HOMEROOM
OVERVIEW
Capstone Design Project, 2020
8 Weeks
For my senior design project in the fall of 2020, I wanted to create a digital product that helped people with Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder.
What interested me in UX Design and Research initially was the overlap between psychology and technology, so I thought this would be an important problem to tackle. ADHD is a disorder that affects millions of people all over the world. For the people who have this disorder, a digital interface can become overwhelming and small details, such due dates, get lost in the millions of thoughts going through their heads. A solution that would help students with ADHD, will also work better for all students.
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Homeroom serves as an assignment and task manager, as well as a communication platform for students. It acts as a digital hub where the user can better organize, keep track, and stop missing assignments. Students of registered classes can also chat with their peers for help. This product is designed for iPads, as schools, including lower income ones in Minnesota, give their students iPads to use.
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The goal of this platform is to helps students manage due dates and stay connected to their peers outside of the classroom. And, the goal of this project was to use extensive user research to help create a friendly and delightful digital experience.
UNDERSTANDING ADHD
Before starting user research and the design process, I thought it was important to do research about ADHD itself. If I as a designer understand this condition, I can better design a solution that helps people who have the disorder.​
WHAT IS ADHD?
ADHD is a chronic condition that can includes difficulties maintaining attention, hyperactivity, difficulties regulating emotions, and impulsivity.
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It is usually noticed in childhood and affects someone for their whole life. The condition often contributes to low self-esteem, troubled relationships, and difficulties at school and work.
THE THREE TYPES:
THE SCOPE
Before starting this project, I had to ask, what are some of the defining facts? So, I did some quick preliminary
research for this project:
HOW MIGHT WE...
Make high school feel less overwhelming for students with Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD)?
SURVEY
To kick off the research portion of the project, I made a Google Form and sent it out onto the web through ADHD Reddit forums, Tumblr groups, and Facebook groups.
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I asked that in order to take the survey, respondents had to have been diagnosed with ADHD or be at least 70% sure they had it. I didn't want to limit respondents to only having received an official diagnosis because access to ADHD testing depends on location, income, and peoples families.
With the help of the internet, I was able to collect 199 responses to my survey. The survey consisted of multiple choice and short answer questions.
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I was able to collect responses from people in other countries. 32% of respondents were from countries other than the U.S. It was super interesting to hear how students with ADHD in countries like Denmark, Sweden, India, and etc. navigate the education system.
SURVEY HIGHLIGHTS
To kick off the research portion of the project, I made a Google Form and sent it out onto the web through ADHD Reddit forums, Tumblr groups, and Facebook groups
MARKET RESEARCH
It was important to research Homeroom's competitors and see where they fall short with ADHD students. My survey provided insight on commonly used software in high schools today. I did market research and figured out how these current solutions could be doing better.
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Homerooms main competitors would be Canvas, PowerSchool, and Schoology
INTERVIEWS
I was able to interview two people over Zoom and one person on a phone call. Two teenagers with ADHD from Minnesota, and a special education and technology teacher from New Jersey.
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This helped provide different perspectives about ADHD and school. (Names changed for privacy).
Heather
Most children learn better visually or seeing examples in general. As most people skim over reading. It's not just ADHD, the techniques used for teaching ADHD people would be better for all people. In my opinion, Technology helps support this.
Mason
I spent hours on things that should have not taken so long. would cry over bad grades.... I remember doing homework right before class ever since 9th grade. Everything just took me longer because I kept losing focus in favor of other things.
Ava
I spent hours on things that should have not taken so long. would cry over bad grades.... I remember doing homework right before class ever since 9th grade. Everything just took me longer because I kept losing focus in favor of other things.
USER GROUPS
To get into the mind potential users, I created a persona of a young woman in NYC who's trying to find a roommate for her two bedroom Brooklyn apartment. This laid the groundwork for how I would brainstorm different features the product could have.
EMPATHY MAP
With the help of NYC Reddit forums and friends that have lived on the east coast, I found barriers and anxieties that people may have when looking for a roommate in the big apple.
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What would someone like our persona (Lily) .... Say, Think, Do, and Feel​?
USER JOURNEY
Below is the emotions that someone with ADHD goes through when they realized they forgot about an assignment. This journey map illustrates which areas if the current process in the most painful for users and how frustrating ADHD can be.
USER PATHWAY + FEATURES
After I created my persona, I did some user pathway exploration. In this step I used a matrix to help me think of the different stages people with ADHD may go through in a semester. It's important to think what the user needs are vs what the product is doing at the same time.
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Before I get too ahead of myself in the design process, I like to take a step back and think about what features are critical for solving the users pain points.
INITIAL EXPLORATION
Before moving in to Adobe XD for wireframes, I did some quick ideation sketches on how main pages of the app would be structured.
SITEMAP
After I sorted through which features would be helpful, I started mapping out what the different pages could be. In this process I was thinking of things like "how many pages do I need", "what's the hierarchy", etc. This process helped me simplify ideas and organize my thoughts.
WIREFRAMES + FLOWS
Using Adobe XD, I mocked up a wireframes and thought through how user's would navigate within the application. The flows are each steps Lily takes on the roommate finding process.
FLOW #1
Create a Post
Lily posts her apartments spare room onto the app.
FLOW #2
Find a Roommate
A few days after Lily posts her apartments spare room for rent, she gets notifications of applicants. Lily can go to her account page to see a list of applicants, or go to her inbox and see messages of people introducing themselves after they applied for the space.
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Lily can use the in app messaging system, this way she doesn't have to give out her phone number and message through different social media apps. She lands on a few people who may be potential good matches. She can use the in app video chat feature for a safe face to face conversation or apartment tour.
MOOD BOARD
After figuring out the layout and experience of Rumes, next up was to figure out the aesthetics of the product. I searched up pictures of NYC for inspiration. I was inspired by the water and sky that surround the Brooklyn Bridge at dusk, so I pulled colors from the image below to use in the app.
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The skyline of the city is iconic, so I incorporated it into the onboarding process of the app.
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