Making registration peer-approved
Summary
Over the course of five weeks in DSGN 214 (Wireframing and App Design Basics), we were challenged to either redesign an existing app or bring a new concept to life.
I created CourseConnect, designed to make course selection smarter and more social. The app surfaces the real-world details students value, helping them choose classes that align with their goals and learning preferences.
Role
Solo Product Designer
Timeline
April 2025 - May 2025
Skills
UX Research, Interaction Design, Visual Design, Prototyping, App Concepting
Tools
Figma, FigJam, Notion, Adobe Creative Suite
Context
Saying bye to guesswork and planning smarter with trusted friend recommendations
CTECs provide a limited picture, and are only so reliable. With mandatory surveys each quarter, students tend to skim or submit minimal feedback. This leaves future students searching for meaningful insights, only to find generic ratings that fail to reflect the true course experience.
The Problem
Students struggle to make confident course decisions with scattered information across sources.
Official information falls short of providing students with the insights they need to choose courses confidently. Students search through different tools like Fizz or Reddit to get the clarification that they need.
While platforms like CTEC surveys (Course and Teacher Evaluation Council) provide overall ratings and statistics, they often miss the context that students care about most: details like workload, teaching style, and assessment methods.
Are students satisfied with what's out there?
Through an audit of existing tools and interviews with Northwestern students, I noticed a pattern: students rely on an array of resources. But these tools don't work together, and none provide the depth or context students need to make confident choices.
First, I ran a quick comparative analysis between resources.
But to understand the sentiment a little better, I surveyed 15 students.
Research Insights
Goal: How do students feel about existing resources for course selection?
On average, respondents rated official tools like CTECs and the course catalog a 3-4/5 for usefulness, citing that while they provide basic info, they lack context on workload, professor style, and real student experiences.
What Students Say
Mapping the experience
Key Insights
Students piece together decision-making tools from official resources and peer advice (70%), yet remain uncertain about their choices.
While 90% prioritize personal fit factors like workload, teaching style, and assignment types over general ratings, they struggle to find this specific information.
The social dimension adds complexity; 65% trust friends' recommendations as much as official reviews, but 80% fear giving bad advice. This creates a high-pressure situation during registration periods when desirable classes fill quickly, significantly increasing planning stress.
I arrived at a critical question…
How might we design a course planning app that brings trusted peer insights and official information together in one place?
Synthesis
Putting it all together
The outstanding theme I found was that students were frustrated between the gap between available information and the realities of taking a class. CTECs and course catalogs provide surface-level details, turning students to word-of-mouth to fill in missing context they seek.
But these peer insights aren't available to everyone. They're highly dependent on who you know, leaving many students without access to the advice they need. To address these challenges, I prioritized these three key insights to guide my design and defined key features.
EXPLORATION
Initial Info Architecture
Next, I transferred to Figma to start defining key features that could bridge the gap between official resources and real student insight. I mapped out the core user goals from my research and translated them into feature buckets for the app. Mapping these needs into a site map clarified the app's structure and ensured every feature directly supported faster, more confident course decisions.
Ideation To Iteration
Moving into wireframes
Building on these insights, I moved into wireframing. With many potential directions still on the table from user needs, I turned to low-fidelity sketches to distill and prioritize ideas. This process helped me focus on the app's most essential features while staying realistic about the project's time constraints.
As I tested ideas with potential users, my approach to post formats evolved based on their priorities. Since students emphasized both personal fit and scheduling needs, I designed the feed to support three distinct types of posts: rating a class, sharing enrollment updates, and finding peers enrolled in the same course. This structure gives students flexibility in how they engage while keeping the experience streamlined and easy to navigate.
Iteration & User Testing
Revisiting the information architecture
My first pass at the information architecture was built from early assumptions about the app's features and navigation. While it still captured the broad structure, it was largely theoretical. Once I moved into sketching wireframes and mapping task flows, I noticed misalignments between the original IA and how users would actually interact with the app. Some pathways felt redundant, and a few features didn't provide the flexibility I imagined. This led me to revise both structures and features:
Resuming with a clearer vision
Now with a better understanding of how I wanted to proceed with the app, I went back to Figma to begin designing. There, I created screens based on my mapped user flow and iterated based on feedback from users.
Home Screen Iterations
I began with the home dashboard, exploring different ways to showcase Course Connect’s core functions. Potential features included a personal progress tracker, a quarter overview, and a friends and community section. Since including everything risked overwhelming users, I narrowed the scope to focus on what they identified as most essential: personal tools such as quarter overviews, easy access to posting, and quick links. For this reason, I ultimately chose Option 2.
Feed Iterations
My initial feed designs inadvertently mimicked the dashboard aesthetic, but rounds of A/B testing revealed users preferred a simplified, content-focused approach. Users also struggled with posting functionality.
With this in mind, I redesigned the feed to feature prominent post creation tools (placed at the top of screen), clear engagement indicators through likes and comments, and visually distinct post types (enrollment vs. review vs. study group). This redesign improved both content consumption and creation experiences.
Solution
Introducing CourseConnect, course selection powered by peers
Key Learnings
Validation comes from people, not ideas
Designing and owning a product meant I couldn't stop at the concept; I had to constantly bring it back to users. Repeated testing surfaced the gap between what I assumed students like myself needed and what they actually valued, pushing me through several meaningful iterations.
Process over just "pretty"
Working solo made it easy to focus on aesthetics, but I learned to prioritize process and usability over "pretty." A layout that feels intuitive to me as the designer doesn't guarantee clarity for users—only testing does.
Good ideas need systems to scale
I realized the hardest part wasn't just designing features, but making sure that students would actually use them consistently. If I had more time, I'd focus on experimenting with incentives, prompts, and feedback loops to extend user retention beyond the initial novelty.
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