BerkApp

UC Berkeley in your hands

Matthew Jang
Aug 9, 2017 · 5 min read

We Need a Smarter Way to Access Berkeley

Being a student at UC Berkeley isn’t easy. Balancing your difficult studies with scheduling, events, appointments, etc. can be a pain, especially because most of the information is not available immediately in the palm of your hands. Many times, we have to visit many different sites and resources to access what we need, such as library hours, financial aid, or advisor appointments. Wouldn’t it be nice to combine all of these useful information visibly into an application? I think so too.

BerkApp is a concept app which combines all important campus information into the palm of your hands.

The Problem(s):

1. Information we need is scattered everywhere

Have you had a frustrating experience signing up for classes at Berkeley? Are you curious about how many open seats there are in a class? Ever wondered when Doe library closes? How about that cafe you always go to?

Well, I sure have. As a Berkeley student, these are just a handful of information that we need to access on a daily basis. UC Berkeley has definitely had a struggle trying to deliver to its students the best interfaces to make this information available to us in an efficient manner. Through BearFacts, Telebears, ScheduleBuilder and, now, CalCentral, UC Berkeley students have witnessed the nightmares of the online interfaces. Especially for many incoming freshmen who are leaving home for their first times or for transfer students transitioning into a new college environment, an efficient interface is crucial in helping students adjust seamlessly into UC Berkeley life.

CalCentral is definitely a step towards trying to combine scheduling information into one website. But it is still in its developing stages, so has frustrating interfaces. I plan to launch another project in which I redesign the CalCentral website for efficiency.

2. There is no current application for CalCentral

And that’s a problem. Students are not always near their laptops, nor have access to one. This is troublesome as students need to frequently check CalCentral for not only scheduling, but also for financial aid, advisor appointment setups/cancellations, and other important information. There is a mobile web version, but an application makes things far more efficient, which leads me to the third point.

3. CalCentral notifications come through the email

I check my emails very frequently, so this isn’t a huge problem for me. But, many of my friends do not check their emails as often as I do. This just means that they miss important notifications from CalCentral like ones related to paying bills/loans picking up checks, signing up for classes, advisor appointments, etc. An application that sends the student these notifications will greatly reduce unnecessary stress for students.

“Two of the most important characteristics of good design are discoverability and understanding.” — Don Norman

Framing + User Flow

It was difficult to develop frames and interfaces for BerkApp simply because there are a handful of them to keep track of. I wanted to make sure each interfaces, such as the Library tab, have intuitive and discoverable designs that portray each respective themes.

The image below also represents a potential user flow for the application, with modules that are highlighted in yellow being the dashboard off of which four possible routes are provided.

The Solution:

Based on the process on paper above, I continued to design the interfaces through the Sketch software. As an attempt to combine all of these useful information visibly into an application, BerkApp provides a one-for-all interface so that students don’t have to scavenge through many different resources to get the information they need. Namely, BerkApp includes the following features (sample final designs included):

1) CalCentral

2) Mapping of Libraries to Hours

3) Mapping of Cafés to Hours

4) Mapping of Dining Commons to Hours & Menu

*** Please check out the prototype through the link below:

Takeaway:

BerkApp was a fun project that I had the opportunity to develop during my spare times. It was a long but educational process, and I learned a lot through it. I practiced relevant skills like Adobe Xd and Sketch3, and learned how to be detail-oriented while looking at the big picture. I also learned the value of planning a project out so that I don’t get overwhelmed with the work — taking it one step at a time.

This project was very important to me, because, as a Berkeley student myself, I understood and empathized with the struggles that students face in using online interfaces. Although I still have a lot to learn, it was a worthwhile challenge to take on an idea such as BerkApp that is specifically geared towards helping students get through school. As a beginning designer, it was easy for me to get bogged down by the details of design, but I kept reminding myself that the process is more important. I wanted this project to be not only a design project, but also a first step towards the development of an actual market-available application for Berkeley students. Accordingly, this project was an opportunity for me to turn my ideas into a vision and a mission. Thanks!

Matthew Jang

Written by

Student at UC Berkeley studying Cognitive Science. UX/UI Designer (matthewjang.com)