RISD GET Mobile App Redesign

Improving the dining and meal plan app, advocating for RISD students.

Roles

UI/UX Designer

UX Researcher

Team

1 UX Designer

1 Product Owner

1 Lead Application Support Specialist

Toolkit

Figma

Lucidchart

Duration

1 month individual work (April 2024)

overview

Making a Change

The GET Mobile App is the #1 used app on my campus. As a Designer for the Health Education and Promotion Department at RISD, I conducted research within the student body on the top health issues on campus. After finding out that dining is one of the main concerns, I took the initiative and began this as a personal project. I focused on improving the user experience and flow of the app.

The Outcome

After completing the case study, I proposed this design to the RISD Dining Board, and now I am currently collaborating with CBORD (the software company), and the product owner for GET to implement my ideas!

Click Around the Final Prototype! ⤵️

For Context

Some important information that is known by every RISD student, but could be unclear to others.

Credits

Points and Swipes

Points

Students are given a certain amount of points each semester. Students can add points with their own money

Swipes

Students are given a certain amount of meal swipes each semester

Met swipes are only used at the Met, the main dining hall

Cafe Swipes can be used at Portfolio Cafe, Watermark Cafe, and Jolly Roger.

risdbucks

Students must deposit their own money for risdbucks

research

Research Goals

My primary goal for research was to find out any difficulties or inconveniences that different students had regarding the app and dining. What better way to find out than ask the students themselves? I interviewed 20 of my peers from the three different housing areas on campus, and grouped similar quotes down to 3 main concerns:

Affinity Diagram

PAIN POINT 1

Menus and prices are not on the app, but in other inconvenient places

PAIN POINT 2

Students don’t have enough swipes for their preferred dining hall

PAIN POINT 3

Students often have a surplus of credits

“I always run out of Portfolio swipes while living at 15 West. I don’t go to the Met that often.”

“In the middle of the year, I moved to Colonial. I realized my unlimited Met swipes became limited, so I ran out fast.”

“I feel isolated from my friends because I don’t have as many swipes at the dining hall they eat at the most”

“I have a lot of food allergies, so I always have to check the annoying google drive menu every time I eat.”

“I feel embarassed when asking the cashier at Portfolio how much the meal is for lunch every time.”

“I never know how much the groceries cost at Portfolio.”

“I feel like I waste my dining plan because I never use my points.”

“I wish there was a way to send my Portfolio swipes to my friend because I don’t use them often, but she always runs out.”

“My boyfriend used up all his points buying coffee at Carr Haus, so he makes me use my points to buy it for him now!”

User Personas

Based on my research, I created three distinct student personas. Let this help you visualize real students.

Frustrations

She has many leftover Met swipes and not enough Portfolio Swipes
She has no time to walk to the Met sometimes.
She likes to buy groceries at Portfolio but there is never clear pricing

Wants

She wants to be able to eat at Portfolio Cafe more than the Met by swapping her Met swipes into Portfolio Swipes
She would like to see the prices of food on the GET app

Bella

Sophomore

Lives in 15 West

Frustrations

He didn't use much of his points for the past three years, so he feels like he is wasting his dining plan
He wishes he could send his unused points to his friends
He runs out of swipes at the Met so he wishes his friends could send him some

Desires

He wants to be able to send his points to his friends so his meal plan can at least be put to full use. In return, he would appreciate more meal swipes at the Met

Jordan

Junior

Lives in Colonial

apartments

Frustrations

He has a soy allergy, so he always has to check the menu. It is inconvenient that he always has to go into his Google Drive to find it because it’s so separate from the GET app
The Google Drive also separates each day’s breakfast, lunch, and dinner menus, which is another inconvenience for planning where to eat throughout the day

Desires

He wishes the menus were easily accessible through the GET app
He wishes the breakfast, lunch, and dinner menus were all together

Fred

Freshman

Lives in North Hall

Listening to User Needs

3 new features will be added in response to users’ 3 main concerns.

NEW FEATURE 1

A menu page including the prices of food items

NEW FEATURE 2

Allow students to exchange between their own dining credits to their liking

NEW FEATURE 3

Allow students to send their own dining credits to their peers

hifi wireframes

Let’s see exactly what I fixed:

❌ UNNECESSARY SCROLLING

Unnecessary numbers, scrolling, and search bar

❌ HIDDEN INFO

The dropdown menu layout makes it hard to see and choose the different options

❌ CLUTTERED, VERTICAL + HORIZONTAL SCROLLING

When you click "Scan Card," it takes you to another page for the barcode
You have to scroll horizontally to see more in “Accounts”
The Accounts page is repetitive of the home page, so I removed it

❌ UNNECESSARY FEATURES

There are features that are not used by students at all

✅ ORGANIZED,

ONLY VERTICAL SCROLLING

No additional step is needed to access the barcode, which is now on the card when the page opens
Everything in “Accounts” is shown in one space
The navigation bar now only contains necessary pages

✅ STRAIGHT

TO THE POINT

OF THE APP