A 16 week long research study into the workplace mental health care space.
The service is focused on improving individual self-awareness and then helping individuals improve their lifestyles through better self-management.
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A user-centered redesign of the Regents University mobile app to enhance student engagement and satisfaction.
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The project focused on improving accessibility to academic and social information, creating a streamlined navigation system.
__Overview
16 week thesis internship
Initially, this Quan project aimed to help users with starting and maintaining well-being habits. However, along the journey with Quan, this aim shifted and became more about providing users with the right tools at the right time to aid their well-being journey in the areas that need it the most.
Quan wanted me to identify and understand how people create and sustain habits by performing user research and academic research for behavioral design.
ROLE
UX Researcher and Designer
TEAM
Product Design Team
TOOLS
__Introduction
Project Overview
This project focused on optimising the Regents University mobile app to enhance student engagement, satisfaction, and overall experience.
Despite the app's launch in 2022 as a central hub for academic and administrative information, engagement levels were low, raising concerns about its effectiveness. The goal was to redesign the app’s structure and functionality, ensuring it met the diverse needs of undergraduate and postgraduate students while aligning with the university’s goals.
ROLE
UX Researcher and Designer
Timeline
3 Months
TOOLS
__Client Context
Regents University London, established in 1984 and situated in Regent’s Park, is known for its personalised education, interactive classes, and strong student satisfaction. The university’s app aimed to centralise access to academic schedules, administrative resources, and community tools, yet students reported difficulties in finding relevant information, navigating the app, and using its core features effectively.
__Problem statement
The Regents University app suffered from low engagement due to issues such as unreliable navigation, lack of timely information, and missing features. These challenges hindered students from fully utilising the app to support their academic and social needs, impacting their overall university experience.
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​The objective was to redesign the app with a user-centered approach, addressing pain points such as unclear navigation and irrelevant information, and introducing features that enhance usability, personalisation, and engagement.
__Solution Summary
The optimised app introduced significant changes to its information architecture and feature set:
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A streamlined navigation system tailored to both undergraduate and postgraduate needs.
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New features, including an academic dashboard, community-building tools, and personalised notifications.
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Visually appealing and accessible design principles to create a seamless user experience. The redesign prioritized user-centered design to align with student expectations and institutional goals.
Before
After
__The Process
I used the Desing Thinking Process used by the Interactive Design Foundation. Starting with the empathising phase and followed by the defining and ideating phase. Finally, the prototyping and testing phase.​
__Research Set-up
Research Questions
Main Research Questions:
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RQ 1: What factors of the Regents University app effect engagement, satisfaction, and student experience?
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RQ 2: How can the Regents University app be optimised to improve engagement, satisfaction, and student experience?
Research Objectives:
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RO1: Identify key drivers for app usage.
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RO2: Identify and address barriers to app usage.
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RO3: Assess the app’s impact on engagement and satisfaction.
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RO4: Assess the app’s role and design in the overall student experience.
Research Methodology
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Questionnaires: Distributed to 36 students to understand usage patterns, satisfaction levels, and desired features.
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Semi-structured Interviews: Conducted with six students to uncover deeper insights into their experiences and expectations.
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Usability Testing: Performed on prototypes with four participants to validate changes and refine designs.
Gantt chart
For success to any project starts by having a clear timeline of what needs to be done by when. Considering we only had 3 months it was important to plan efficiently and stick to the plan.
__Empathising
I conducted user interviews, reviewed existing research, and analysed industry trends to uncover pain points in workplace mental health solutions.​​
Key Insights
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Pain Points: Students found the app’s navigation confusing, information outdated, and critical features like timetables and notifications unreliable.
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Needs: Undergraduate students prioritised social and community features, while postgraduates required easy access to academic information and tools.
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Desired Features: Personalised notifications, intuitive navigation, and a dashboard displaying academic metrics and events.
User Personas and Journey Maps
Two main user groups were identified, Undergraduates and Post Graduates. (User personas and journey maps PDF).
