Group Mate
APP Design | UI/UX Design
Overview
Groupmate is a mobile app designed to help international students overcome language barriers and build confidence in English communication by providing a platform where they can create or join study groups, connect with peers, and practice language skills in a supportive environment. By fostering collaboration and cultural exchange, Groupmate not only enhances academic success but also helps students feel more comfortable and integrated in their new academic and social settings.
Design Process
Color Platte and Fonts
Font Choosed --> Bahnschrift
#C6E7FF
#D4F6FF
#FBFBFB
#FFDDAE
#6E6464
Research
First of all, as the leader of the group, I need to determine the general direction of our team. We need to research the serious challenges international students face in their learning process that hinder their academic progress.
Mockup & Wireframes
I use UXpin to edit the wireframe and determine the font and theme color.
Based on feedback from the professor and the teaching assistant, we identified several issues in my design process. For example, each homepage group card has a background image, but there is no option to upload an image when manually creating a group. This raises the question: Where does this image come from? Additionally, what type of visual language does this image convey to users?
WireFrame
In the final stage of preparation I created a simple wireframe that clearly expressed how I wanted the layout to be displayed in the prototype.
Interview
Discord call | In person
Think Aloud Testing
asked users to describe their
thoughts while using the app
Asking users to perform tasks
create and join groups
find main pages
Questions about usability
usefulness of main features
smoothness of the experience
Takeaways
Users did not like that they had to choose between International and Domestic students in the login page and for creating groups
The users were confused on how to edit their profile, not picking up that they had to click edit profile and then change their profile, and then click save profile to add the changes
Users wanted to be able to view the group they created after they created it, but couldn’t
The interest filters did not do a good job at showing relevant groups
Problem Encounterd
Domestic Student VS. International Student
During the initial mockup phase, we found that our app’s user base could include all students. However, we wanted to focus more on international students.
Our initial solution was to add a dropdown list, allowing students to select whether they were local or international. However, we felt that explicitly distinguishing between local and international students might be too divisive, so we decided to abandon the dropdown list. Since international students inevitably interact with local students, we realized there was no need to separate them.
User Control & Freedom
Doesn’t let you select more than one day, and you can’t select different times for different days. Also, you can’t edit your group information because if you click the back arrow, it takes you to the home page.
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Also, There doesn't have any image upload section in our original version.
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