The ACC Highland campus is both beautiful and functional, with state of the art facilities and plenty of gorgeous gathering spaces for students to study, hang out, and relax between classes. With so many new opportunities packed into over 200,000 square feet of the former Highland Mall, it’s no surprise that navigation on campus is a challenge, a fact not lost on visitors, faculty, and students alike.
At the ACC Austin Studio Tour Viscom Design-a-Thon, three teams of student designers had four hours to prototype a potential solution to the problem of how to help people find where they are going.
To do this they followed a four step User Experience design process, and ACC Viscom alumni provided mentorship throughout the event.
Empathize
Before students could think of a solution, they first had to empathize with the needs of the users navigating the building. With hundreds of visitors pouring in to visit ACC on the Austin Studio Tour, this was a unique opportunity for our teams of designers to get real-time user feedback about the challenges of navigating Highland. Some teams conducted interviews with Austin Studio Tour visitors and Viscom faculty, others recorded their own experience using the current way-finding tools to navigate the campus.
Define
After conducting research and gathering user feedback, students defined their audience by creating an audience persona: a detailed description of someone who represents their target audience.
Team Red Pandas introduced us to “Jamie,” a shy art major attending ACC to help pivot in his career.
Team Purple Honey Badgers identified “Billie,” a 35-year old introverted first time college student who also has a full time job.
Team Neon Flamingos chose an animal persona, “Frank Flamingo” who is visiting campus for the first time to meet with their professor.
After identifying personas, they then created a journey map: a visualization of how an audience persona might interact with the product. For example, Team Purple Honey Badgers identified that when Billie enters the building for the first time he might get lost, check his phone, and then ask another student for directions.
Ideate
After the teams empathized with and defined their audience, it was time to start brainstorming ideas. Teams employed a number of strategies to do this, including white boarding, sticky matrixes, and dot voting.
Prototype
Teams then put their ideas to the test by either building physical representations of their product or a digital mock up.
Teams also had this time to prepare their presentations for judging. ACC alum and former Viscom staff member Kim Aland acted as a communications coach to help students prepare their pitches.
Present
At the end of four hours, each team pitched their ideas to a panel of judges from the Austin design community.
The judges reviewed the work based on the following criteria:
- Is it a good solution? How will it make an impact?
- Is it inclusive and accessible?
- How feasible is it?
- Does it make sense for the audience?
The public also had an opportunity to weigh in on their favorite designs via online voting. The designs were posted immediately following the event for the public to view and vote on. With over 100 votes in just over two days, a clear winner emerged. Each member of the winning teams was awarded a $50 Amazon gift card.
View the Designs
Team Neon Flamingos
Winner of the Judge’s Award
The Neon Flamingos suggested that adding a “Meaningful Structure of Navigation” on campus can help students and faculty find their location more easily. Their proposal consisted of several strategies:
- Identify buildings with names and personas such as the “Willie Nelson” building.
- Add visual markers to different areas such as color on the walls to represent different departments and 3D Landmarks to create easy reference points.
- Adjust the signage so that it is more visible and functional by adding iconography and adding color to make the signs pop.
- Add signage at every decision point in the building.
The judges chose the Neon Flamingos as the winning team because they appreciated the “holistic approach” of their multi-step proposal.
Team Purple Honey Badgers
Winner of the Audience Choice
The Purple Honey Badgers noticed that when students are lost, the natural reaction is to ask for help. The problem is that even if somebody knows the way, they have a hard time giving directions due to a lack of visible landmarks. The Purple Honey Badgers focused their design on giving students and faculty memorable reference points that can be used when giving directions. Their proposal consists of three parts:
- Assign colors to different departments on the directory.
- Match those colors to the walls for students to follow.
- Engage students to create logos to further identify each department.
Team Red Pandas
Team Red Pandas was the only team to propose a technological solution to way-finding at Highland: interactive kiosks at every entrance to welcome first time visitors and ensure they can find their way from the first moment they step in the door. The interactive kiosk would include:
- A touch screen interface.
- A directory selection by professor name or department.
- Interactive maps that highlight your route.
- QR codes which populate directions on your phone.
- A slideshow of notices and other relevant information to enhance campus life.