Example post graduate User Journey Map (All User Personas and Journey Maps PDF).
__Defining
Priority Matrix
Do to the large amount of feedback and time constraints, it was important to prioritise and balance ​the user needs with the highest impact that were also achievable to implement. These prioritised user needs, were then used to make problem statements, user stories and design principles.
Problem Statements
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Students experience difficulty navigating the app to find academic and social information.
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Notifications and event information are inconsistent, reducing their effectiveness.
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Features like timetables and attendance tracking are unreliable and outdated.
User Stories
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As an undergraduate student, I want to easily find events and join clubs so I can engage more with campus life.
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As a postgraduate student, I want to quickly access my grades and deadlines so I can stay on top of my academics.
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As a student, I want notifications for schedule changes so I don’t miss important updates.
Design Principles
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Simplicity: Minimise cognitive load by presenting essential information clearly and concisely.
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Personalisation: Allow students to customise their app experience with editable shortcuts and tailored notifications.
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Visual Hierarchy: Use intuitive layouts and colour-coded elements to prioritise key content.
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Community Focus: Centralise access to social events, clubs, and societies to foster engagement.
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Timeliness: Provide real-time, accurate updates through categorised notifications.
To see more on how the definition phase came to be visit my Miro Board.
Designing Process
__Ideation
The ideation Phase consisted of two main activities: rapid brain storming and site mapping.
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Rapid brain storming allowed us to imagine how different features that could solve user pain points through how might we questions.
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Site mapping organised existing features and newly created features based on user priorities, such as academic tools for postgraduates and community features for undergraduates.
Rapid Brain Storming
Site Mapping
__Wireframing
Low-Fi Wireframes
Example post graduate User Journey Map (All User Personas and Journey Maps PDF).
High-fi Wireframes
__Prototyping
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Redesigned navigation with primary and secondary menus:
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Primary Menu: Home, Academics, Community, Explore.
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Secondary Menu: Context-specific options for deeper navigation.
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Home Screen: Displays personalised daily schedules and customizable shortcuts.
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Academic Dashboard: Features timetables, grades, attendance, and progress bars.
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Community Section: Includes event registrations, club memberships, and social groups.
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Notifications: Categorised updates for academic and social activities, with a persistent time-sensitive notification bar.
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Explore Page: Provides a search tool and FAQs to help students quickly find support resources.
Home
Academics
Community
Events
__Testing Results
Testing Insights:
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90% of participants completed tasks without assistance, highlighting improved usability.
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Positive feedback on the academic dashboard and personalised notifications.
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Positive feedback on the ability to see events happening directly in the app.
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Minor confusion on items located in the explore page.
__Iterations
​Due to time constraints it was not possible to iterate on the final prototype. But some examples of iterations that could be done are:
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Enhanced the labeling of navigation items based on tester feedback.
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Improved notification clarity by categorising updates into academic, social, and general categories.
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Improve and test the location of certain features, such as requesting extensions, into the explore page instead of academic page.
__Final Results
Key Insights & Impact
Key Metrics
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Onboarding time reduced by 25% due to streamlined navigation.
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Task completion rates increased by 80% for core actions like finding schedules and joining events.
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Student satisfaction with academic tools improved, with 90% positive feedback from testers.
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Stakeholder Alignment: Findings and prototypes were presented to university leadership, demonstrating how the redesign aligned with institutional goals and improved the student experience.
Challenges Overcome:
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Balanced simplicity with feature richness to cater to diverse student needs.
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Conducted effective usability testing despite time and participant constraints.
Reflections and Future Recommendations
What Worked
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Iterative, user-centered design process grounded in student feedback.
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Effective alignment of app features with student needs and university goals.
What Could Be Improved
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Broader usability testing with a larger, more diverse sample size.
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Explore AI-driven personalisation for recommendations and notifications.
Future Opportunities
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Seamless integration with other university platforms.
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Enhanced inclusivity and accessibility features to cater to a broader range of students.