Club Hub

1. Prototype link (Please submit a link to a playable prototype, not a link to your design file) Link

2. Describe your project (max 150 words) Our project, Club Hub, is a centralized platform designed to address the complexities of club searching for college students. Informed by thorough research, our design decisions prioritize user-centric features aimed at streamlining the discovery process. Key features include a personalized quiz and an AI chatbot that allow users to tailor their club recommendations based on their interests and preferences. Additionally, advanced filtering options enable users to refine their search based on criteria such as club type and student ratings. Club Hub’s intuitive interface ensures ease of navigation, while a comprehensive database provides detailed information about each club, including contact details and upcoming events. By combining simplicity with sophistication, Club Hub offers a seamless and engaging experience, empowering students to effortlessly explore and connect with clubs that align with their individual aspirations.

3. Describe your research process and findings. If you conducted any surveys or interviews, please include the survey form and/or interview questions here. If you conducted secondary research by pulling from online sources, please include a link to your sources. (Max 500 words) Survey Link: https://forms.gle/sLFpnUHk1HfbDGTP8

Our journey in designing the Club Hub app began with a deep dive into the common struggles faced by college students. Initially, we brainstormed various challenges, eventually narrowing our focus to transportation issues. However, safety concerns surrounding a potential rideshare app prompted us to pivot our direction.

Subsequently, we explored the concept of creating a centralized hub for internship opportunities. This exploration led us to identify a pressing need for a similar platform tailored to university clubs. We noticed that students often encounter difficulties in finding the right clubs for them due to fragmented information and disparate application processes across campus organizations.

To gain a deeper understanding of these challenges and potential solutions, we crafted a user survey. The survey aimed to uncover the main pain points experienced by students when searching for and joining clubs. After distributing the survey to our peers, we received approximately 30 responses, providing valuable insights into the user experience landscape.

Our findings revealed three primary challenges faced by students:

1. Lack of Personalization: Many respondents expressed frustration with the generic nature of club discovery processes. They highlighted the difficulty in finding clubs that truly aligned with their personal interests and passions.
2. Time Conflicts: Students often struggled to balance their club commitments with academic and personal schedules. Managing conflicting activities and events proved to be a significant challenge.
3. Tedious Application Processes: The cumbersome nature of club applications deterred students from exploring new opportunities. Around 50% of students said it was at least moderately difficult looking for clubs to join and found the process to be overly complex and time-consuming.

Lastly, around 80% said that a centralized hub for club-finding would be beneficial. Armed with these insights, we brainstormed a range of potential features and solutions to address these challenges:

• Filtering System: Implementing a robust filtering system based on personal preferences to enhance club search capabilities.
• Personalized Recommendations: Offering personalized club recommendations through a quiz format to match users with organizations that align with their interests.
• Student Rating System: Allowing students to rate their experiences with clubs, providing valuable feedback for prospective members.
• Chatbot Assistance: Introducing a chatbot feature to assist users with common inquiries, such as FAQs about specific clubs or registration procedures.
• Event Calendars: Providing a calendar of club events with the option to add events directly to users' personal calendars, reducing time conflicts.

From our survey data, we identified two key features that resonated most with users: personalized club recommendations and a filtering system based on personal preferences. These insights guided our design focus, emphasizing the importance of personalization and ease of use in addressing the challenges faced by students.

All in all, our research process involved identifying core problems, gathering user feedback, and ideating solutions to create a user-centric platform tailored to the needs of college students. By addressing issues of personalization, time conflicts, and application efficiency, the Club Hub app aims to streamline the club discovery process and enhance the overall student experience.

1. Describe your most important design decisions. What research findings and/or user testing results led you to make these decisions? (Max 500 words)

Given the constraints of our tight timeline, our design decisions were primarily driven by a thorough analysis of user surveys, a focused understanding of our target demographic, and the practical use of our application. Iterating through various design concepts, we crafted a high-fidelity prototype to ensure optimal user experience.

Central to our design strategy was the careful mapping of user flows. Drawing insights from our research, we prioritized key interactions and functionalities essential to our users. Survey respondents indicated three primary pain points in regards to college clubs: struggling to find clubs they’re interested in, lacking motivation to seek out clubs to join, and being unable to commit due to time conflicts. We devised the following features to address these issues:

1. Including a filtering process (in the search tab) to filter clubs by various relevant categories
2. Allowing students to rate their experience in clubs and view other students’ ratings
3. Ratings are not connected directly to a profile, allowing users to be transparent about their experiences
4. Linking club profiles to other platforms (social media, websites, etc.), applications, and recent events all in one place, making it easier for users to navigate through club information
5. Implementing a chatbot that uses AI to answer students’ questions by collecting data/FAQ from clubs
6. Search bar function makes it easier and less overwhelming for students to navigate through the catalog of all clubs on campus
7. Providing a calendar function where students can add club events and see how it fits in with their schedule
8. Including a personality quiz upon user onboarding that collects data and matches students with clubs that align with their interests, values, and preferences

This culminated in the organization of our app into three main sections accessible through a streamlined navigation bar: search, home, and profile. Here, users can effortlessly explore club information, peruse their college's club offerings, and manage their own club engagements via a calendar interface.

Another pivotal decision was to maintain a clean and intuitive user interface. Acknowledging our diverse audience of college students, we aimed for inclusivity by opting for simplicity. Our aspiration is for Club Hub to be inviting and user-friendly for all students, regardless of their design preferences.

To complement this minimalist approach, we carefully curated a color palette centered around two primary colors—purple and yellow—along with their respective accents. This deliberate choice prevents visual overload and enhances content readability.

Furthermore, our logo embodies the essence of our app in a visually appealing yet straightforward manner. The interplay of yellow and purple circles symbolizes diverse student groups, with the link representing their connection to the ideal club. The incorporation of a cheerful smiley face fosters a positive association. Throughout the app, subtle animations of our logo add a touch of charm to user interactions.

At every stage, our focus remained on facilitating a seamless club search experience for college students, empowering them to discover and engage with communities that resonate with their interests and aspirations.

Built With

• figma