MClubs
Streamlining club discovery and involvement for University of Michigan students
Timeline
2 Weeks
Summer 2024
Role
UX Designer
User Research
Tools
Figma
‍
With
1 Designer
2 Developers
Overview
Why MClubs?
Navigating university clubs is crucial for a successful college experience, but existing resources are limited and inaccessible, especially for such a large university.
MClubs is a centralized platform for students to explore, connect with, and stay updated on clubs and activities.
My Role
User Research & UI Design
I conducted the initial desk research, interviews, feature concept development, and A/B testing.
The other designer and I collaborated in all other stages of the process, including feature refinement, lofi & hifi wireframes, and UI design.
Upcoming club events at a glance
Discover upcoming club events and activities in a personalized feed. Toggle between updates from followed clubs and recommended clubs and never miss an opportunity to get involved.
Save posts as actionable reminders
Save posts, add notes or reminders, and add dated posts to Google Calendar. Whether it's applying for a club position or attending an event, stay on top of club action items that matter most.
Centralized and accessible club information
Customize club profiles with media, links, and club information, offering a centralized space for prospective members to locate necessary details to get involved.
Customizable post options suitable to varying club needs
Categorize a post as an event to include an important date, customize post media and post audience to suit a variety of club announcement situations.
User Research  
Understanding the club discovery and involvement experience for students and club leadership 
I conducted expert interviews with 2 student club leaders and collected survey responses from 20 students, ranging all grades with varying levels of club involvement. Affinity diagraming these responses revealed patterns affecting club discovery, sign up processes, and event participation.
Insights from Affinity Diagramming 
Clubs struggle to promote events and communicate to students beyond their current members
Students are interested in attending more club events, but have no reliable way to hear about new events
Students primarily rely on word of mouth to find clubs, current tools and social media are ineffective for club search
Competitive Analysis  
Existing tools fall short of meeting all club needs 
I identified and examined three main tools students reported using for club discovery. Each has its benefits, but also distinct unavoidable pain points that hinder the club & event discovery process.
User Journey Map   
Juggling multiple scattered platforms complicates club processes
Students must switch between multiple resources and platforms to join a club or event, creating an unnecessary barrier to entry and discourages students from staying involved.
Problem
No reliable platform to browse clubs, activities, and complete club information in one place
Current club discovery tools are only partially compatible with club needs and leave students depending on word of mouth to find clubs to join. If they discover a club, students must locate resources on multiple platforms in order to stay involved and keep track of events on their own.
Solution
A centralized platform to streamline club discovery
A post-based club directory app to stay updated on upcoming events, filter and search all clubs, and easily locate complete club information.
Working with existing club structures, we set product constraints to stay focused what was most needed and feasible in our timeframe:
MClubs is for...
  • Searching and browsing clubs and activities
  • Organizing all club resources and information in one place
  • Streamlined discovery, saving, and tracking of club activities
MClubs is not for...
  • Replacing existing in-club messaging channels
  • Replacing calendar apps
  • Replacing event organization and sign-up processes
Concept development  
Designing features to fully address student and club needs
Information Architecture
Post Classification 
Public club communication are a mix of event, task, and informational posts.
  • Posts always have visual content
  • Tasks require external links
  • Events and tasks require date info
Low Fidelity & High Fidelity Wireframes
Usability Testing  
Collecting insights on key features from University of Michigan students
I conducted usability testing on feature variations with 5 University of Michigan students, gaining insight on the visual clarity and intuitiveness of our new features.
Saved View
Users showed clearer understanding of the save feature when there was visual consistency between the post thumbnail and the original post (Saved View C), than when the post content was restructured to only include essential information (Saved View A).
Posting Interaction
  • Users appreciated initial categorization of post type as it provided more clarity on the purpose of a post (Posting Option A).
  • Users did not like one universal post with all features as they felt pressured to use all features (Posting Option B).
  • Users wanted the flexibility of changing post type through the whole process of post creation.
Synthesizing User Feedback
We moved forward with the initial post type categorization from Option A and the flexible post type dropdown from Option C.
Branding
Staying true to the University of Michigan