Collaborators: Solo project
Project length: 1 week
Project length: 1 week
THE CHALLENGE
Digitalise the English linguistics students' purchases of course literature for the Department of English at Södertörn University. The literature already exists in digital format (PDF, but needs to be adapted) but is not available for purchase. The situation needs to be modernised and improved so that all parts benefit.
The current course literature is entirely made up of physical hard copies which is unsustainable, both environmentally but also financially for students as well as the authors of the literature (primarily the professors of the courses).
SUMMARY
A simple e-commerce website was designed for which the digitalised course literature could be uploaded by the authors and purchased by the students. A prototype of a solution in the form of a website was created and tested to map how the customer journeys change and what adjustments needed to be made to create a functional solution.
The functional website is planned to be made and launched sometime during the autumn of 2021.
The functional website is planned to be made and launched sometime during the autumn of 2021.
This project stems from a request from the Department of English to improve the way in which students get hold of their course literature. Course evaluation documents and unstructured interviews with both students and one of the professors (and authors) established the information needed to paint a picture of the problems at hand.
With this information, a persona (shown above) and customer journey maps could be made of the situation as it is today. First, a customer journey map of the way in which Sara, the average English linguistics student, would go about purchasing the required literature for a new course.
A website would improve a lot of the issues and friction points. After some quick wireframe sketching in Illustrator, a low fidelity website protoype was created in Figma. Once that was done, the graphic profile (presented below) was applied.
The Figma prototype kan be found here:
The Figma prototype includes a landing page with a search bar, a browsing page, product pages and a contact form. The landing page also shows a "Recently purchased" list of literature to quickly navigate to the product pages. Since most students will buy their literature around the same time shortly before a particular course start, the most recently purchased window will likely show the most relevant literature.
During the interviews, a common feeling the students gave off (which was also confirmed by the professor) was that the course of English grammar isn't really that exciting. It is something that most of the students only studied because it was necessary for a career in something other than language. To try to invoke a more energetic feel to the subject and reach out to the young adult audience, the branding consists of a striking orange accent combined with trendy and sophisticated navy blue gradients.
The name and logo play on the shortening of the word "literature", the phrase "it's lit" and the "fire emoji" (commonly used by youths today to imply that something is awesome). The logo also includes a subtle hint to linguistics with an inverted apostrophe/comma/quotation symbol.
The colour combinations and typography throughout the website always have good contrasts and readable texts to ensure the website is as inclusive as possible for all users.
Using the prototype and imagining the new method of obtaining literature, a new customer journey was mapped out to see if the experience is improved.
The second Customer Journey Map provided a good overview as well as some final ideas and tweaks to the experience.
The website is still in the progress of being made. It is especially tricky with the technicalities of how to sell a illicit distribution-protected PDF. Hopefully it will be launched later in the year, providing approval is given from the university.
Another step forward in this project is to involve an app. Because more and more people use their phones over computers and laptops, being able to both read and do the exercises in the literature on the phone would immensely improve the learning experience, and ultimately improve the students results.
