Valencia Graphics
Designed a student engagement app for a college department to foster creative community connections through UX research and high-fidelity mobile prototyping.
Team
Ghali Habti El Idrissi (UX Researcher & UI/UX Designer)• Erika Sanchez (UX Researcher & UI/UX Designer)
Discovery & Research
The Challenge
Valencia College's Graphic Design Program is experiencing low student engagement in activities and events outside of the classroom. Students aren't participating in graphic design-related events, workshops, internships, guest speaker sessions, and community-building opportunities. The current communication tools (Slack, Facebook, Canvas) aren't effectively motivating students to stay connected with the program beyond their coursework.
The Solution
Create a mobile app specifically designed to increase student engagement through features that directly address their needs. The app will include: job and internship announcements (the highest priority based on research), push notifications and event calendar reminders to keep students updated, a dedicated critique space for peer feedback on portfolio work, resource libraries with tutorials and design tools, group chat and collaboration features to build community, and direct communication channels with professors and staff.
Target Market
Student Demographics
- • Most common age: 25-34 years old
- • Secondary age group: 18-24 years old
- • Primarily Year 2-3 college students
- • Majority study both print & interactive design
Define
- Students wanted easier access to job and internship opportunities.
- Existing platforms (Slack, Facebook) felt cluttered or insufficient.
- Need for a dedicated space to exchange peer critiques and feedback.
- Lack of clear, reliable notifications for important events.
- Desire for organized design resources in one centralized place.
- Limited sense of community and engagement outside the classroom.
- Mobile app consolidating all academic and creative needs.
- Push notifications for assignments, events, and program updates.
- Integrated event calendar to keep students informed.
- Collaboration channels and peer-critique spaces.
- Portfolio sharing to showcase student work.
- Scrollable feed and stories-style updates for student work, events, and announcements.
- Community-based features to encourage interaction and participation.
- Structured UI for easy access to resources and information.
- Career resources including curated job/internship listings.
Develop
Wireframes
Low-fidelity wireframes mapping out the structure and user flow of the Valencia Graphics communication platform.
Login Page
Registration Page
Homepage
User Account
Jobs & Internships
Industry Opportunities
Resource Library
Messages
Design Comps
High-fidelity design compositions showcasing the final visual design and user interface for the Valencia Graphics platform.
Homepage
Homepage - Open Post
Homepage - Publish a Post
Login Page
Registration Page
Events Page
Comments Section
Send To
App Overview
Deliver
Interactive Prototype
Interactive prototype of the Valencia Graphics communication platform, demonstrating the complete user experience and functionality.
Note: The prototype is cropped in the embed view, which may make navigation slightly challenging. Click the fullscreen button for the best experience.