Student City Explore app

An app designed for new students in Glasgow to explore the city, discover social gatherings, restaurants, events, and essential services, making it easier to feel at home.

Role

UX/UI Design

Date

Dec 23

Relevance

Application

Tools

Figma

View Prototype

DISCOVER

The Case Study Focus

What’s the idea?

Students between 18-30 years, who are new to the city of Glasgow, who need to figure out their way and make a new home!
The challenges of navigating the city and accessing key information about events, local services, and mental health resources.
They need an easy-to-use platform that works offline, prioritizes accessibility, and supports their social and practical needs.

What’s the research goal?

to know what kind of information the students need and how they would tackle the challenges

we need to know how often the students struggle to find the areas around them
we need to tell of how they would get the information about a particular place/event.
what would they do if they don’t find it, and do so do they get overwhelmed by the lack of or abundance of information?

Identifying what’s there

After looking around the popular apps for students, a comparison has been done between Unidays, Eventbrite, and Glasgow Travel Guide. These apps serve different purposes for students and travelers in Glasgow.

Unidays offers exclusive student discounts from various brands.

Unidays makes it easy for students to sign in and access personalized discounts. It also promotes engagement by rewarding users for reviews and features a clean, intuitive design that enhances navigation.
Accessing desired discounts can be difficult due to limited availability or location-based restrictions, reducing the platform’s overall effectiveness.

Eventbrite helps users discover and book events.

Easy onboarding and seamless event booking process make it user-friendly. Users can follow events and people, and create event collections for easy tracking.
Requests too much personal information during event booking, which can frustrate users.

Glasgow Travel Guide offers travel planning tools, including interactive maps, event listings, and categorized tours with detailed itineraries.

Interactive maps and clear itineraries make it easy to navigate and plan trips. Personalized suggestions and the ability to gift bookings add social and practical value.
The app’s focus on Glasgow limits its usefulness for users interested in exploring other cities, reducing its appeal to a broader audience.

There’s an opportunity to create a more comprehensive platform that combines the best features of each, offering personalized, easy-to-navigate event discovery and travel planning.

There’s one like that!

The platform What’s on Glasgow provides comprehensive event and travel information, but its UX and visual design are poor. The user experience is clunky, and the interface lacks aesthetic appeal, making navigation difficult and frustrating for users. Despite offering useful content, the bad design and usability issues hinder its overall effectiveness.

Doing a heuristic evaluation

DEFINE

Learning about the students

We asked some students what they feel, and think about coming to Glasgow, and how they get information about a new city. We also asked abourt their interests, hobbies, etc.

What Do They Need to Do?

Students need to balance academics, social life, and personal well-being. They manage finances, study schedules, coursework, and daily tasks like shopping and cooking. They also seek accommodation and social connections.

What do they experience?

They encounter entertainment options, student discounts, social media, and fitness activities. They also see other new students and various aspects of city life, like walking dogs or commuting.
Students are exposed to financial concerns, emotional struggles like missing family, and personal goals such as staying fit or learning new skills. They also hear about external pressures, like bad weather and managing their academic and personal lives.

What do they do?

Students want to explore the city, meet new people, and attend cultural events. They also look for part-time jobs and engage in self-improvement activities like working out, all while managing their daily life.
Challenges include financial strain, academic pressure, and social isolation. Many struggle with expensive living costs and the stress of adjusting to a new environment and culture.
Students aim for career stability, good health, safety, and strong social connections. They hope to find discounts, explore the city, and make meaningful friendships.

Understanding Characters

To better understand user needs, detailed personas were created representing students aged 18-30 who are new to Glasgow. These personas highlight their goals, challenges, and behaviors, helping shape a user-centered design.

Views and Objectives

Design Brief

Problem Statement

Students new to Glasgow struggle to find reliable, up-to-date information on events, attractions, and city navigation. Existing platforms often have poor UX, cluttered content, or lack essential features like personalization and offline access.

Goal

To develop a user-friendly platform that serves as a comprehensive city guide, helping students explore Glasgow effortlessly. The platform should provide real-time event listings, venue details, weather updates, a city map, and a wishlist feature to enhance user experience.

Key Features & Solutions

Event Listings & Venue Info – Updated details on concerts, parties, cultural events, and local hotspots
City Guide & Map – Interactive maps with key locations and student-friendly spots
Weather Information – Real-time weather updates to plan outings
Wishlist & Reminders – Save events and locations, set notifications
Offline Functionality – Access essential information without an internet connection
Security & Accessibility – Prioritize user safety and ensure an inclusive, easy-to-use interface

DESIGN

Sketches & Wireframes

The first step from this point was to create initial sketches to explore the layout and structure of the application. These sketches focused on organizing features such as signing-in, event listings, venue details, city maps, and personalized recommendations.

Later, these sketches were refined into wireframes using the Figma app, providing a clear blueprint for the final design.

Task flow for User Testing

Learning

In the Description screen,

Originally I made the description, details, and directions horizontally in a tab bar. However after the user test, users were not navigating between the bar to see all the information, hence I changed to a vertical layout.
reviews are not necessary for a future event like new year’s

Payment screen,