I designed a prototype in Figma for a problem I'm passionate about; first-generation and low-income student's not receiving enough guidance throughout their high school/college career.
In the summer of 2021, I joined Connect-In-Place, a program offering high school students free virtual classes taught by college students. I signed up for "App Design" and discovered it included User Experience Design, which interested me. With guidance from my instructor, Linh, I decided to create an app to help students like me, as I lacked college guidance throughout my highschool journey.
Currently, there's no dedicated app providing resources for first-generation students. While platforms like Brainly, Reddit, and Quora allow people to ask questions, they don't focus specifically on first-generation students. Though schools can offer resources, an app would make these resources available at any time of the day.
I created two types of wireframes: digital and paper. For the paper wireframes, I tried out an exercise called crazy eights, where I spent only a minute for eight frames. This part was exciting because I had to think about making the user flow easy and efficient. Although it looked messy, I understood what buttons/images I wanted to include in my digital wireframe. To make my wireframes digital, I explored a new program called Figma. At first, I was confused by the tools, and quite honestly, I felt intimidated. But as I interacted more with the tools, it became easier. Creating simple shapes to assemble my wireframe was a fun process.
Before creating my prototype, I brainstormed the app's name and mascots. I found cute animal characters, a frog, and a cloud on Pinterest. The cloud, designed in a business style, represents alumni in the app, while the frog, styled in casual wear, portrays the students. I settled on the name "Among My Alumni" as it sounded catchy. With the mascots and app name in place, I then focused on understanding my users.
I decided on a blue color scheme for my prototype and wanted a layout similar to Brainly. While I was adding shapes and text, I learned about a prototype feature. With the feature, I could add transitions and animations to my frames. For instance, I linked the sign-up button to the homepage, so that users can automatically see what questions students are asking.
After I finished my prototype, I presented my work to my App Design class, and they gave me encouraging feedback! :D This was my first project where I got a taste of UX Design, and I knew I wanted to pursue this career in the future. I loved every aspect of the design process, and I yearned to explore this more.
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