Everything Student Life is an app aimed at connecting students looking for accommodation or to sell goods with landlords and other students. It uses a user-centered design approach involving requirements gathering, personas, use cases and testing. The app allows students to browse and refine housing searches. It also enables landlords to upload accommodation listings. Usability testing was conducted on paper prototypes and a working prototype to improve the interface based on user feedback. Design principles like Nielsen's heuristics and Pressman's principles were applied to the prototype.

1. Everything Student Life
BY CAMILLA MAHON
(N00112821)

2. Overview of Application
Aimed Primarily at students
However there are two types of users;
The Buyer (Students),
 The Seller (Landlords/Event Planners.. Etc.)
Students can also act as a multiuser!

Designed as an iPhone ‘App’;
Student accessibility
(Based on requirements gathering)


3. My users
Two users;
•Buyer (Student)
•Seller (Landlord)
•1st Use Case shows the buyer browse for accommodation
(To rent, in south Dublin, for less than 1500 a month)
•2nd Use Case explores the app from the seller, uploading ad,
advertising accommodation

4. Persona
Use Case 1 – Buyer
(Student)
This is Dave. Dave is twenty and entering his
Second year in Trinity College Dublin. Dave is from
Co. Meath.
Dave lived in Trinity Halls during his first year of
College, where he made lots of new friends.
Dave is now looking for accommodation, with a few
Friends he made in Trinity Halls, but finding
It tricky to find something suited to his needs,
Within his price range, and for a lease that only lasts
The academic year.
Dave knows once he finds a place he will need to
Fork out for some furniture to furnish his knew place
And make it feel more like home.
Dave also has lots of expensive books that he no
Longer needs this year.

5. Persona
Use Case 2 – Seller
(Landlord)
This is Jane. Jane was a stay at home mom to three.
Jane’s three children are all grown up now.
Jane lives in Cork, but bought a property in Dublin
So when her children were attending college they had
Somewhere to stay.
Two of Jane’s children still live in Dublin with their
Spouses and kids, while her other child emigrated to
Australia.
Jane doesn’t want to sell the property as she still uses
It once and again, mainly during summer to visit her
Children and grand children.
Jane has decided it is in a prime location for college
Students and it suits her to rent it during the
Academic year.

6. Methodology
I used a user centred design approach when designing my
application.
What is user centred design?
Why use this and not another?

7. What is User Centred Design?
 User Centred design is a user interface design process in
which the needs and wants of the end user are given
extensive attention.
 Multi stage problem solving process.
 The difference from other product design is that usercentred design tries to optimize the product around how
users can, want, or need to use the product, rather than
forcing the users to change their behaviour to accommodate
the product (Bryce, 1996).

8. But Why User Centred Design?
User Centred Design is a well established process
that is used by many organisations to deliver
products that meet users expectations (Sugar, 2001).
Ensures that the software is usable to novice users as
well as advanced users.
Prevents loss of money, due to insurance of use
(Cooper, Reimann & Cronin, 2008)

9. Requirements Gathering
I used an online questionnaire for my initial
requirements gathering
i.e., “How would you like to access the programme?”
Via website, Smartphone or android app??
Student
accommodation
availabilities
Buy and Sell
college books
Buy and Sell
furniture
Find tutoring
Other
Other = Student events and student deals

10. Requirements Gathering
Accommodation search;
• - How the searching would be refined,
•
•
•
What criteria you are looking for?
Just dedicated to your college/ all colleges?
Just Dublin?
“What type of housing would you be looking for”?
Digs
Shared Housing
Apartment
Other
Other = On campus accommodation
Interpretation of Data:
•Age group,
•College year

11. Require Analysis
What decisions were concluded?
•Android/Smart phone App
•What to include
•Who this is being aimed at
•May not know the city
•Student to student forum
•Starter block
Decided to focus on
accommodation
For Use Cases

13. Short Interview

(With first time college student, living away from home for
first time).
•Not knowing where to start,
•Wanting to be independent,
•Unsure of the City

