2. TABLE OF CONTENTS
EXECUTIVE SUMMARY
RESEARCH
SURVEY
FOCUS GROUP
SWOT ANALYSIS OF STUDENT COMMUNICATIONS
TARGET AUDIENCE
CREATIVE STRATEGY
COMPETITIVE UNIVERSITY APPS
MOCK-UPS
ADVERTISING STRATEGY
POSSIBLE VENDORS/BUDGET
MEET THE TEAM
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4
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6
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9
10
11
12
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3. EXECUTIVE SUMMARY
Goal:
Encourage student engagement with the Columbia’s events and activities across all
departments. Make students educated and inform them about what is happening at Columbia
College Chicago.
Problem:
Students receive information from different sources around campus. There is no one source of
communication, which can take away from their full experience at Columbia College Chicago.
Solution:
Columbia College will create an app to serve as once source of communication. We conducted
a survey and focus group to illustrate why students do not receive all the information on campus
and how we can solve that problem. We want to reach to those who wish to be involved in
campus activities, but because of organization, miscommunication, and a lack of communication
they do not know what is “in the loop.”
Mission
To get every student to download the Loop app to use as a source of communication for the
school. This will give them access to be more involved and have a positive experience at
Columbia College Chicago.
Why Create an App?
The best advocates for the college are the students and faculty members. If they cannot feel
connected to the school, this can impact and limit a student’s opportunity to enhance their
college experience. The app will be easily accessible for the students to use on their mobile
phones, therefore another way for Columbia to give a sense of community online. This is a
convenient tool for new and current students that want to be more involved.
4. RESEARCH
SURVEYS
GOAL: To find out the student’s main and
preferred source of communication with Columbia
College Chicago.
TOTAL 392 students
37 were Dance majors
46 were Film and TV majors
98 were Business majors
36 were Advertising and PR majors
17 were Photography majors
164 were "other" majors provided at CCC
The survey captured a wide variety of majors across
Columbia College. The highest contributing students
are Business Majors.
This pie chart represents what year in college the 392
students who took the survey are in.
Out of the 392 students
35.9% were Seniors
29% were Juniors
18.3% were Sophomores
16.5% were Freshman
This pie chart shows that our highest contributing
students are Seniors in College. Remember, seniors
are the most familiar with the College.
As you see, students use a variety of media to get their
information on Campus. A thing to consider for the college:
Does the same information across campus communicate
throughout each form of media?
5. What are the preferred methods for students to receive information?
Out of the 392 students who took the
survey 57.7% want to receive information
via email/app.
Both are forms of communication that
can be found online through mobile
phones.
Do you attend events outside of your
department?
0
50
100
150
200
Yes No N/A
Yes No N/A
As shown in the graph above, the answers are
split evenly between “Yes” and “No” for attending
events that are outside of your department.
However, “No” is slightly higher.
The types of events range from networking
events, interest related events, performance/
auditions, and information about the resources on
campus.
392 out of around 9,000 students at Columbia College has taken a survey. 114 students
wanted to receive information through an app. With the communication Columbia provides
currently, email is the most successful source. With the app and email combined, students that
have taken the survey 57.7% are willing to receive information through an app or email. Both
are forms of communication that can be found online through a mobile phone.
6. FOCUS GROUP
STUDENTS STICK TO THEIR OWN DEPARTMENT: Students tend to stick to their department
because of their interest and familiarity. They are unaware of what is going on in other
departments they may be in interested in collaborating with in the future. The types of projects
they work on may require seeking students with another discipline. If a student is not a part of a
certain department, they feel like they don’t have access to certain information. Students like the
practicum courses that involve different majors in the classes; they feel it should be mandatory
in their advising guide.
STUDENTS ARE MORE LIKELY TO ATTEND IF THE EVENT IS RECOMMENDED Students
believe they only know about the events coming up just because of their roommate or someone
close to them told them about it. Students only are involved in there department social media
pages such as PSSRA, Ad Club, Dance center.
FACULTY SHOULD BE MORE INVOLVED: They believe if the faculty was more involved with
the resources and events on campus, students are more willing to go and revisit. The
professors take class trips to the Portfolio Center and Library and the students believe it is worth
the time now that they are aware what is available to help them.
