CSUN lacks a dedicated mobile app for on-campus clubs and events, hindering student connections, particularly post-pandemic.
Through quantitative and qualitative research, I gained insights into students' navigation challenges. Consequently, I developed MataHub, a prototype club and event finder and social network tailored to CSUN's needs.
Before I am able to determine what product I will create, I must find and pinpoint the problems from students on campus about the state of club and event navigation.
To find out more about the opinions of students, a survey was sent out on Google Forms.
The following highlights are based on the 32 students that responded to the survey.*
To gather a deeper understanding of the opinions of students, I conducted attitudinal interviews with three different students on campus:
Kaitlyn - a 1st year Biology undergraduate student
Kneo - a 3rd year Film undergraduate student
Jeremy - a queer studies graduate student
Kaitlyn - "I usually search them up on social media or see them posting on Instagram.”
Kneo - “I ask friends and classmates in my major what clubs they are in and check it out with them. I also find them on campus if they are having a pop up event. Overall, I typically find clubs in person rather than online. During the quarantine I did not join many clubs since they were over zoom, and it is harder to find connections that way.”
Jeremy - “I find clubs through Meet the Clubs, and I try to meet new people at the event. I tend to prefer looking for things in person.”
Kaitlyn - “I find it okay. I can get by with MataSync, but I did not know about it at first.”
Kneo - “I wish there were more to it than Meet the Clubs. I wish there was more outreach from clubs towards the students on campus, in general. I was not able to go to either day of Meet the Clubs because I had to go to class.”
Jeremy - “I feel like the school is very accommodating to finding clubs, and I feel like they present a lot of opportunities for students.”
Kaitlyn - “Not much I think. Maybe have more physical methods of advertising on campus instead of all online/social media.”
Kneo - “Yeah, I would like to see more clubs engaging with the public frequently instead of just Meet the Clubs. Maybe more clubs should have more events or fundraisers on campus so they are seen in public.”
Jeremy - “More paper, more fliers!”
I observed a 3rd year student over zoom, and I had them share their screen with me. I had them navigate to the CSUN homepage and find where the list of clubs and organization was.
They found the list pretty quickly. I had them look for three clubs: Ceramics Club, Geography Club, and Women United (all chosen at random), and the subject started to scroll the alphabetical list, but they realized that they should be using the search function. They then used the function for all three clubs.
Whenever they found the club, the subject would click on the club, look at their photo or videos, and then check out their social media if they are still an active club.
The subject searched up the clubs’ Instagrams on their phone if they wanted to engage since you have to be logged into Instagram to view images.
Afterwards, I had the subject to look for a sports club (also random) that they would consider an interest, and they scrolled through the alphabetical list to find them. They were unaware that there was a filter drop menu, but eventually used it.
I then asked how they felt about the navigation and website…
“It was pretty easy to find the clubs. The colors were nice…this is probably a me thing but I wish if I clicked the MataSync logo on the top it would take me back to the list.”
I then asked how comfortable and confident they were with find other clubs of interest.
“I am very confident, but I also know about MataSync kind of well because I do a lot of club management things. If I were to do this activity before I was involved with club leadership, I would have definitely have been lost and not know where to find the list of clubs. I would have just relied on Meet the Clubs.”
As a result, the following question was formulated.
Bobby needs a way to find clubs to join because they do not feel active on campus. If Bobby joins a club, he would be able to make more friends and connections while they are at CSUN.
We believe that by creating an app for CSUN students that will consolidate club and event information and allow for more students to directly interact with clubs, we will achieve more participation in clubs and events. We will know this to be true when we see an increase of club activity, attendance, and memberships on campus.
Personas were created to determine the types of students who would interact with a CSUN app for clubs and events.
Bobby, the CSUN student that wants to find a club to join, wakes up late on the day of "Meet the Clubs," the club rush event on-campus. Bummed out, his friend introduces him to a clubs and event app that alleviates his distress.
An empathy map of a typical CSUN student is created to summarize the what a student would say, do, think, and feel regarding clubs and events on campus.
A holistic competitive analysis of MataSync (the web-based clubs service at CSUN), NearPeer (the student social app at CSUN), and Instagram (the most common social media platform students choose to find club and event information).
The prototype of the app represents the beginning stages of the app. A high-fidelity app will be created once the user satisfaction after testing is optimal.
figma prototype >>Five users were asked to test the prototype of the MataHub app. Two of the users are in the same UX/UI class, and the other three students are from other departments on campus. Here are the highlighted responses.
Flush out the rest of the screens for the prototype
Rethink the layout of the app to be less crowded
Add follower/member count and member list to clubs
Add a function for students to message each other
Add club icons to event tiles.Test with more users
