We are working on a project that attempts to improve our Campus information app- CUHK Mobile. This is the presentation of the problem-understanding stage.

1. Redesign CUHK Mobile
Stage 1- Understanding problems
QR Team
1

2. Overview
Contextual Interviews
Interpretation Session
Affinity Diagram
Personas
Scenarios
Agenda 2

3. Overview
Product
Focus Setting
Core Question
Study Type
3

4. Overview
News
Announcements
Campus events
Classroom informationShuttle bus schedule
Library information
Campus photos
VideosCampus map
Contact numbers
Feature stories
4

5. Overview
Students
StaffAlumni
Visiting
guests
User segmentation
What are student’s goals and key tasks?
What kind of activities do CUHK student get involved?
How do the abovementioned aspects fit into student’s
experience according to the different roles they play on
campus?
What kind of information does student need most?
How does an ordinary student lead his/her life on
campus?
What pain points of CUHK students can be solved by our conceived product?
5

6. Overview
Students
StaffAlumni
Visiting
guests
User segmentation
Undergraduate
Taught-postgraduate
Research-postgraduate
Study type
Product redesign
6

7. Contextual Interviews
Pilot Test
User Shadowing
7

8. Contextual Interviews Pilot Test
 Ask our friends in CUHK from finance, computer
science, language, medicine and media from undergraduate to
postgraduate studies about the need and source of information/service
in school.
 From the 7 respondents in total, we concluded the major difference in
lifestyle and information demand varies according to the degree held.
 Undergraduate has generally more diversified requirement and sources
for news in school while taught and research postgraduate possess more
focused demand and limited sources.
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9. Contextual Interviews User Shadowing
Undergraduate Taught-postgraduate MPHIL & PHD
2h 2h 2h
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10. Interpretation Session 10

11. Interpretation Session
 Interviewee’s name, age, scholar degree, and what applications or sources
he/she often used to get information
 Interviewees’ behaviors during interviews, our conversation, and their words
 8 people, six from QR Group and two invited from other groups.
3 members—present their own groups’ results.
3 members—sequence modeler, factoid writer and moderator respectively.
2 guests—participants
 Identify each interviewee--U1/2/3, T1/2/3, and R1/2/3
 Discuss what insight we got from the presentation, what inspirations we
attained, what questions were not answered in the interview, and also
proposed our design ideas.
 Switch roles.
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12. Affinity Diagram 12

13. Affinity Diagram
factoids
13

14. Affinity Diagram
sort the affinity notes into several categories
name each category with one label
documented each one’s categorization and labels
discuss and come up with one final version of
affinity diagram
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15. Affinity Diagram 15
My campus life
What information do I care about
N/A
Where do I get information from
I get
information
through what
channels
What problems
do I have when
I am getting
information
How do I lead my life on campus
How do I have
meals on
campus
How do I use
school library
How do I use
campus
transportation
How do I take
physical
exercise

16. Affinity Diagram 16
How do I use CUHK Mobile
What impacts my usage frequency of CUHK Mobile
N/A
How do I think about functions of CUHK Mobile
I think the
function of
Contact is…
I think the
function of
Map is…
I think the
function of
Library is…
I think the
function of
Shuttle Bus is…
I think the
function of
Calendar is…

17. Personas
Jenny Wang
Tony Zhang
Nicolas Chen
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18. Personas
Meet Jenny
Jenny is a year-4 full-time undergraduate student of CUHK
A Day in Jenny’s Life
Jenny is now interning at Central every Monday and Friday. So on
these two days, she has to get up at 7 a.m., then take a shuttle bus
at 8 to get to the MTR station so that she can make it to the office
before 9:30. When she finishes her work and heads back to the
University MTR station, it is usually 7 pm. Then she takes the
school shuttle bus and gets off at United College Stop, and has
her dinner at UC Canteen. She then goes back to her dorm for rest.
On a regular weekday, she spends her whole day at school taking
classes. As a year-4 student who will soon graduate, she checks
her email every day to see if there is any notice about
recruitment talks, career fairs or job hunting workshops. As
being too occupied with career and study stuff, she has to say
good-bye to the Karate Club activities that she used to actively
engage in.
At weekends, she hangs out with her friends, like taking local
cultural activities, going to movies, and visiting museums. She has
a concern over marginalized groups in society.
Jenny Wang
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19. Personas
Jenny’s goals
-find an ideal job position after graduation
-graduating with satisfying grades
Jenny’s motivations
“I check my email several times every day; I do not want to miss
any information that may help me finding a good job.”
“I don’t want to be late at work, so I am very alerted by the
timetable of school shuttle bus.”
Jenny’s pain points
“I rarely go out on Sundays, because it takes me so long to wait
for a shuttle bus.”
“The club keeps sending me activity information mails.
Sometimes I accidentally delete more important messages when I
am trashing the junk mails.”
“Some events focused on social marginalized groups are held on
campus, but the notice are always pasted on the billboard only,
so I often miss some.”
Jenny Wang
17