THERE IS MISCOMMUNICATION: Students feel frustrated that many posters or emails sent
throughout campus can have a miscommunication or misinformation. Events or planned
resources are not organized, have a missing piece of information, or do not give them enough
time to plan ahead to attend to the event.
THERE NEEDS TO BE ONE SOURCE OF COMMUNICATION: Students think that an app
would be the best option to get the information in only one source of communication system, it’s
convenient, modern and they all agreed on downloading the app. All students wanted different
features that could help them to get the information: The Chronicle, snow days/emergency
alerts, OASIS/Moodle, email and events notifications, and important dates.
A focus group was conducted that contained 8 students from Fashion, Journalism/Advertising/
Public Relations, Photography, Theater, and.… They shared their opinions and concerns about
Columbia’s events and student communication overall. All agree in the following:
7.
TARGET AUDIENCE
Strengths
• Students attend events, but even more students aren’t
informed about the events.
• Students are motivated to go to support friends
• Students take the opportunity to network/socialize with staff
and students during events.
• The atmosphere (energized, chill, fun)
• Able to learn new things and see things differently
• Events provide incentives (guest speakers, free food,
industry professionals, etc)
• Placements of ads are important
Opportunities
• Exposure and self promotion
• Students are more likely to attend events and use Columbia
services if faculty are well informed
• Classroom collaboration provides students to cross
departments and collaborate to build portfolio
• Keep convo going after and keep it respectable-stay consist
• Like notifications for events
• Culture: professional connections vs. fun connections
Weaknesses
• Late promotion on events
• Social media: too many different accounts. Only for
specific departments. There isn’t a HUB.
• Information is getting out there but students are not
receiving the information.
• Students stick to events within their departments
• Departments don’t communicate together, No access to
materials if not a part of a different department
• Talent pool not effective, people forget it or don’t know
how to use it. Not advertised effectively. Too many fresh
and sophomore, need junior and higher talent
• Moodle, Oasis, not mobile friendly
Threats
• Students get their information: is from word of mouth
and not through student communication.
• Students take self initiative when getting projects done
to network, they don’t use Columbia’s resources (Talent
pool)
• Paying for events
Target Profile 1: The Columbia Trendsetter
Junior or Senior
This Columbia student is very heavily involved on campus with multiple
student organizations. He or she has great relationships with the full-time
faculty and seem to be ‘in the loop’ with the events going on at
Columbia and outside events that provide opportunities in their
field. They are the ‘go-to’ student that most students know on
campus or in their department.
They possibly live in student housing or in the loop area so they spend
majority of their time on campus at events or collaborating on projects.
They type of activities they are interested may be professional and
interest related. This is the ideal
student at Columbia.
Target Profile 2: The Columbia
Entrepreneur Spirit
Freshman, Sophomore, Junior, or Senior
This Columbia student is aware of what is going on campus by word of
mouth or viewing posters around campus. They are social and like to
participate in events that relate in their field. They are open-minded to
venture into new areas but may struggle in finding the opportunity because
they are unaware of what is available for their interest. He or she is very
dependent on collaboration for their major and use their own network to
constantly find people. Because of their busy entrepreneurial spirit or
participating outside of school activities, they may not have the time to seek out
the events around campus.
This student commutes to their classes and most likely have some other
commitment outside of Columbia College.
“I live off campus so I don’t hear
about what’s going on.” -Fashion/
Marketing Major, Junior
“It is really hard to collaborate
with other departments. I feel like
I don’t really have the resources
to collaborate with other
departments.” -Photography
Major, Senior
“Posters are really vague… I feel
like not all the information is on
there.” -Art and Design, Senior
“The placement of where the
posters are, are not convenient. It
would be better to have something
where they are all together.”
Theater, Freshman
STUDENT COMMUNICATIONS
8. APP
After looking at the strengths, opportunities, weaknesses, and threats of student
communication, the app would be an appropriate fit for Columbia College Chicago to enhance
the college experience among students to become better advocates of the school.
Strengths and Opportunities:
• Serves as one hub of communication rather than currently filtering events and
information based on source of media
• Adds value to Columbia College by modernizing the way the college receives
information through technology to compete with other universities
• Easy to access by reaching students through their smartphones or tablets.
• Students become more involved and engaged across campus than in their own
department
• Students can become bigger advocates of Columbia College because they have the
opportunity to make the most out of their college experience
Considerations:
• Expenses and possible vendors to develop and maintain the app.
