Introduction
Design, Cultures, and Creativity (DCC) is a two-year honors program at the University of Maryland, College Park. It is one of the most interdisciplinary programs in the country; DCC fosters an open, collaborative and social environment that encourages students to explore relationships between design, society and creative practices.
For this project, three other students and I were tasked to create a digital experience for a graduating or graduated DCC student. We utilized the design thinking process and Figma to do so.
Digital Prototype
Process
Empathy
In order to better understand our audience, each member of our team interviewed four students. We compiled our data by creating an affinity diagram and an empathy map to identify any overlaps and possible problems.
Defining and Ideation
We defined some possible problems to explore with "How Might We" questions and explored the idea of building a stronger alumni network through various ideation techniques (Crazy Eights, Mind Mapping, Worst Idea, and SCAMPER).
The big questions that guided our process: How might we connect graduated DCC students to build a stronger alumni network? How might we foster deeper collaboration among DCC students across different creative disciplines? How might we provide more opportunities from originally made resources (LinkedIn & Handshake) for those part of the graduating class in DCC?
Prototyping and Testing
My team first designed a paper prototype. We then tested it with several other students and created an affinity map to see how we could better improve it. We then translated these adjustments in Figma, which ultimately became our "final" digital prototype.
