HappiLink
OVERVIEW
HappiLink is a mobile application designed for students to meet people in a way that suits their needs. It aims to help students find comfort in their own culture when they're feeling homesick, or connect with new students and explore diverse cultures.
We followed an iterative design process to research, ideate, prototype, and evaluate a design solution for the scenario of ‘International student’s cultural identity & social integration in Australia’ that aligns with the problem area of ‘cultural harmony and valuing multiculturalism’.
Timeline | August 2023 - November 2023
Role | UX/UI designer, UX researcher
Tools | Figma, Canva
Team | Ivy Kwan, Kelly Caviedi, Purvi Bothra
PROBLEM AREA
CONTEXT
Our research has revealed a recurring issue: the challenges faced by international students in Australia, with particular emphasis on cultural identity, culture shock, and social integration. Given the substantial increase of international students in Australia following the Covid outbreak, we believe it is imperative to explore this problem in greater detail. Some sources found that these students felt experiences of exclusion, and almost half found it difficult to make friends (Morris et al., 2020). A study revealed that: “International students form a parallel society made up of fellow international students that has no clear connections to (multicultural) Australian society or culture” (Gomes, 2014).
Research found that:
Therefore, our initial problem was that there is a limited understanding of International students’ accultural difficulties and ability to navigate cultural identity and social integration in a unfamiliar place.
RESEARCH
Discovery Questionnaire | 65 responses | 19 nationalities | aged 17-26
Demographic information were sectioned off from explorative questions relevant to our problem area. The survey consisted of close-ended questions through likert scales and rating systems, with 2 open-ended questions for potential users to share insightful experiences or concerns if the previous inquiries did not allow them to do so.
Our research objective was to understand the motivations and frustrations of international students when acclimatising to Australian culture and socially both integrating both with other and/or their own cultural groups.
Semi - structured interviews | 8 international students | 6 nationalities | aged 19-24
8 interviews were conducted with international students to gain a comprehensive understanding of their experiences since arriving in Australia.
Online ethnography | 20 sources 4 platforms
We used a table to evaluate the sources, record observations and interpretations to better visualise and make connections between the users’ individual experience and attitudes to the wider context of our problem space.
DATA SYNTHESIS
We used an affinity diagram to categorise our learnings, identify patterns from themes and draw key insights accordingly from our data. Personas and storyboards helped us ideate experiences based on our findings from affinity mapping. We developed 3 personas which are specifically distinguished by the stage they were at in their journey as an international student.
Affinity Diagram
Mina's storyboard
Marco's storyboard
Sheila's storyboard
KEY INSIGHTS
REFRAMED PROBLEM STATEMENT
Due to cultural differences and social barriers, international students are hesitant and not effectively encouraged to evolve their cultural identity and mingle with students of other cultures, preferring to stick within their cultural comfort zone
EXISTING SOLUTIONS/COMPETITOR ANALYSIS
We have identified several research gaps, including an insufficient exploration of how cultural identity evolves over time, the experience of cultural shock, and the effectiveness of current strategies, such as University resources, not being thoroughly determined. To gain a better understanding of our market landscape, we reviewed existing solutions that share a focus on social interests or customise their product offerings to university/international students which allows them to integrate within a multicultural community.
IDEATION
As a team, we used different ideation methods like Crazy 8’s, reverse thinking and challenging assumptions to generate ideas broadly which helped us establish a foundation of various possibilities for our design concept. After our ideation, each of us chose our 3 strongest ideas to further refine through sketches and storyboarding to optimise communicating the main features and how it would address the problem.
Cultural Passport App (HappiLink) By Ivy
Match-A-Culture by Purvi
Cultural Match-making App by Kelly
After refining our top 3 design concepts, we developed a criteria for success to test the design concepts again and select the strongest to pursue through the Harris Profile Decision Matrix.
Our chosen concept was HappiLink which we further refined
How our mobile app and Apple Watch extension solution addresses the problem:
Students find institutional meet-up or cultural events informal, overwhelming or uninviting. The mobile app solution allows them to approach social interactions more naturally and in a way that suits their individual needs by being able to filter by capacity, location, interests, budget and more
International students feel homesickness and cultural shock when arriving in Australia, encouraging them to interact more with others of their own culture. For students who want to engage with their own culture and explore others, they have the autonomy to choose which events to attend
International students feel anxiety expanding out of their comfort zone to meet new people, so inviting current friends to meet-ups or syncing event schedules ensures students don’t feel overwhelmed
PROTOTYPE AND TEST
We conducted 6 usability tests with 8 tasks and evaluated using think-aloud, observations and pre and pro-test interviews, as well as 6 expert tests with 5 technical and unique tasks which were evaluated using the same techniques and cognitive walkthroughs.
Mobile feedback
Some users overlooked the filter option in the home dashboard
Replace search icon with a useful translation feature to better cater for a diverse cultural audience
Apple Watch feedback
Users were confused with multiple call to actions on the confirmation screen after the user created an event alert, so we removed the button
Removed word count for the verbal recording as incorrect transcriptions could take up the word count
Wireframes to Mockups (Iteration 1)
Iteration 2 (Interactive prototyping process)
After developing our first interactive prototype iteration, we began user testing. We conducted 9 expert-based heuristic evaluations using a spreadsheet template. On the template, users were also prompted to allocate a severity rating to the identified usability issue, providing both a qualitative and quantitative judgement.
Iteration 3 (Interactive prototyping process)
After implementing feedback from round 2, we began testing again with experts and users.
Iteration 4 (Interactive prototyping process)
After implementing feedback from round 3, we conducted our final round of testing with 11 users through an unmoderated usability testing platform, Loop 11. Through Loop 11, we asked users pre-test questions, used audio and screen recording and to complete a SUS survey at the end of the testing period.
FINAL PRODUCT
Take a look at our promotional video of HappiLink!
NEXT STEPS
If our product was to be implemented in a real-life context in the future, we would consider undertaking the following steps through the product roadmap to best optimise the applicability and value of the product, and how it can expand in terms of its target audience and features in the future.
Future inclusions
Expand target market to local students, enabling international students to not only mingle with new cultures but also local students to learn more about the cultural and historical significance of their current residence whilst enabling local students to expand their social comfort zone
Increase omni-channel potential through a website or web-app to explore and register for events
Foster an inclusive environment by implementing further capabilities for accessibility, including eye tracking technology, dark mode UI & audio input
Implement useful features through continues testing and iterations such as an instant translation feature for apple watch, ability to recommend events considering users’ location, and further features for risk mitigation & prevention