Poor UI Designs

The current student section of my university's website:

                                  

:/

Why have all of these columns, just squeeze all of the options into one vertical section?

As a user, why would I want to search through one long list of options to find what I need?

This design is not very helpful nor attractive, even just visually speaking.

AHHH... Twas just a glitch...

So this is how the webpage actually appears, when fully loaded. 

This looks a lot more familiar. Still, there are a handful of features of the page that I feel could be improved, design-wise...

Notice, the DegreeWorks feature is duly highlighted in the center of the page. It is advertised as a useful, NEW online tool to help students monitor their curriculum and graduate on time. As a current student, I can attest that this new tool has been extremely helpful to me. I am glad I was able to find it because of how it is displayed on the page.

My gripe? 

There's another BRAND NEW tool that the university now requires us to use when paying our bill, and yet, the design of the page fails to advertise it. Instead, the designers chose to list written instructions to accessing it instead of just creating a button to the portal, like they did with degree works.

Preliminary Ideas

This semester, we have been tasked with developing a group project that falls within the realm of Human Computer Interaction (HCI). We have free range over this project, for the most part, as long as it meets the following standard requirements:

• Must be portable and demonstrable in a classroom setting
• Should be fun and interesting
• Must be original (though we may incorporate ideas that we find online)
• Must involve a manual procedure such as cutting, drilling, soldering, 3D printing, etc.
• Must include a physical material such as wood, plastic, metal, hinges, levers, gears, etc.
• Must include electronics
• Must include sensors
• Must include motors and self-movable parts
• Must include software scripts (to control the parts/motors, for example)
• Must include cameras, displays, audio, lights, or etc.

 As you can see, this leaves a lot of room for creativity and self-guidance! Below are some of the ideas my teammates and I are currently considering:


Smart Door

This project is essentially a self-built home security system. The system would use facial recognition software installed on a Raspberry Pi, internet connection, and a webcam to authorize entry into a home if the visitor's face is recognized and authorized by the homeowner. All without the owner ever having to physically get up and open the door :)

If the system recognizes the visitor, the door will unlock itself using a power relay. Though we'd be creating a miniature environment for scalability, this could potentially be implemented on a full-scale house as well.








Student ID Scanner/Attendance Tracker

Our idea for this project is to innovate how teachers/professors take daily attendance. Instead of using sign-in sheets, we propose a system in which students swipe their students ID cards as they enter the classroom and attendance is then recorded for the instructor. Though we still have to flesh out further logistics, we would want our system to have a digital list of all students registered for the course, and then as the students swipe their ID cards, a check mark to be automatically uploaded next to their name. This would present a very clear and concise interface by which instructors could monitor attendance.