Intro
The Spelman College Campus App Redesign is a user experience and interface design project focused on improving how students access campus news, discover events, and connect with organizations.
The original app served as a basic directory for many types of information but lacked structure and interactivity. My redesign reimagines the app as a vibrant, student-centered platform that reflects the Spelman experience, centering community and visual cohesion.
Problem
Spelman students struggle to discover and decide on their campus involvement because information about news is often fragmented and time-sensitive. The previous Spelman College Office of Admissions App was meant to give prospective students information about applications, a place to answer their FAQ’s, and help them become Spelmanites but in actuality, the app offered information that was better suited for current students like local events, campus news and the current weather in the area.
Previous App
The goal of this redesign was to transform the campus app into a more functional, engaging, and visually unified platform that better represents Spelman College’s identity.
Audience
The redesign focuses on current Spelman College students who use the app to stay informed about campus life, explore events, and connect with organizations. The primary users are undergraduate students seeking a simple way to stay updated and engaged with the campus community.
Research
To understand how the app could better serve Spelman students, I began by exploring the needs of current users. From there I conducted a competitive scan of similar campus platforms to identify common design patterns and gaps in functionality.
Although my user research was limited in scale, it provided meaningful insight into what students value most.
Pain Points
Through informal interviews and light user testing, I identified several recurring frustrations with the current app experience.
I found that students were mainly disappointed in the apps lack of interactivity and many noted that due to its difficult nature they chose not to use the app on a regular basis.
User Personas
With the findings from my user interviews, I then created two user personas, Maya and Ella, that represent the apps typical users.
Both personas value clarity and ease of navigation.
Competitive Scan
To inform the redesign, next I conducted a competitive analysis of three other HBCU campus-related apps: Rattlers, HowardMobile, and NCATConnect.
This helped identify patterns, strengths, and gaps that would influence both navigation and layout decisions.
I found that none of the competing platforms adequately balance functionality and personality, so Spelman’s redesign needed to combine clarity and usability with a branded visual identity that students could connect with.
How Might We…
HMW redesign the Spelman campus app to make information more accessible, engaging, and reflective of student life?
This guiding question informed every design decision, from simplifying event discovery to elevating the visual identity to better represent Spelman’s culture.
Design Process
Once I completed my research, and had a clear understanding of my users and their goals, I began ideating my solution.
My design process began with reorganizing the app’s information architecture to simplify how content was grouped and accessed. I created a site map to visualize this.
The new site map set the foundation for clear navigation labels and a consistent bottom navigation bar with five main tabs: Home, News, Events, Orgs, Profile.
Using FigJam I then created a task flow detailing the event RSVP process to map out user decisions and the corresponding screens.
Lo-fi Wireframes
From there, I started with drawing low-fidelity wireframes for the homepage just to test early ideas before beginning any visual design.
I then went to Figma to visualize my ideas around layout and hierarchy with more consistent sizing and spacing.
My priority at this stage was clarity and familiarity. I wanted to implement card-based layouts for scanning content quickly, search bars and filters placed consistently at the top of each feed, and minimal color for emphasis on spacing to evaluate readability.
After the structure felt clear, I developed a UI Kit in Figma that defined Spelman’s brand system through consistent typography, color tokens, and reusable components.
With accessible design being very important to me I made sure to run my colors through the WebAIM contrast checker to ensure readability for all users.
All colors were then organized into variable collections (Primitives → Actions → Feedback) to keep styles scalable, consistent line heights and weights were applied to improve legibility on mobile, and many components were set up with variants and auto layout, enabling responsive behavior and easy updates.
Hi-fi Wireframes
With the foundation set, I moved to high-fidelity prototyping in Figma using components from the UI kit.
Unfortunately, after building out the first iteration of the home page, I felt that my design was not engaging enough and that my idea was too minimalist for a campus app.
So, by going back to my original goal of fostering community and creating a student centered experience, I reworked my ideas and made a few crucial design changes to pivot and increase usability for the new app.
In order to elevate my design I revamped the navigation bar, added more Spelman branding, and introduced personalized sections to the homepage to increase scrollability and engagement.
Once I was satisfied with the design I moved on to completing the rest of the prototype.
Final Product
Key Features
The redesigned Spelman College Campus App introduces a series of new and reimagined features aimed at improving the overall campus experience. Each one reflects a user pain point identified during research and was designed to feel cohesive and distinctly “Spelman.”
Reflection
Redesigning the Spelman Campus App challenged me to think critically about how design can shape community connection. While the project began as a visual refresh, it evolved into a deeper exploration of usability, accessibility, and engagement.
Through this process, I learned how important information hierarchy and feedback mechanisms are for mobile interactions, especially when designing for a student audience that moves quickly and expects clarity.
If I had more time, I would love to complete more user testing and modify the app to meet users needs even better.
Future Features
Looking ahead, there are several opportunities to expand the app’s functionality and create an even more personalized experience for students:
> Personalized dashboards for students to manage their classes and schedules.
> Messaging capabilities for students to contact each other and organizations directly in the app.
> Increased accessibility including adjustable text sizes, color contrast settings, and voice-over compatibility.