14. 1
Use Case ID
Version
1.0
Author
Camilla Mahon
Use Case Name
Browsing for accommodation
Actor(s)
Buyer (student)
Description
Buyer wants to search the data-base for available accommodation. The system must display available
accommodation.
Pre-Conditions
Normal Flow
Users search successful
•User selects accommodation search option
•System searches data-base for all available accommodation adverts- system displays full list of available
accommodation
•User refines search to South Dublin
•System browses data-base - system displays refined list of accommodation in South Dublin only.
•User chooses one accommodation on the list
•System displays accommodation details
Alternative Flow
Users search invalid
•User selects accommodation
•System searches data-base for all available accommodation adverts- system displays full list of available
accommodation
•User refines search to South Dublin
•System browses data-base – System displays error message indicating there are no results matching the users
description and the user is prompted to try again
Post-Conditions
Browsed items are added to user history
Open-Issues

15. 2
Use Case ID
Version
1.0
Author
Camilla Mahon
Use Case Name
Uploading advertisement
Actor(s)
Seller
Description
Seller wants to upload an advertisement to the data-base. The system must save and display advertisement.
Pre-Conditions
User should be logged in.
Normal Flow
Successful advertisement upload
•User selects add advertisement option
•System displays advertisement form
•User fills in the details required
•System checks that all the fields have been filled out
•System displays a add image option
•User uploads images
•System saves images to advertisement – system displays message indicating advertisement has been saved
successfully
Alternative Flow
Un-Successful advertisement upload
•User selects add advertisement option
•System displays advertisement form
•User fills in the details required
•System checks that all the fields have been filled out
•System displays error message due to invalid information input
•System highlights the sections to be corrected
Post-Conditions
Advertisement is now viewable
Open-Issues

16. Interface Design
How I applied interface design rules to my
prototype:
 Nielsen’s Heuristics
(They are called "heuristics" because
they are more in the nature of rules of thumb than specific
usability guidelines).
 Pressman's
Principles (An agile yet disciplined
framework for building web applications).
 Other Mobile Design Principles

17. Nielsen’s Heuristics
(Examples)
 Help users recognize,
 diagnose, and recover
 from errors

Error messages should be
expressed in plain language,
precisely indicate the problem,
and constructively suggest
a solution.

18. Nielsen’s Heuristics
(Examples)
User control and freedom

Users often choose system
functions by mistake and will
need a clearly marked
"emergency exit" to leave the
unwanted state without
having to go through an
extended dialogue.

19. Pressman's Principles
(examples)
Navigability
o
The user should be able to
understand how to move
about the WebApp without
having to search for
navigational links.

20. Pressman's Principles
(examples)
 Anticipation
o
The user should be able to
anticipate his or her next
move

21. Theresa Neil
(Example)
Visibility of system status
(Feedback)
 The system should always
keep users informed about
what is going on, through
appropriate feedback within
reasonable time.

22. Testing
(Usability Testing)
 Paper Usability testing
Home screen:
(Feedback)
Remove drop down box
-as nothing under it
(Changes)
Convert to category list

23.  Refine page:
(Feedback)
Drop down menu?
-Needs more selection
(Changes)
Refining section,
Multiple selections

24. Testing
(Prototype Testing)
•
•
•
•
Created Prototype using Axure
Two use cases
Performed Prototype testing
Made changes due to feedback
• Gave working prototype
• Gave criteria
- asked users to navigate through prototype
based on use case criteria
• Noted user actions
• Asked for user feedback

25. Browsing – Displaying information
(Before)
(After)

26. Refining Search
(Before)
(After)

27. Typing
(Before)
(After)

28. Navigation
(Before)
(After)

29. References
 Alan Cooper, Robert Reimann, David Cronin, About Face 3: The Essentials of
Interaction Design, Publishing house of electronics industry, 2008.
 Bryce, A. (1996). Information tasks: Toward a user-centered approach to
information systems. (1st ed.). Orlando, Florida, USA: Academic Press, Inc.
 Neil, T. (2009). Principles and patterns for rich interaction.Designing Web
Interfaces,
 Nielsen, J., and Molich, R. (1990). Heuristic evaluation of user interfaces, Proc.
ACM CHI'90 Conf. (Seattle, WA, 1-5 April), 249-256.
 Pressman, R. (2000). Software engineering principles. (5th ed.). Mcgraw Hill
Higher Education.
 Sugar, W. (2001). What is so good about user-centered design? documenting
the effect of usability sessions on novice software designers. Journal of
Research on Computing in Education,

30. Thank you for listening 
Any Questions?