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U Dream
A mobile platform that centralizes all the resources and
services provided by universities for undocumented students
Project Vision
Design and build a platform that makes accessible the resources and services universities provide to undocumented students pursuing higher education
My Role
Product Designer, Developer
Team
Silvia Kim
Personal Passion Project
Background
There are more than 11 million undocumented people across the nation. And so many of them don’t even think they can pursue higher education. Knowledge is power. But all this information is scattered and tucked away. Lack of information is preventing them from being aware of their best options. And there is not one single application out there that addresses this issue.
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Lack of awareness
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Lack of information
Design Question
Some of the main concerns undocumented students have were as fundamental as these: “Will I be able to afford to go to college as an undocumented student? Two, “will I find a community? Will there be faculty, staff, spaces that foster a sense of community? Three, will I feel safe? Will I be protected, will I be supported?”
Research Findings
I conducted 12 interviews focusing on undocumented high school students, undocumented community college students, and undocumented college students. The research demonstrated that 93% of undocumented college students wish they had known about resources universities provided for undocumented students. And 100% of undocumented high school students were unsure and ultimately worried about financial aid for college which was the main determinant of pursuing higher education.
Design Goals
The main goal of this app is for it to be informative, easy to use, and most importantly accessible; not only for students but also for the parents. A lot of them sacrificed their life to give their children a better future, so being aware of the opportunities out there, especially for higher education, is crucial. That is why the application is designed in a clean and simple to navigate structure so that people who are not as tech savvy can efficiently utilize the app.
Persona
By mapping out significant characteristics from each of our user interview participant, I created three primary personas: an undocumented highschool student, an undocumented community college student, and an undocumented college student.
The first initial sketch felt like it had too many levels/screens to get to the desired page. Most importantly, it made it confusing and required more work for the user to find the specific information they are looking for.
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Solution: Have a navigation bar! This reduces one level so that it is easier for users to look for the information they are looking for. The second, third, and fourth sketches demonstrate how a navigation bar can act as a guide for easier flow.
iOS Development: Information Architecture Sketch
Before developing the app, I sketched out the information architecture and the general format of tableViews. I also decided it was crucial to implement an html parser because I was imputing all the information manually.
How it was built
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I used a toolbar to display the different items in the tableView
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I used Firebase extensively. I inputed all the information including the data and the images in firebase.
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In Xcode, I implemented an html parser that reads the HTML formatted information from Firebase and CSS file that stylizes the web view.
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Instead of core data, I used NSCoding and NSCoder to save all the information in the app in case the user does not have internet. And therefore, updates the data everytime the user connects to the internet.
Prototyping
After five grueling weeks of developing the app, I was able to finish it.
Mobile App Simulation
There are a lot of screens, so I thought it is best to present it in a way for the user to interact with it on a desktop also.
User Testing & Testimonials
I had several undocumented university students and high school students try out the mobile application to get feedback on what to improve.
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"Wow this is really cool. I wish I had this when I was in high school. That's dope."
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"This is freaking amazing what the heck. This going to help so many people."
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"I need to tell my friends about this thing. Unbelievable."
In the App Store!!
The app UDream is in the App Store ready for download. It is relatively new so I have to keep adding more schools.
Takeaways
This was my first iOS development and design project ever. I build and designed everything with the help of my iOS engineer mentor Jose Jimenez in a matter of four weeks. I never thought I would have finished it in my wildest dreams. There were lots of times I wanted to give up. But knowing that there is a student out there looking for help made me push even harder. I am really passionate about helping out the community so that was the driving force that kept me going.
What's next
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Keep adding more schools and updating information
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Build an interactive input where users can suggest to add info they feel is missing
Check out other projects!
Trust the process.
Gift wisely and confidently.
Gifti
The jacket that has your back
Eyeris
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