Media Technologies: Prototype

Description of prototype: 

When told about the group project at hand, the group wanted to focus on something original yet beneficial. We thought to focus on an application connecting students to one another through an application, therefore creating and developing the idea of ‘UniLink.’ Our application aims to give an opportunity to get students to talk to one another throughout their university experiences, working as one and helping each other with struggles they have.

Market Research 

After deciding on an idea completely, I prepared a survey to send out to people to gain market research as this was my main focus of the project. This aspect of creating a prototype is vital, enabling you to gain information and tips from people within your target audience, as well as others simply giving advice. I used an application familiar to me from previous university years called Survey Monkey, which allows you to create your questions from scratch and send to people through a hyperlink.

We had 16 respondents, who were asked their age and if they were a student previously or presently. Furthermore, questions such as ‘do you deem this app to be useful?’, as well as ‘would you use it?’ were asked, thus helping us determine if our app would be worth it for our target audience. Questions asked lead to answers helping to define what should be included in the application and what they’d expect to see. With answers then provided, a database was made in order for us to be organised with our work, in which Elisabeth focused on in order for everything to work together and be a success. 

The survey was aimed towards students both past and present, and our selected age range was 18-25 with the majority of students being in this age group. Most of the respondents deemed this application to be a well thought idea. We were advised to have chat rooms as well as an anonymity feature for those who don’t want to be visible but still want to participate. Most respondents also said they would use our application! This therefore solidifies why our application would be beneficial, because if people in our target audience see this to be something useful, our reach could be high for many other students, especially if we were to make our application international. A link to our presentation can be found here, where I talk about the survey results in depth: 

This application will include ways in which you can engage in both group work and activities, as well as get to know your course mates before you begin university. Inspired by personal experiences, the application would be an ice breaker to help students when making friends. Making an application where you’re making it easier for others is something our group wanted to do!

Design

Paige’s focus was on designing and creating the application, which you can read more into with the link at the bottom of this page. We all discussed the colour theme and what would grab people’s attention which is why we went for a bold red, as well as a simplistic logo to show what our application has to offer straight away. As well as this, the application was made to fit the brands image, using the same colour scheme as before. This way, students can easily identify UniLink just through our chosen colours as they’re quite unique for a study application. Not only this, the colour choice won’t distract them as we wanted to keep it simple for this reason. The overall layout is simple. An over complicated layout could make our application appear clumsy rather than helpful for our users. How it works is your university log in connects you directly to your course with that specific log in, therefore leading to an easy set up and connecting you almost instantly.

Technical features

The discussion was made on what was to be included after the market research was submitted. Phoebe focused on what to include for the applications technical features which is linked at the bottom of this blog. Technical features therefore help people to use the application, making it a lot more self explanatory than complicated for students when logging in. One feature to point out is the profile feature. This enables students to be creative with their own page, choosing an image of their choice to represent themselves. There is also, as previously mentioned, the option for anonymity. However, you still have control of how your own profile looks even when using this feature of the application. This therefore emphasises the control and the freedom students are given within our application, and makes it a lot more fun to use for them.

There’s a definite gap in the market for this application, with only a handful of applications dedicated to university students. With a major reliance on technology nowadays, UniLink helps students to keep in contact with one another regardless of the circumstances. This can help both students and the university to get the best possible experience without having the face-to-face interactions as we want students and lecturers to communicate about group work, upcoming deadlines and just general talks to develop friendships.  

Why do we need this application?

Our application is relevant to today’s society. As much as Facebook groups can be created for specific courses, these can be confusing as the majority of the time people are mixed into courses that aren’t necessarily their own. Why not have a specified application that helps to find your own course and people who you will be spending the next 3 years learning from and learning with. 

With our future development, we hope to branch to international rather than just Sheffield, helping thousands of students with their learning. We also discussed partnership with Blackboard rather than seeing them as a competitor and be a chain in Sheffield Hallam’s helpful applications. 

Please refer to my groups individual work for more information: 

Paige Kay: design, creation and growth of the app: Uni Link – My Media Blog (home.blog)

Phoebe Rowlands: Tetrad, technical features and affordances: https://phoebesmedia.home.blog/2020/11/26/blog-post-1-prototype-description/

Elisabeth Salter: Database and data policies: https://mediablog695284194.wordpress.com/2020/11/28/our-app-unilink-media-technologies/