chat
Chats/meetings
Chats/meetings
Colour Palette
Typography
Typography
In order to enforce friendliness, trust and the collaborative spirit I am aiming for, I wanted to go with a relatively bright, color palette, making sure to keep it readable and high contrast without being harsh on the eyes.
In order to enforce friendliness, trust and the collaborative spirit I am aiming for, I wanted to go with a relatively bright, color palette, making sure to keep it readable and high contrast without being harsh on the eyes.
Satoshi - Legible, trustworthy but soft enough for the overall aesthetic.
Satoshi - Legible, trustworthy but soft enough for the overall aesthetic.
user flow
user flow
user flow
The interactive whiteboard is the best of both worlds, it's fully integrated, simple and can be accessed by anyone in the group at any time
The interactive whiteboard is the best of both worlds, it's fully integrated, simple and can be accessed by anyone in the group at any time
The interactive whiteboard is the best of both worlds, it's fully integrated, simple and can be accessed by anyone in the group at any time
Personal avatar
Personal avatar
Personal avatar
Brainstorming tools
Brainstorming tools
Brainstorming tools
Simultaneous Live meeting
Simultaneous Live meeting
Simultaneous Live meeting
Who's using the whiteboard
Who's using the whiteboard
Who's using the whiteboard
Help
Help
Help
Group project/name
Group project/name
Group project/name
group projects are serious, but collaboration does not have to be.
Negative feelings are not good for group work and almost every stage apart from completing a group assignment is stressful. Student Sync is not an application that students
must complete their work in directly and that is on purpose.
The avatars act as a little refresher, something to look at other than text. Alleviating the seriousness, encouraging just the right amount of relaxation to get a student, who might be stressed or introverted, ready to open up and collaborate.
some reactions to the avatars:
" Suddenly there was a lot of exciting visual elements after the more simple UX. also amused by the character profiles (liked the gorilla one)."
"I really liked the use of the avatars and them being playful and in cartoon form. Instead of work being something incredibly serious and not fun it was something to look forward to approach."
Ideas that didn't quite work out and needs more workshopping
Ideas that didn't quite work out and needs more workshopping
The intention for this feature was to improve accountability and to avoid arbitrary progression markers, however it would likely cause negative feelings.
"Why have they not done this". "They're taking too long", it creates an over-surveilled environment that encourages micro-managerial tendencies. It makes the user with the tasks nervous about how they are being perceived and it can cause feelings of inadequacy for those who are not confident in their abilities.
Oppositely it may stir feelings of superiority in those perceiving them, which we know based on studies, is a part of the number one reason why University group work causes negative feelings, which is the perception that one is better than another.
contents
Timeline
Timeline
Timeline
16 april
16 april
16 april
17 July
17 July
17 July
As a graduate and someone who is learning all the time, collaboration can be difficult and it is normal to make mistakes or for miscommunication to occur.
With Student Sync, the aim was to take the pressure off of students, to ensure solid group organization with a special focus on accountability, confidence, participation and group thinking.
Participation most of all. Ultimately, lurking cannot be avoided entirely but participation means that even if someone is not that communicative or social, they can still be recognized as a part of the group by others.
If the group can see in real-time, someone in their team who has not been talking, actively contributing to the group's progress, then that person exists to them. There is no " where were they" or negative feelings about that person. Increasing the awareness of one another and their contributions is the key to a positive group work experience.
University group assignments are notoriously difficult to navigate, both in how groups organise themselves and how social dynamics effect the feelings of those involved. How do we mitigate these feelings, avoid the unequal division of work and poor engagement with tasks?
As has been discovered in a number of studies, The main issue with group work at universities
and the stigma around them almost all stem from who thinks who is doing what and a lack of effective communication about that.
The PERCIEVED unequal distribution of work, students who SEE THEMSELVES as the "group leader", PERCIEVED incompetence. These on top of a lack of clarification about roles and the decision making process, contribute to negative feelings and worse academic outcomes.
As has been concluded in a number of studies, The main issue with group work at universities
and the stigma around them almost all stem from who thinks who is doing what and a lack of effective communication about that.
The PERCIEVED unequal distribution of work, students who SEE THEMSELVES as the "group leader", PERCIEVED incompetence. These on top of a lack of clarification about roles and the decision making process, contribute to negative feelings and worse academic outcomes.
Currently, collaboration tools that students use largely have limited functionality, problems with work-sharing, keeping track of your teams activity, scheduling issues and a reliance on an experienced user.
Issues like these discourage students from collaborating and leave them with no easy way to
take accountability or be held accountable for work they have or have not completed.
