1. Harmonie Nkama, Nitya Patel, Alexander Krause, Haifa AlNasser

2. INDEX
Section Page
Main Goals and Overview 1
Application Functionalities and Navigation 2
Research Method 5
Design Iterations 11
Lessons learned and Future Developments 12

3. Main Goals & Overview
Overview
• The iBoard applicationisaimedatallowinginformation/Poststobe accessible atalatertime
withinarelevanttimeframe.
• Also,itgivesall iSchool visitorsabetterideaof currenteventsthatare occurring withinthe
University.
• The iBoard givesaninteractive experience tothe userswhichislackinginthe standardphysical
Boards that currentlyexist.
• Alsoitgivesan opportunitytothe viewers of the poststo give theirfeedbackandconsequently
viewthe feedbackof othersaftertheyhave giventheirown.
• Basicallythe mainmotivationbehindthisideawasthe ideatoincrease :
 Readability
 Accessibility
 Readability
 Simplicity
Goals
• The main goal of the applicationwastoallow Viewing&Sharingof posts,inadditionto
supplyingfeedbackregardingvariousposts.
• It was alsoaimedtoencourage people touse the iBoardsothat theycan contribute by:
 Sharing
 Posting
 ProvidingFeedback
• The target was to make thisapplicationinteractivewhichshouldgive the usersanease of its
use.Alsogivingandviewingthe FeedbackregardingvariousPostsisaimedatgivingthe usersan
inklingintothe variouseventsandoccurrencesgoingaboutthe campus.

4. 1
Application Functionalities and Navigation
Main Screen
The main screendisplayingall the variousPOSTsisbydefaultavailableforview byeveryone.The
backgroundcolorsof the POSTare color codedto provide anindication of itstype ,i.e.all the POSTs
relatedto‘jobs’will have greenback-groundwhile ‘events’will have yellow,andsoon.
Anyusercan simplyclickonthe ‘NewPost’inordertopost a new Post,and will be re-directedtothe
nextpage as shownnext.
Like/Dislike
Users can provide feedbackof the selectedpostbyclickingthe icons  .
Onlyafterthe userhas givenhisownfeedbackbyeitherlikingordislikingthe POST,will the userbe able
to viewwhatthe countof the feedbackistill thattime.
Attending
The user can provide aresponse tothe POST byclickingonthe “Attend”button.

5. Post a new POST
The userscan posta newPOSTsby uploadinganexistingfile (PDF,JPEG,PNG,etc.
By clickingonthe ‘NewPOST’buttononthe main page the userswill be redirectedtothispage where
theycan browse the POSTfile/imagethattheywanttouploadand postit.

6. Share
If the userswantto have the detailsof anyof the POSTsto review itat a latertime,he/she canclickon
the ‘SHARE’button.
Thiswill resultinapop-upon-screenKeyboardthroughwhichusercanenterthe email addressand
share the selectedPOST.

7. Research Method
Interviews
To have a betterunderstandingof the exactideaof whatisneeded
Surveys
To gather more informationthatcouldnotbe acquiredbythe interview
Questionnaireswereemployedtogatherthisdata.
Round 1 – Questionnaire Survey
• Undergraduate,masterorPhD
• Program
• Year
• Gender
• AmericanorInternational
• How oftendoyoucome to school perweek?
• 1-2 (days)
• 2-3
• 3-5
• How muchtime (hours) doyouspendduringthose daysinschool outside the
classrooms?
• 1-2
• 2-3
• 3-5
• 5+
• Where?What doyou do?(Optional)
• How oftendoyoufindyourself lookingatthe billboardatschool?
• Everytime
• Once
• Twice +

8. • Never
• What isthe lastthingyouhave noticed?Where?
• What wouldyoulike tosee?
• Researches
• Surveys
• Jobs
• Events
• Sale
• Misc.
• What don’tyoulike?Whatwouldyoulike tochange?(Optional)
• If you needinformation(courses,school,Pittsburgh)where doyoufindit?
• Website
• Boards
• Word to mouth
• Wouldlike abetterwayto share and/orsave the info
• Yes
• No
Digital Screenonfirstfloor
• Have theyusedit?
• Yes
• No
• Didtheyfindanythinguseful there?
• Yes
• No
Have you everpostedanythingonthe boards?
• Yes,What? Where?
• No.why?

9. Round 1 – Questionnaire Survey Results
o Roughly40% of studentsadmitthattheyhave neverlookedatthe billboardsatschool. o Only
7% say theylookat the billboardeverytime theypass
o No studentssurveyedsaidthattheyhave everpostedsomethingonone of the billboards
themselves.
Majorityof thoseStudentssurveyed spentmorethan 5+ hoursatschooloutsideof the classroom
InformationGathering:
Most Studentsuse the webfortheirinformation,withonlyafew alsorelyingonwordof mouth
StudentOpinion:
¾ of Studentswouldlikethere tobe abetterway to share these typesof information.
Implications:
o Since moststudentsuse the webfortheirinformation,withonlyafew alsorelyingonwordof
mouth;it isapparentthat theyare not usingthe Billboards
o Thissuggeststhatthere shouldbe a betterwayto presentthisdatato students.