• Only people with smartphones have access to the app, which is a majority of the
student population that has access in their hands
• Other forms of communications will still be used to reach students (emails, posters, etc.)
“I never go on Columbia’s Facebook.” Art and
Design, Senior
“I would use an app because it is one place for
everything, I don’t have to check all my different
Facebook groups, twitter, and insta, and email, and
what not. Just having it all in one place would be
really convenient. I would definitely use it.” Art and
Design, Senior
“ Yeah, oh yeah, yes, definitely” (All, opening response
to an app)
“ I was just looking at the events page and I think
that’s probably the biggest thing and most
convenient.” Dance, Senior
“They have a discount page and show all the different
places that have student discounts, so that’s pretty
cool.” Fashion/Marketing, Junior
“I think the campus map is definitely a good idea
especially for freshman, because I know a lot of them
don’t understand that Chicago is our campus and what
buildings they can go into.” Dance, Senior
9. Below is a comparison of universities that currently use an app for their student communication. As a
class, we found that Northwestern University has the features and organization of an app that is beneficial
for students. Winona State University has unique features and the necessary links for students. Finally,
we looked at DePaul University, a top competitor of Columbia, and how they have multiple mobile apps
that are organized based on news, athletics, and departments.
School Apps Northwestern University WSU DePaul
(Columbia Competitor)
Main Menu News, Map, Events, Directory, Athletics,
Shuttles, Saferide, Library, Discounts,
Class Search, Emergency Updates, NU
Help
Campus Map, News, Academic,
Events, Directory, Athletics,
Arboretum, WSU Email, Social Media,
D2L, Campus Help
Courses, Events, Directory, Maps, News,
Athletics, Videos, Important Numbers,
Library, Course Evaluations
Communicat-ion
and News
• Cover stories related to NU and news
articles featured in NYT. Topics include:
Research, University News, Opinion,
Campus Life, People, Arts and Events,
Closeup, health, Honors, and In the
World.
• Lists each campus wide event at
WSU. When it is clicked on, lists a
description of the event and able to
share on social media.
• Includes a social media icons and
WSU email icon.
• Covers news on DePaul Sports
Headlines, DePaul Newsroom, and
DePaul Newsline
Events • Events are color coordinated by
Academics, Lectures & Meetings,
Fitness & Recreation, Religious,
Training, Social, and Other
• They have it split by each day from all-
day events and organized by time.
• They have a symbol if the event is a
reoccurring event
• When clicked on the event, it states
When, where, audience, cost, contact,
group, category, and a description of the
event.
• Lists each event name and date of
the events that are current or in the
future
• When event is clicked, it gives a
description and necessary info of
time and place
• Organized by today, weekly, and monthly
in order by time
• Include date, time, location and
description of event
• Able to send event to email and save to
student’s DePaul Events Calendar
Has separate app for events for a different
department
Athletics • Contains recent news about college
sports
• Contains a calendar of sporting events
• Links to their social media accounts:
Twitter
• Contains gallery of photos of their
games listed by date and sporting
match.
• Embed live feed from College Sports
Live that covers over 100 schools and
18,000 live events.
• Link to their online campus store
• The athletics tab opens links to their
social media pages: YouTube, WSU
sports News, Twitter, and Facebook
Depaul has separete app for Gameday
LIVE events.
• Contains list of sporting events for the
week in descending time order from
future to past events; not specific for
today or tomorrow’s events.
• Able to click on each sport to see news
headlines about the sport.
• Links to social media accounts, campus
store, and tickets
Campus Map/
Transportation
Methods
• Color coordinates with buildings, parking
lots, and hospital that is associated with
the school.
• Has a list of shuttle routes
• Able to call a safe ride pick-up
• Shows Google Maps that outlines
color coordination with the name of
each Hall, Residence Halls, Library,
and Commons Center
• Shows Google Maps and locates
buildings with the red pins
Aesthetics and
Organization
• The icons and labels are color
coordinated, organized and easy to
search
• All the campus information is available
through the app
• Very simple layout and easy
somewhat easy to navigate
• Content in News and Events is
repetitive
• Very basic layout and easy to navigate
• Not aesthetically appealing
Mis. and Unique • Contains link to student discounts
• Has emergency updates
• NU Help
• Link to Library’s website
• Arboretum is a tree directory that
gives descriptions of plants and
where they are found on campus
• D2L is their course management
system
• Contains icon for all video links of
campus tours, youtube channel, library,
athletics videos and more
COMPETITIVE
11. ADVERTISING
HOW ARE WE GOING TO GET STUDENTS DOWNLOAD THE APP?