#FFFCF0
#FFFCF0
#FFFCF0
#FCF9EB
#FCF9EB
#FCF9EB
#0FBD4C
#0FBD4C
#0FBD4C
#2A7299
#2A7299
#2A7299
#9CBAC8
#9CBAC8
#9CBAC8
#1A1A1A
#1A1A1A
#1A1A1A
Satoshi
Satoshi
Satoshi
General sizing:
General sizing:
General sizing:
Header -
Header -
Subheading -
Subheading -
Text -
Text -
Weights:
Weights:
Weights:
regular
regular
regular
674
674
674
434
434
434
517
517
517
53
53
Header- 53
26
26
Subheading- 26
16
16
Text- 16
03 - general features
These features are to ensure that …
There is a concrete way of tracking who has done what.
Participation is encouraged.
"Lurking" is mitigated not shamed.
Students can allocate tasks to one another and they receive visual confirmation of those choices.
Students who fit more into the "group leader" archetype can be openly communicative about their expectations regarding task completion (this is encouraged as groups who perceive one person as being the "leader" tend to do better academically).
Unhealthy competition is avoided
Group timekeeping and deadline awareness is ever-present without being threatening .
There is a concrete way of tracking who has done what.
Participation is encouraged.
"Lurking" is mitigated not shamed.
Students can allocate tasks to one another and they receive visual confirmation of those choices.
Students who fit more into the "group leader" archetype can be openly communicative about their expectations regarding task completion (this is encouraged as groups who perceive one person as being the "leader" tend to do better academically).
Unhealthy competition is avoided.
Group timekeeping and deadline awareness is ever-present without being threatening .
Personal and teammate progress
Weekly to-do list and group calendar
Typeface:
Typeface:
Typeface:
Avatars
Avatars
Avatars
06 - Takeaways
06 - Takeaways
06 - Takeaways
Designing for groups of users completing tasks, is challenging more so in how to handle transparency
It works best when group members are presented with a what rather than a how or why
too much disclosure=invasive/ too little disclosure=impersonal
Respondents appreciated seeing their teams activity and were seemingly ok with the agreement being that they share theirs as well.
A little bit of sunshine goes a long way
Frankly i was surprised that the avatars were received as well as they were
Just because there is a seemingly childish element does not mean that the viewer is going to get turned off the app.
Having some sort of design library to pull elements from makes life a lot easier
I have mentioned that there was a moment when the project expanded in scope, originally it was supposed to be a set of pages that were visually interesting but did not bring any real storytelling into the picture, you couldn't see what the project was just what it looked like.
When i expanded to include the group onboarding process i was lucky to have a design system to pull from and i was able to maintain visual harmony much easier.
I also plan on adding more to the prototype as time goes on and I predict the design system will only become more useful and save more and more time.
Limited pool of respondents
Solo project
Most testimonies that were critical of existing software (Microsoft teams, Slack, Trello etc.) are online reviews and forum posts both on their native forums and external ones.
Main study used is an extensive literature review of existing studies regarding group work and its issues the reports are mostly from 1990 onwards.
Donelan, H., & Kear, K. (2023). Online group projects in higher education: persistent challenges and implications for practice.Journal of computing in higher education, 1–34. Advance online publication. https://doi.org/10.1007/s12528-023-09360-7(link)
Whiteboard icon for access from the chat page
Whiteboard icon for access from the chat page
Student Sync
Student Sync
lack of participation
lack of preparation
ineffective technologies
unequal division of tasks
negative feelings
lack of clarity
Matthew Mingle
Matthew Mingle
Home
Doodles
Back
Go to - De-Finder Brief
#385F75
#385F75
#385F75
#8BBED5
#8BBED5
Matthew Mingle
Matthew Mingle
Matthew Mingle
Student Sync
Role
Skills
Date
Sole UI/UX Designer
UI/UX
Design systems
Illustration
16 Apr - 17 Jul
00 - Introduction
As a graduate and someone who is learning all the time, collaboration can be difficult and it is normal to make mistakes or for miscommunication to occur.
With Student Sync, the aim was to take the pressure off of students, to ensure solid group organization with a special focus on accountability, confidence, participation and group thinking.
Participation most of all. Ultimately, lurking cannot be avoided entirely but participation means that even if someone is not that communicative or social, they can still be recognized as a part of the group by others.
If the group can see in real-time, someone in their team who has not been talking, actively contributing to the group's progress, then that person exists to them. There is no " where were they" or negative feelings about that person. Increasing the awareness of one another and their contributions is the key to a positive group work experience.