20. Personas
Meet Tony
Tony is a taught-program postgraduate student of CUHK.
A day in Tony’s life
Tony lives outside the campus. When he has classes, he goes to
school by MTR. Most of his classes begin at 6.30 p.m., so he
arrives at University MTR Station at 5.30 p.m. Since the classes
are held in classrooms of New Asia, which locate on top of the
hill, he has to take the shuttle bus and gets off at New Asia
Station. After getting off, he has his dinner at New Asia’s
Canteen, and then heads to the classrooms. When classes are
over, he sometimes goes to restaurants to have night snack with
his friends.
As a postgraduate student, Tony has a lot of discussions with his
classmates. He often books the group study rooms of CUHK
libraries on Internet, sometimes with smartphone and
sometimes with computer. After discussion, he has dinner with
his guys on campus. He likes trying different dishes in different
canteens, because there are said to be more than 20 canteens in
CUHK.
Tony Zhang
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21. Personas
When he studies by himself, the first thing he is used to do is
opening his mailbox to check whether there is new E-mail sent by
the school or professors. He links CUHK web mail with his
private mailbox, so sometimes he also checks the web mail inbox.
And then, he opens his Sina Weibo to read news. If he discovers
some interesting events to be held in CUHK, he sometimes register
for them. After checking E-mail and Weibo, he opens several
major job recruitment websites, as he is about to graduate and
he is trying to find a job.
At weekends, he likes going to gym with his friends. Sometimes
they also have some running in CUHK stadium.
Tony’s goals
- Graduating in summer
- Finding a satisfying job
Tony’s motivations
“I like to be highly efficient and plan everything ahead of time. I
don’t like wasting too much time in unreasonable waiting, such as
the library booking system’s slow loading.”
“I like wholesome life style. Balanced diet and regular indoor
and outdoor exercises is a must to me.”
Tony Zhang
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22. Personas
Tony’s pain points
“I don’t know what dishes each canteen offers everyday. So
deciding in which canteen to have meal is like a gamble. I don’t
what I will get from it.”
“Undergraduate students often have PE courses or other
activities in stadium. Sometimes I go to the stadium but it’s
closed, without any public notification.”
“I don’t know when the shuttle buses departure. Sometimes I
have to spend 20 minutes waiting for it, but sometimes it comes in
less than 5 minutes when I get to the bus station. It’s confusing
and annoying.”
Tony Zhang
20

23. Personas
Meet Nicolas
Nicolas is a Phd. student of CUHK
A Day in Nicolas’ Life
Nicolas is now studying at Chinese University of Hong Kong in a
regular lifestyle. He gets up at 9am. After taking a shower, he
catches the shuttle bus at 10:00 am and has breakfast at one of
the canteens in main campus. After 3 hours doing his research in
his office, he will choose a canteen to have lunch. And the whole
afternoon and evening will be spent on the office. For the
waiting time for supper, he will visit Sina Weibo for information
updates. He will go back to dormitory after 9:00pm to watch
some online videos and chat online via Skype or QQ with parents
and friends.
He pays little attention to the school activities. He will check his
emails about the opinions from the mentor about his work and
learn about the academic speech or lectures to come in the
university. He noticed the posters in the university but find little
interest in participating those activities. He is keen on doing his
own research and getting the most updated progress in his
research field.
Nicolas Chen
21

