How can we make Umeå University's campus more vibrant?
Akademiska Hus, a Swedish Government enterprise that manages Umeå University, wanted to make the campus into a bustling place. The challenge was that in the evenings, the campus was empty of people and activity. This made students and visitors feel unsafe walking through the area. By creating a more welcoming atmosphere, Umeå University could become a more attractive place for students, staff members, and visitors.
This is a four-week service design project I completed with Johan Stranberg, Bengisu Yildiz, and James Zhou.
Proposed Design
Rumea is a space-booking system for Umeå University. Students and community members can use Rumea to reserve spaces for events and gatherings throughout the day and evening.
The two main touchpoints are 1) the website and 2) digital labels for every space. The website has detailed information about each space, like occupancy limits, furnishing, and how to get there. Members can filter the available spaces for what works best for an activity. The digital door labels show the availabilities for a room and allow people to book the space in person.
Service Blueprint
The flip side of the Rumeå eco-system is that Akademiska Hus would get valuable insight into how the community utilizes the spaces available on campus. In the short-term, by understanding how spaces are being used, administrators can make adjustments to the usage of existing spaces. In the long term, they can plan the layout of future buildings and spaces to better fit the community’s needs.
Design Process
INTERVIEWS
We used several methods to interview stakeholders, students, staff members, and visitors on campus. In our in-depth interviews, we learned about interviewees' daily routines and had them physically map out their day on campus.
" There’s too much focus on places like auditoriums. We need more places to hangout, meet, and work. "
- 2nd year business student
Understanding who our users and stakeholders are
Working with stakeholders to get their insight on how the campus is organized
Legacy stories we developed from our interviews
MOBILE ETHNOGRAPHY
We used mobile ethnography and participatory methods to get input from passerbys. Inspired by Candy Chang’s participatory art work, we posted the question “I wish Umea University had…” at multiple locations around campus. We created an Instagram campaign with the hashtag #futureumea to encourage students to share their photos of and their thoughts on their campus.
Putting up participatory posters to get responses from the public
Students answering our post!
Responses from the public
CO-CREATION
We had multiple co-creation workshops with students and stakeholders. Our sessions focused on how to create a sense of community. The workshops were centered around using LEGOs to visualize and share ideas.
Stakeholders bringing their ideas to life with legos
The collection of ideas from brainstorming sessions
IDEATION & JOURNEY-MAPPING
Through our research, we found that people had trouble navigating the campus. We also found that while students complained about the lack of spaces, it was not that those spaces don't exist, more that students did not know that these spaces existed. We ideated on solutions using brainstorming techniques like crazy 8's and journey mapping. We decided on the idea of a space-booking service because that would bring more awareness to the spaces that already exist on campus.
Evaluating the journey map developed
Journey mapping the room-booking concept.
REFINEMENT & TESTING
We also discovered that Umeå already had a service for booking! Like most students, we never know of this booking system. We had a few usability testing sessions where we had students try to go through the current system and book a space. The website was challenging to use and gave minimal details about the location of each room.
A student trying out the current room booking system
Breaking down current website
Basic wireframes exploring how we can present room booking information
ROLE
In this project I took an active role in developing our research protocols and methodology. I interviewed students and staff about their routines. I developed the material for the mobile ethnography method. I built the service design blueprint.
