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Fremerson Case Study
Project
UX/UI Design
Tools
Figma, Miro, Adobe Suite.
Team
Role
User Research, Prototyping, Wireframing, and Visual Design.
Duration
1 Month
Fatimah-Zahra Yesuf
Sharry LI
Amy Zhang
Fremerson is a friendship mobile application that allows Emerson graduate students to connect through interests but also spontaneity (mimicking the spontaneous encounters that can occur in physical spaces). This was a collaborative project that spanned the course of one month. The process involved user research, user journeys, interviews, prototyping, design testing, and re-iterations.
Introduction
Sharry Li is originally from China and came to Boston University for her undergrad degree in 2016.
Fatimah Yesuf is originally from Nigeria and came to Emerson this year for her graduate degree. It is her first time studying in America.
Amy Zhang is originally from Hong Kong and went to Wesleyan University as an international student. This is her first time living in Boston.
As three international students (in various degrees), this project held a personal meaning for us. We all know what it's like to arrive in a new country and the difficulty in making long-lasting friends and community.
As three international students (in various degrees), this project held a personal meaning for us.
Research Process & Problem
As a group, we were tasked with coming up with a media design intervention that would promote a higher sense of community within the international student community at Emerson College. Our research and design process took about one month, from mid-November to mid-December. Here's a look into the stages of our process:
01. Pre-Research - Nov 15
Meeting with Andrea Popa, Director of the Office of International Student Affairs. We learned about the lack of resources for international grad students (IGS) specifically, and as a group, decided to focus our problem statement on this segment of the international student community.
02. Research - Nov 15-28
We interviewed students and admin, conducted observations of physical spaces, and conducted independent research to produce a stakeholder map that helped us understand the current landscape for IGS.
03. Brainstorm - Nov 28-Dec 5
We ideated 10 ideas and developed three of them into more detailed prototypes.
4. Prototype - Dec 5 - Dec 11
We identified our final idea, conducted a field scan, developed user personas, and brainstormed features to prototype and present our proposal for Fremerson.
01. Pre-Research - Nov 15
Andrea Popa' supplied us with some meaningful statistics that helped us gain two key insights that helped shape our thinking.
First, an understanding of the size of the international student community. In 2021, the preliminary figures show a total of 733 international students at Emerson, with 633 undergraduates and 100 graduate students.
Secondly, an understanding of the national origin make up of the international graduate student community. The most recent numbers of this breakdown are from 2020--we learned that over half the IGS were from China (38) and Taiwan (11), and the next three populations by size were Canada, India, and Mexico with 5, 5, and 3 students respectively. Other countries, such as Nigeria and Kenya, had fewer single-digit students.
Our Stakeholder Map (In four parts)
We decided that focusing on international graduate students, instead of the international student community at large, would be beneficial as graduate students face different problems than undergraduates, and as Andrea Popa noted, there is a specific void in resources for IGS. Our stakeholder map helped us understand all the Emerson contact paints for IGS.
Part One - Current Emerson Admin Support
Part Three - Physical Spaces
Part Two - Events
Part Four - Online Spaces
Online Spaces
Since COVID-19 is our current reality, online spaces become an important way for students to obtain resources and info about what's going on in the wider community. We look at the three most popular online spaces that IGS may frequent.
02. Research - Nov 15-28
Interviews
We intentionally wanted to interview three people at various stages of the Emerson IGS experience--an international student, a student who also worked in a student-run space, and someone in the administration. From these interviews, we realized that while in-person events were great ways for students to find each other and perhaps build friendships, volunteer staff capacity, and COVID-19 were making this very difficult.
"[IGSO] is an all volunteer staff, and the only org serving just international grad students.”
"Before COVID-19, international students visited the OISA office on a regular basis..
But now, not many students go into the office anymore.”
"In the beginning, I know nothing about here, and by joining the programs and stuff, I think I know about the school more.”
Research Insights
Off Campus
International graduate students (IGS) don’t live on campus, making it difficult to meet in physical spaces.
Covid-19
Due to Covid-19, indoor events are smaller capacity, and students are also less willing (and have the mental/social energy for) events in person.
Small Community
The IGS community is small--only 100 people--which suggests opportunity for creating a tight-knit community.
Factions within Community
But within that community, students from China and Taiwan make up half of the population, leaving other students more vulnerable if they don't have others of their national origin group here.
Online Spaces
Current Emerson online spaces for IGS focus on resource sharing, event promotion, and career connections, but there is no space centered around the graduate school community socializing and getting to know one another.
03. Brainstorm - Nov 28-Dec 5
PROBLEM STATEMENT
It’s hard enough meeting people as an international graduate student (IGS) at Emerson, but with Covid-19, there are even more physical limitations. Additionally, IGS want to reach out beyond its own ethnic/national group, and beyond the international community as well.
In the time of Covid-19, how do we create a better sense of community for IGS?
7 Initial ideas
Our group brainstormed 10 ideas, which range from traditional media formats to emerging media designs. Although each design is unique, all 10 ideas aim to create solutions to our problem statement.
Audio Orientation
Sourcing stories of adaptation, resources, and change from international grad students that are edited into an audio piece, sent to international students before they arrive on campus.
Grad Student Directory
A website, linked in emConnect, that lists all graduate students with their interests, program, and email address.
Re-Designing 10th Floor of Walker
Re-Designing the 10th Floor of Walker to make it more grad student-friendly, with printer, couches, free coffee and tea, international snacks.
VR Experience
This is a two-part interactive media that includes a brochure and a VR app to provide international students with visuals of how their life in Emerson and Boston will be once they arrive on campus.