The best way to start campaigning for the app is to use the current media channels Student
Communications is using. The most effective forms of communication is email, posters, and
word of mouth. Overtime, we will use our current form of communication to slowly transition
students to use this app as the main source of communication.
To keep students engage with the mobile app and to prevent them from deleting it overtime, the
app can contain exclusive and interesting content of upcoming news and events. This will give
students a sense of community online through their phones.
Posters:
On the right is a mock-up of a poster that would be used
around campus and online. We would post it in high
traffic areas on campus.
Target Incoming Students and Student
Organizations:
Introducing the app to the incoming Freshman and
Transfer students in the beginning of the year starts the
relationship with the college. The best time to reach
them is Weeks of Welcome, Orientation, Convocation,
etc. Other ways to reach students best through the
student organization. The people involved the most on
campus are more likely to use the app and spears the
app through word of mouth.
Faculty and Columbia Trendsetters:
The best Columbia advocates are the ones that are
closest to the school. They are the brand ambassadors
that are in the loop of what is going on around on and
outside of campus. Faculty members are the direct
touch point to the students and have the most influence
of Columbia’s image. The trendsetter students will be the ambassadors
Student Loop & The Happs Bi-weekly emails and Social Media:
Students will see the poster mock-up in their weekly emails as well as Columbia’s social media
platforms.
12.
POSSIBLE VENDORS
AKTA
223 W. Erie Street, Suite 4E
Chicago, IL
312-361-3555
akta.com
Contact Name: Scott Miegel/Eli
scott.m@akta.com
Specialty: User Experience Design, Mobile App
Development, Innovation Consulting, and Brand
Experience
Ora Interactive
327 N. Aberdeen, Suite 210
Chicago, IL 60607
312-600-6023
http://orainteractive.com/
Contact Name: Mike Kelly
mike.kelly@orainteractive.com
Specialty: Interactive Design, User Interface,
Branding and Identity, I-phone/I-Pad Applications,
Android Applications, Web Applications, and
Responsive Mobile Web Development
Recommendation:
For an innovative and creative university like
Columbia, either Akta or Ora will be a great fit.
We recommend Ora Interactive based on
their design and user experience specialties and
the price to develop the app.
Foundational Research, Technical Architecture
Review, Design & UX/UI Design.
Average Duration: 2-3 Weeks
Projected Cost: ~$20-30K
Front End Development and Integration with web
services (Per Platform: iOS, Android)
Average Duration: ~4-6 Weeks
Projected Cost: ~$50-60K
Total: $80,000 completed in 9 weeks
Foundational Research, Technical Architecture
Review, *Design & UX/UI Design:
1-2 Weeks
16 - 24 hours
*Per the requirements, they did not quote out
Design. However they allocated 8-16 hours to
provide students mobile design consulting and time
spent prepping and slicing assets for development.
Front End Development and Integration with
Web Services:
iOS Development (initial build, no API integration)
60 - 70 hours
iOS Development (API and Peripheral integration)
20 - 30 hours
Total for iOS: $15, 000
What we need:
iOS Development (API and Peripheral integration)
20 - 30 hours
Total for iOS: $15, 000
3-4 Weeks, 70 hours
Android Development (initial build, no API
integration) 80 - 90 hours
Android Development (API and Peripheral
integration) 30 - 40 hours
Total for Android: $20,000
4 - 5 Weeks
Their blended rate is $150 / hour, however they will
reduce their rate to $125 / HR.
Total: $35,000 completed in 11 weeks
13. MEET THE TEAM
Creative Agency Management
FinanceAccount
Creative Planning
Haley Konnor, Pui-yu Chan, and
Alicea Peyton
Isabel Sirvent, Alyssa Orozco, and
Bianca Sanchez
Melinda Hill, Anabelle Ciancuillo, and
Andrea Rivera Maza
Mickey Wozniak, Ashley Stavropoulos,
Dalton Viggens, and Brittnee Snodgrass
