The aim was to improve video conferencing experience for higher-education, but still be able to scale into other industries and communities.

Research consisted of student surveys and small focus groups - that provided better understanding of pain points of both institutions and students.

I was looking forward to a few goals with this project:

Being able to work collaboratively and intimately with a developer that was on the same wavelength on user-centered design

Additionally, getting an opportunity to create a product ground up with a small team and the learning and insight that could come from this project

As a product designer, I was asked to help build the preliminary framework for this platform. The framework of this product considered two major users - the primary customer and end-user.

Primary customers consisted of recruitment managers, directors and coordinators - would be able to create, organize and host virtual open houses.

The end-user would be the prospective students looking to gain better insight into their programs of interest and interact with faculty, staff and current students.

Utilizing the research that was presented to me upon taking this project and auditing competitor tools.

Identifying pain points from primary and secondary research that was conducted on user opinions, experiences, wishes and needs.

I was able to formulate a deck of recommendations based on the findings.

After narrowing down the scope of the project - I wanted to define the top level components of the product and work my way down the site map

The breakdown of the information architecture allowed me to identify 

Having a better understanding of the user flows, I designed in shorter sprints of wireframing and feedback due to time constraints and meeting deadlines for a MVP that allowed us to present to prospective customers and potential investors.

Working in an agile environment, I was able to work on the brand while the wireframes of the foundation of the product were being built.

I designed the brand to reflect colours and breathing space to allow users to feel welcome and at ease. After some feedback, I was able to define some high-fidelity mockups to help being life to the project

The project is still ongoing, though it is currently on pause due to external factors, the product can viewed at: virtuel.herokuapp.com

My biggest takeaway from this project was having to consider two sets of users - the end-user of the product and the user that would have to create and publish these events on the backend of the platform.

User empathy was important to keep in mind not only when designing the interfaces but also the planning.