The Only Campus App You Need
I led the redesign of an outdated student app
Leading a team of 3 UI designers and actively collaborating with developers and business stakeholders, we created an app that encompasses all of campus resources in an easy and palatable way for students.
- Led a team of three UI designers, auditing 150+ screens to keep the design system consistent.
- Designed the Deals and Home sections while guiding the visual direction of the other screens.
- Ran all user research for the project, from surveys to usability testing, and analyzed the data to identify key pain points.
- Met regularly with departments across the university to align on feature scope and fill in gaps in the information we had.
- Worked closely with developers throughout the build to ensure design consistency and a clean handoff to production.
The app was outdated and confused users
Even returning students weren’t aware of many campus services, and Mānoa Now hadn’t been updated to reflect that. It needed a refresh to stay relevant and worth returning to.
Info scattered across separate places and got lost
Return visits dropped sharply after day one
How do we prove the product’s worth before local businesses invest?
The goal was twofold: help students navigate campus, and give local businesses a way to reach them. But that outreach depended on proving the product could deliver for students first.
Manoa Now: An All-in-One Campus App
Everyday campus life, all in one app
Dining and deals are grouped into guided categories, with map nodes surfacing nearby spots and recent searches.
Students can order food and check live hours right in the app, with each spot’s hours and a map node linking back for easy navigation.
Students were lost and drop‑off was high
I collected 38 survey responses and ran 14 usability tests to see where students hesitated and where they dropped off. The friction came down to a lack of context and an interface that didn’t feel polished enough to make people want to come back.
Where the previous app struggled
The homepage was clear enough, but once users reached the map, deals, and dining sections, that clarity fell apart. They weren’t guided enough to take clear actions across these screens, and slow load times only added to the frustration. Most dropped off within about a minute.
Home
Map
Deals
DiningWho we were designing for
To understand who would actually rely on this app, I mapped the user flows that mattered most to four key personas and captured their likes, dislikes, and motivations to help decide which features and content to prioritize.
Kai · The First-Timer
Needs quick orientation and information for first weeks on campus.
Malia · The Regular
Wants a faster way back to the places, deals, and events they already value.
Prof. Kahale
Needs a reliable, low-friction way to stay connected to campus life and resources.
Jordan · The Grad Student
Has limited time between classes and research, wants information fast without digging.
A campus app optimized for a student's daily needs
We prioritized features against the pain points our research surfaced most often: low visibility into campus events, unclear dining hours and options, and difficulty navigating campus.
The calendar now sits here next to Student Essentials, so today’s plans and go-to resources are both one tap away.
Food, dining, and deals moved onto the map instead of separate lists, cutting the choice fatigue of endless scrolling.
Every event can be saved from the calendar, so a busy week doesn’t mean losing track of activities on campus.
Order through Grubhub or a spot’s own app, check hours, and see a live open-or-closed status before making the trip.
37% rating increase through 11 usability tests
After running 11 usability tests, students engaged more and discovered features they actually found useful, which validated our key design decisions. All 11 participants described the redesigned app as more intuitive, clear, and professional.
It’s intuitive and easy to use. I love that the calendar makes it easy for me as a student to see what’s going on on campus.Usability test participant
- Events and calendars surfaced things students otherwise missed
- The campus map helped new students find unfamiliar places
- Deals, jobs, tickets, dining, and safety all in one app felt convenient
“It’s easy to navigate. I like the dining features, it’s always hard to find the dining and the hours. It would be useful to search for cuisine, and food items.”
“I think it’s a great app to organize everything that’s on campus, I often don’t know what’s going on and I didn’t know how to navigate around campus.”
Leading a university product design
This was my first time leading a UX project end-to-end — running research, directing the design team, auditing screens, and owning handoff to engineering. I worked closely with developers and met with multiple campus departments to keep design and data consistent.
Sourcing information across scattered departments was the hardest part of the role. The lesson: bring engineering and stakeholders in early and stay transparent, so design intent survives implementation.