24. Personas
Since he spent almost all time in school, he has almost each
meal in school. He always feels troubled about which canteen to
choose since there is no information source about the dishes to
be served in each canteen.
As he has a fixed office, he seldom goes to other buildings and
finds it difficult to find a building quickly and easily.
Nicolas’s goals
-get the most updates research information in his research field
-find the satisfactory canteen to have meal
-get to a new location easily with clear guidance
Nicolas’s motivations
“I log in weibo for several times to see what conversations
people have in the moments.”
“I check my email to learn the academic activities around.”
“I open the CUHK Mobile to get the general location of a building
and find the place by myself.”
Nicolas’s pain points:
“I find the guidance in CUHK Mobile about routes and buildings too
abstract sometimes to find the actual location.”
Nicolas Chen
22

25. Scenarios 25

26. Scenario 1
Jenny is a 22-year-old year-4 undergraduate student of CUHK. She is graduating
in the coming summer, and she is eager for a good job. Therefore, she
typically checks the CUHK career center webpage, newsletters from career
planning service, notice emails from college center each by each to get as
much relevant message as possible. She does this a few times a day, but is
usually bothered by the repeated content from different sources. Sometimes
she still misses important information; it makes her upset and anxious.
…… ……
One day she reaches out to the CUHK Mobile app. After following several steps,
she sees a categorized information list which actually covers all career
messages she just needs for that day. She is really excited.
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27. Scenario 2
Jenny leads a half-study-half-intern student life. So she only hangs out with
friends at weekends. However, there is only Bus H runs around campus on Sunday
and departures from MTR University Station every twenty minutes. It is very
inconvenient for Jenny who lives in the dorm of UC College which locates at the
top of the hill. Often times the bus leaves as soon as she arrives at the UC College
bus stop. She can do nothing but bear the more-than-20-minutes tiring waiting. She
feels it is such a waste of time.
…… ……
One Sunday morning she is asked by her friend to see a film. As she opens CUHK
Mobile app, she discovers surprisingly that she does not need either to calculate
the approximate or to wait blindly. The bus arrives at the time she expects! She is
happy and satisfied.
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28. Scenario 3
Tony is a taught-program postgraduate student of CUHK. He often has
classes in the evening. So he’d like to have dinner at school canteen. Choose
a canteen is a problem he has to face to every day. Sometimes he wants to
eat his favorite dish in one canteen, when he gets there he sadly finds the
dish is sold out. This really bothers him and influences his mood to have
class.
…… ……
One day he wants to have hamburger as dinner with his friend at school.
But he is afraid that hamburgers are sold out at this hour. At that moment,
his friend opens CUHK Mobile app. Gladly and surprisingly, they find that
their favorite dish is still offered. They then go to the canteen pleasantly.
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29. Scenario 4
Tony likes sports and often works out at school. Last Sunday he asked
his friends to play basketball at school. They got together and ready
to have a battle on the court. However, when they got to the
court, they saw a sign hanging on the gate which said “This court is
occupied by XXX events.” They felt really disappointed. From then
on, they often ask someone to check the court first before they decide
to play basketball together.
…… ……
One day his friend asks him to play basketball. He wants to check the
court as usual in person. His friend stops him and opens CUHK Mobile
app. Then they find that the course is available now and go there
immediately with their new basketball. Tony enjoys the basketball
game and feels excited.
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30. Scenario 5
Nicolas is a PHD student of CUHK and leads a regular life on campus. Usually, he
has three meals a day and has breakfast in one of the canteens in the main campus
and has lunch and supper in canteens near his office. He has vegetarian and meat
diet every the other day. He surely wants to know the menu of each canteen so
that he can choose which canteen to go for lunch or supper.
…… ……
One day, he is about to have vegetarian lunch. There are three canteens nearby
and he does not know which one serves better vegetarian food. He then takes out
his phone to check out whether CUHK Mobile could help. Then magic happens. He
then knows exactly where to get the food in his mind. He is surprised and excited.
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31. Scenario 6
Nicolas is a PHD student of CUHK. He usually catches the shuttle bus at
10:00 am and has breakfast at one of the canteens in main campus and
then walks to his office. Because of the fixed office, he seldom goes to
other buildings and finds it difficult to find a building quickly and
easily.
…… ……
One day, he has a conference to attend in Wu Ho Man Yuen Bldg. He has
no idea about the location of Wu Ho Man Yuen Bldg and there is no one
in his office to ask. Just then, CUHK mobile occurs to him. He takes out
the phone eagerly. The magic happens. After a while, Nicholas
smoothly get there in time. He is happy and relieved.
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32. Thank you!
QR Team
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