10. o Studentshave asubstantial amountof time atschool. o Thismeansthat studentsare not
pleasedwiththe currentbillboards.
o An elegantsolutiontothisproblem isaddingawebinterface thatattachestothe Digital Display
on the firstfloor.
Digital ReaderUsage
o ⅔ of Students surveyedsaidthatthey have usedthe digital
displayscreenlocated on the firstfloor
o Onlyhalf of those studentsthoughtitwasuseful. o Therefore
a betteruse of thisreaderneedstobe implemented
Some of the thingsthatstudentssurveyedthattheywouldlike tosee more of onthe bill boardscan be
representedas:

11. Round 2- Questionnaire Survey
Design Survey
1. Navigationaroundthe site waseasyto understand.
(StronglyDisagree Disagree Neutral Agree StronglyAgree) 2.
The designas a whole wasvisuallyappealing.
(StronglyDisagree Disagree Neutral Agree StronglyAgree) 3.
Iconsdescribingthe postswhere intuitive.
(StronglyDisagree Disagree Neutral Agree StronglyAgree)
4. You wouldregularlyuse the site if implemented
(StronglyDisagree Disagree Neutral Agree StronglyAgree)
5. The designprovidesintuitive understandingof how postingandsharingeventswasdone.
(StronglyDisagree Disagree Neutral Agree StronglyAgree) 6.
Postson the mainpage were readable.
(StronglyDisagree Disagree Neutral Agree StronglyAgree) 7.
Differentiatingbetweendifferenttypesof postswaseasy.
(StronglyDisagree Disagree Neutral Agree StronglyAgree) 8.
Postswere clearlydisplayedonce selected?
(StronglyDisagree Disagree Neutral Agree StronglyAgree)
9. Postscontaina sufficientamountof informationwhenbeingdisplayedonthe mainpage.
(StronglyDisagree Disagree Neutral Agree StronglyAgree
10.This isan improvementoverthe currentsysteminplace onthe touchscreenonthe firstfloor.
(StronglyDisagree Disagree Neutral Agree StronglyAgree)
11. A bettermeansof uploadingnewpostsshouldbe putintoplace.
(StronglyDisagree Disagree Neutral Agree StronglyAgree)

12. Round 2 – Questionnaire Survey Results
Round 3 – Interview
The final surveywascarriedout byInterviewswhichincludeddemoingthe initial applicationmodel and
thenaskingvariousopen-endedquestionssuchas:
 Is the applicationunderstandable?
 Is the Flowof the applicationclear?
 Are all the functionalitiesof the applicationeasytounderstand?
 Are there any suggestionsyoumaylike togive foranImprovement?
Round 3 – Interview Results
People generallyansweredpositivelytoall the open-endedquestions.
Whenaskedfor anyadditional suggestions,we gotthe feedbackaboutthe ‘POST’button,statingistobe
not as evident.Sowe workedonalteringthat.

13. Design Iterations
Iteration 1
Followingthe Firstroundof survey,we tookintoaccountall the importantfactorsof the result-setand
re-definedsome of the functionalitiesof the applicationsoasto betteraccommodate the needsand
wantsof the studentsasperceivedandinterpretedfromthe interview results.
Thenwe didan initial designof the lookandfeel of all the pagesof the applicationinclusive of the
variousfunctionalities.
Iteration 2
Like / Dislike and Attend
Unlike the previousDesignIteration,the countof likes/dislikesontopof each POSTwill be visibleonly
afterthe user himself giveshisfeedback:eitherlike ordislike.Thisistopreventthe usersgettingbiased
by previousopinionsbyotherusers.
Layout
The layoutof the mainHOME screenwaschangedfrom a ‘clusterof posts’to ‘postswithmore space in
betweenthem’ ,inordertoimprove the visibilityof the individualPOSTS.
POST Button
Since the postbuttonwas not clearlyvisible,the buttonwasmodifiedwithbackgroundcolorsoasto
make it more clearlyvisible.
Iteration 3
Layout
The screenlayoutwasmodifiedinordertomake sure that there wasa balance betweenpositiveand
negative spacesoneachapplicationpages.
POST to NewPOST
The buttonfor postinga newpostwas re-namedfrom‘POST’to‘New POST’tomake the purpose of the
buttonmore understandable.
Addeda Theme
A colorscheme of Pittcolorsand logowas appliedtomake the pageslookaestheticallybetter.

14. Lessons learned and Future Developments
As a resultof all the three roundof surveysandthe three designiterations,we concludethat
 There isa more efficientwaytoposton a billboard.
 The interactive billboardisthe solutiontothe currentproblem  The above hypothesis
was confirmedwithourprototypes.
For future developmentsonthisapplication,some of the possibilitiescanbe:
 Make the applicationResponsive,sothatitisaccessible inall the variousscreensizesfore.git
can be accessed onMobile Phones,Desktops,Digital Screens,etc.
 Also,the Sharingof the POSTScan be made possible onFacebook,WhatsAppandvariousother
social networkingApps.