International Graduate Student App
This App will only be for international graduate students. Students will be able to find almost every piece of important and relevant information from OISA, IGSO, and student organizations.
Bulletin board
The Bulletin board would be installed at 172 Tremont and would be used to post notices and announcements about international graduate students events.
Buddy Website
The Buddy pairing website would be linked to the EmConnect where a local or international undergraduate Emerson student volunteers to be paired with incoming international graduate students for guidance and support.
1st Developed Idea
Then, we selected the following 3 ideas and created detailed sketches for them. These three ideas were chosen by referring back to our research insights.
Event Promotion App - EmEvent
An app that streamlines the process of creating visuals, posts, and promoting events efficiently within Emerson online spaces and social media
Who: for Emerson students and admin that want to create and share events, for people to find events to attend
Where: an app that can be downloaded off the app store
Why: This app will take the pressure and time off of student organizers to create events, and also provide one space for students to find events
2nd Developed Idea
Then, we selected the following 3 ideas and created detailed sketches for them. These three ideas were chosen by referring back to our research insights.
Interactive Card Game
Different from many of our ideas, the interactive card game requires a group of people to be physically together to be played (like a normal card game). There are a number of questions in the deck that a group of people can ask and learn about each other, which increases intimacy. The purpose of this interactive game is to bring international graduate students closer together.
Who: International graduate students
Where: Monthly coffee chat meetings, iGrad/IGSO hangouts
Why: Some international graduate students may have already lived here in the States before, but some have not. This game would serve as an opportunity for students who are experiencing transitional difficulties and culture shock to share their concerns with others.
3rd Developed Idea
Then, we selected the following 3 ideas and created detailed sketches for them. These three ideas were chosen by referring back to our research insights.
Friendship App
As an international student, making friends in a new environment has been a little difficult. In this app, all grad students can meet incoming and current grad students to build a friendship or community with students of the same interests.
Who: Emerson graduate students
Where: Online (Mobile Application)
Why: Graduate students can use the app to make new friends and create study groups or hangouts and get to enjoy Emerson and the city of Boston with friends as opposed to figuring it out alone or depending on physical events.
We were most excited by this idea, as it provided an immediate and virtual way for the entire graduate student community to get to know each other during the time of COVID-19. The interactive card game had limitations due to the necessity of in-person involvement, and the EmEvent, while it would also fill a functional void, would only have student organization leaders and administrators as its primary user base and would still be centered around events, which many of the current online spaces already prioritize.
03. Brainstorm - Nov 28-Dec 5
FINAL DESIGN QUESTION
How do we design a virtual way for International graduate students to meet and connect with the wider Emerson graduate school community?
MISSION STATEMENT
The mission of this friendship mobile app is to provide the Emerson graduate student community a virtual way to meet and make friends, by having a platform that offers low-stake ways to join a community or engage in one-on-one conversations.
Field scan
To begin our design process, we conducted a field scan of three different phone apps that share similar features to our friendship app idea, in that they bring strangers together based on interests and allow for conversation.
Hinge
What: A dating app that brings up profiles one by one for the user to review and choose to “match” with or not
Unique Point: More involved with one-to-one partner relationships, but not with creating community
Pro: The app allows you to meet people outside of your usual social circle, and allows people to present themselves based on questions, hobbies, interests
Clubhouse
What: A community-focused audio-chatting app that allows users to host chat rooms and join other’s chat rooms to start conversations and meet new friends
Unique Point: The only app that gives users the ability to have real-time audio conversations in a podcast format
Pro: Users can discuss any topics they are passionate about and meet people with similar interests on the app
2Go
What: 2go is a live chat app that allows you to hang out online with friends and also meet people with similar interests to you.
Unique Point: The app has a ranking system that increases star ranks while users are active and this makes users want to stay active.
Pro: The app allows users to make connections with friends and strangers with similar interests.
Personas
4. Prototype - Dec 5 - Dec 11
PROPOSAL
Given that there is no current Emerson online space that is especially focused on graduate students and creating community, we see a great place for Fremerson (friend + Emerson): an app that allows graduate students to connect through interests but also spontaneity (mimicking the spontaneous encounters that can occur in physical spaces). Crucially, we shifted from creating something solely for international grad students to creating something for the graduate student community as a whole, as we believe that this integration actually benefits both populations. While international students may bond over their experiences coming to America, lasting relationships can also be formed over interests, which transcend nationality of origin.
We propose that the Fremerson app be introduced in the welcome letter for graduate students so that the app is downloaded before orientation and when they arrive on campus. Therefore, students can already look forward to various events advertised in the community groups.
Here are the three things we kept in mind while designing the app:
1. Provide both "shallow" and "deep" ways for students of varying levels to interact
2. Match based on both interest and answers to our daily questions
3. Provide spaces for prolonged conversation and event organizing
Wireframes
Home Screen, Sign up, and Create Profile Page
Splash Screen: This is the screen you see when you open the app and it tells you to either login or sign up.
Sign Up: On this screen, users put in their contact information and make sure to include Emerson ID in the process.
Log In: Once you are an existing user, users log in with Emerson ID and password.
Create Profile: To start using the app, users create their profiles and include information about them, such as fun facts, hobbies, and favorite music or movie genres.
Create Profile, Question of the Day, Home Page
Create Profile: While inputting your information there is a drop-down option that lets you choose more than one favorite music or movie genre.
Question of the Day: When a user opens the app for the first time in a day, they have the option to either answer or skip a random question each day.
Home Page: On the Home Page, the users get to see recommended profiles to chat with, based on the answers they chose AND on the interests they included while creating their profile. A word cloud of answers to the question of the day also appears.
Search, Chats, Community Rooms, and Profile Page
