UX/UI Case Study Title Here

When it comes to the topic of "equity," obviously there are many routes to take in addressing it. However, one of the ones that felt very important to me were those regarding education. The school system in America is so important for the future of our society and yet so flawed. One particular way that I have seen time and time again affecting students and schools is funding.

Depending on the individual schools and districts, certain departments may see less funding than others. Keeping up with the advancements in technology that are becoming standard within educational environemnts may also be an obstacle for schools in impoverished areas. Although fundraising is not necessarily an ideal replacement for direct funding in these areas, it is often necessary in order for classrooms to even meet the bare minimum of resources for their student's academic success. This concept would help make the process more handy and convenient for teachers and/or administrators.

The concepts for this app involves detail oriented management of school fundraisers. Since funding for classrooms can be so difficult to obtain, the app would hopefully be a very userfriendly way to keep track of every contribution. The responsibility to manage the fundraiser would presumably be of the teacher of a classroom or some other staff member of the school in question. While app could potentially be used by parents (perhaps there could be a version made specifically for parents), it's main intention is for those working within the school system who have access to district leacership and information.

The original concept of this app was actually far more student oriented and was meant mostly for class subjects that focussed on literature. When my research began, I was going to make this app an e-library for students to use with their student emails and teachers to incorporate into their curriculum and grading. The fundraiser feature was maybe going to be included as an option for the classrooms that were set up on the app but not to be the main feature.

This early version of the app would have been comparable to apps like Auidible and Open Library. I intended to have this app stand apart from those by being intended for academic use only unlike either of those apps which has more of a focus on leisure or entertainment.

This app had one flaw in the early design that contributed to me ultimately changing it. This app would basically rely on every student having access to smart devices or some sort of technology in the classroom. Though chromebooks are a very common tool to have in classrooms and are becoming more common, this does not feel fair for disadvantaged areas that may be falling behind in these advancements. For the app to truly aid in the search for equity, I think it would be more helpful if it did not count on a privilege that some schools may not have.

My idea for this app was for it to look simple, encouraging, instructive, and fun. Sort of like a Scholastic Book Fair type aesthetic. There are a lot of educational apps that have iconic looks to them like DuoLingo and Kahoot which inspired me while I was designing. Though I don't think I achieved that level of distinctness, I want the color meter to be the main motif for the app and in theory be the most memorable design element.

Though reviews of the app were happy with the design elements, the prototype had some usability flaws that I needed to address. There were some aspects of UI/UX that slipped my mind in the earlier drafts. In the later versions of the prototype I added exit buttons which was something that I forgot initially. I also created the landing page with the logo.

After the "Add Funds" option was added, I began to further the other possibilites of the app. This included: Fundraiser History, Campaign Options, End Fundraiser, and the smaller tasks within those tasks.

This app is meant to be a fairly small but reusable tool for teachers. Hopefully this app can provide some structure and assistance for teachers managing donations, since each improvement to the classroom is an improvement toward their student's education overall. The consistency and accessibility is something that makes it beneficial for teachers and educators to use each year.

I found this process to be really fun due to all of the crative aspects. When I first switched topics I was worried that I would'nt be able to come up with a good route to take for the design plan but I really like where it ended up. Though I didn't end up going with the e-library project, I do think that idea has potential. However, when it came to the goal of the promp, I think it was best for me to take the fundraiser path.

Every student deserves to be in a classroom that sustains their educational needs, although that can be difficult if there are not proper resources available. Even if there is still a much larger issue to be addressed in school district funding, something like this app might provide a little extra support when it comes to managing classroom finances and providing for students.