Overview
University group assignments are notoriously difficult to navigate, both in how groups organise themselves and how social dynamics effect the feelings of those involved. How do we mitigate these feelings, avoid the unequal division of work and poor engagement with tasks?
Currently, collaboration tools that students use largely have limited functionality, problems with work-sharing, keeping track of your teams activity, scheduling issues and a reliance on an experienced user.
Issues like these discourage students from collaborating and leave them with no easy way to
take accountability or be held accountable for work they have or have not completed.
01 - The Groupwork Problem
It is all about perspective
As has been discovered in a number of studies, The main issue with group work at universities
and the stigma around them almost all stem from who thinks who is doing what and a lack of effective communication about that.
The PERCIEVED unequal distribution of work, students who SEE THEMSELVES as the "group leader", PERCIEVED incompetence. These on top of a lack of clarification about roles and the decision making process, contribute to negative feelings and worse academic outcomes.
Colour Palette
#8BBED5
There is a concrete way of tracking who has done what.
Participation is encouraged.
"Lurking" is mitigated not shamed.
Students can allocate tasks to one another and they receive visual confirmation of those choices.
Students who fit more into the "group leader" archetype can be openly communicative about their expectations regarding task completion (this is encouraged as groups who perceive one person as being the "leader" tend to do better academically).
Unhealthy competition is avoided
Group timekeeping and deadline awareness is ever-present without being threatening .
These features are to ensure that …
03 - general features
Weekly to-do list and group calendar
Personal and teammate progress
Files shared during meetings and in the chat
Negative feelings are not good for group work and almost every stage apart from completing a group assignment is stressful. Student Sync is not an application that students
must complete their work in directly and that is on purpose.
The avatars act as a little refresher, something to look at other than text. Alleviating the seriousness, encouraging just the right amount of relaxation to get a student, who might be stressed or introverted, ready to open up and collaborate.
group projects are serious, but collaboration does not have to be.
some reactions to the avatars:
" Suddenly there was a lot of exciting visual elements after the more simple UX. also amused by the character profiles (liked the gorilla one)."
"I really liked the use of the avatars and them being playful and in cartoon form. Instead of work being something incredibly serious and not fun it was something to look forward to approach."
A Design System helps avoid over-complexity in the visual design
Helping students stay on task
Maintaining visual harmony through modular design to help users focus on the experience , not the interface
Helped massively while extending the scope of the project which means that the app can change with ever-evolving education methods.
Ideas that didn't quite work out and needs more workshopping
Instead of the whiteboard, my idea originally was to integrate links to other collaboration
software such as FigJam and ClickUp. This proved to be too wide in scope, it was confusing
and asked already stressed students to download, create an account for, and learn
new, moderately difficult to learn software.
This would likely end up discouraging users from live collaboration and deprive the group of the aforementioned "contribution recognition" that is so important for a positive working environment. Additionally, software being overly complex or too reliant on the user knowing and trusting adjacent products, is one of the major issues with existing technologies.
More information about group members' individual tasks
The intention for this feature was to improve accountability and to avoid arbitrary progression markers, however it would likely cause negative feelings.
"Why have they not done this". "They're taking too long", it creates an over-surveilled environment that encourages micro-managerial tendencies. It makes the user with the tasks nervous about how they are being perceived and it can cause feelings of inadequacy for those who are not confident in their abilities.
Oppositely it may stir feelings of superiority in those perceiving them, which we know based on studies, is a part of the number one reason why University group work causes negative feelings, which is the perception that one is better than another.
Designing for groups of users completing tasks, is challenging more so in how to handle transparency
A little bit of sunshine goes a long way
I have mentioned that there was a moment when the project expanded in scope, originally it was supposed to be a set of pages that were visually interesting but did not bring any real storytelling into the picture, you couldn't see what the project was just what it looked like.
When i expanded to include the group onboarding process i was lucky to have a design system to pull from and i was able to maintain visual harmony much easier.
I also plan on adding more to the prototype as time goes on and I predict the design system will only become more useful and save more and more time.
Frankly i was surprised that the avatars were received as well as they were
Just because there is a seemingly childish element does not mean that the viewer is going to get turned off the app.
Limited pool of respondents
Solo project
Most testimonies that were critical of existing software (Microsoft teams, Slack, Trello etc.) are online reviews and forum posts both on their native forums and external ones.
Main study used is an extensive literature review of existing studies regarding group work and its issues the reports are mostly from 1990 onwards.
Donelan, H., & Kear, K. (2023). Online group projects in higher education: persistent challenges and implications for practice.Journal of computing in higher education, 1–34. Advance online publication. https://doi.org/10.1007/s12528-023-09360-7(link)
Back
Go to - De-Finder Brief