Background
Taking on this project was a huge milestone for me— is my first solo project using Figma as my primary design tool!
I loved the challenge of bringing my ideas to life independently and exploring how I could improve the user experience from the ground up.
I chose to focus on a very general redesign of UCSD's main campus application as my first independent UX/UI project. Using Figma, I reimagined how students could better navigate and interact with essential campus resources.
UCSD’s app was initially created to make campus navigation easier for students, but it encountered issues with slow performance and usability, causing many students to stop using it. In this project, my goal was to pinpoint critical usability problems and redesign key features to enhance the overall user experience.
I prioritized a clean, user-centered design that places students' needs at the forefront!
Project Overview
Challenge
📌 Introduce features that enhance the app's user experience by prioritizing simplicity, responsiveness, and reducing glitches goal is to ensure smooth navigation and make the app more reliable, allowing students to efficiently access essential resources without frustration.
Solution
Class schedule section
Map with location services for ride shares and distance to class
Wait times for on-campus dining and GrubHub for ordering
Home page is very overwhelming, make the app more simple
Amazon storefront/bookstore access for course materials
Separate page/button for campus police access
Campus student ID card section
Option to reserve parking spaces
Wallet for adding campus ID, dining dollars, bus pass, and Apple Pay for dining halls
Event ticket purchasing/linking for campus events
Role
UX, UI Designer
Timeline
1 month
Tools
Figma
My Process 📝
Empathize
Research
To gain insights into the UCSD app and its user base, I began with the following research objectives:
Research Goals
📌 Identify the target audience for the UCSD app
📌 Understand the role of campus resources in student life
📌 Explore user experiences with existing campus applications
📌 Discover users’ goals, needs, motivations, and frustrations related to campus navigation and resource accessibility.
Target Audience
John is a freshman at UCSD his main goals for using the app are:
📌 Finding parking on campus
📌 Using the campus map to find his classes
📌 Ordering food
Sam is a senior at UCSD her main goals for using the app are:
📌 Ordering food
📌 Looking up her class schedule
📌 Accessing wallet to use her dining dollars and apple pay
To better understand the actual users of the UCSD app and their personal experiences, I conducted user interviews. I spoke with five students between the ages of 18-25, each interview lasting around 15 minutes. I asked open-ended questions to gather insights into how they interact with the app, their pain points, and what features they find most valuable. This qualitative approach allowed me to learn more about their needs and frustrations, helping guide the redesign process toward a more user-friendly experience
User Interviews
I identified common pain points encountered by users :
3/3 users had difficulty navigating the main page because of glitchiness
2/5 users weren’t happy with the non aesthetic layout of the app
5/5 users opted to rely on apps like Google Maps to meet their needs, bypassing the app’s built-in map due to its lack of functionality and user-friendliness
4/ 5 users rarely use the app due to the limited resources it provides
User Persona
Using what I learned from both my research, I created a user persona that accurately represented who I am designing for. This persona helped guide my decisions along the design process to make sure the solution I am designing is centered on our user. Meet Arushi:
Female. 20 years old. Full time student
Her Goals:
I want to navigate the app easily to quickly access my class schedule, check dining wait times, and see nearby ride share options.Find her classes and parking easier
I want to personalize the app so that my most-used features, like reserving library spots or checking campus events, are right at my fingertips
I want a smooth, glitch-free experience, allowing me to get things done without delays or issues, saving me time and frustration.
Her Frustrations:
I never know what's happening on campus, and it’s hard to keep track of events or activities
I can never find parking, and reserving a spot feels impossible when I need it the most.
I don’t have time to wait in line for food, so I’d rather order ahead on the app and just pick up my meal without wasting time.
📌 The main question is how might we help Arushi’s experience at UCSD?
Before & After
Reflection
& Next Steps
I encountered new challenges in this project, particularly integrating new features into an existing design and designing for a mobile app I wasn’t fully familiar with.
This experience taught me the importance of thoroughly analyzing the existing design and to become familiar with it in order to introduce features that feel cohesive and fit seamlessly within the app’s structure.