Recent article from The Lantern, Ohio State's newspaper, discussed the dissatisfaction of the BuckeyeLink system. BuckeyeLink, which includes the integral degree auditing system, earned a mere 2 out of 5 rating from a recent student survey.
This article caught my attention and I was set on reimagining the system to not only be more capable, but also appealing. The old platform was an overload of text and unnavigable. With a simple layout and the better use of color, the new interface guides students to the end goal, graduation.
The overall objective was to make the experience less stressful by providing clear and useful information.
User experience issues
● Confusing color-coding
● All information is all on one long page
● No information on landing page
System capability issues
● Displaying empty graphs
● Minors are not shown
● No visuals for degree progress
New implementations of intuitive and easy-to-use layout, interactive buttons for easy navigation, and engaging visuals to help students understand their progress. Additionally, a course planning system that allows students to plan out their path to graduation and make informed decisions. It's like giving students a treasure map to their degree.
Sketches of the interface
Building the home screen
The dashboard serves as the home screen in the new degree audit. The main implementation is the four section of any degree- the general education, major classes, specialization classes and if a student has a minor, that will be displayed as well.
Building the Navigation Bar
The navigation bar required two major interaction tasks; changing the state of each button and switching between the options. The buttons have three states: selected, hovered upon, or neither, and each of these is distinguished by different color. The navigation switcher, while looking complicated, simply shows the flow of a button being clicked, showing that only one can be selected at a time.
📬 emacimovic@gmail.com
