To comply with my non-disclosure agreement, I have omitted and obfuscated confidential information in this case study. All information in this case study is my own and does not necessarily reflect the views of HSBC HK.

Project Structure

Background

Cyclopes is a website that helps students find an overseas university based on their academic results and needs. It envisions providing reliable university information and free consultant service so that students can plan for their future without relying on ambiguous information from agencies. Besides, Cyclopes hopes to establish students' awareness of planning for their future earlier through storytelling.

Interviews

Interviews were conducted with 7 people who had overseas study experience within 5 years. It aimed to understand their intention of overseas study, the difficulties they faced and how they solved them. These findings can prevent students from going the unnecessary long way and provide insights on overcoming unexpected incidence.

Findings

• Students usually get help from their relatives and agencies. Only a few of them will research the university by themselves.
• They rely on comments from experienced people (relatives/agencies) and have no way to validate them or get similar information.
• Their goals for overseas study are to experience different cultures, to complete a task (they planned overseas study as a should-do task in their life), and to enjoy greek life.

Journey

Potential users

Well-Planner

Look for a university with a higher subject and school ranking that will help her acquire a better career in the future

Entertainer

Want to be independent and experience a foreign culture. Look for a university based on the region and his interests

Last minutes

Want to live closer to her relatives. Look for a university that she can reach based on her exam results and hope the university can provide academic assistance

Journey

Findings

• Those potential users have similar preferences in deciding on an overseas university. The first three main criteria are based on 1) subject rank, 2) university region, and 3) tuition fee.
• Last Minutes always have fewer options to choose from, and they are always disappointed about their future. There is an opportunity for Cyclopes to encourage Last Minutes to start planning their life in the early stage.

Design Workshops

Several design workshops were organized with 10 participants who had overseas study experience. Targeted to explore how the users process the information when finding an overseas university to build a well-organized information architecture. Through card shorting of the raw data and discussion to better understand participants thinking process and consideration of choosing a university.

Findings

• The focus is different among user types. Well-Planner is academic-oriented, Entertainer is living-oriented, and Last Minutes is cost-oriented.
• The common way they consider and organize data is to “Imagine the path to get throught the overseas university. Before, during and after”.
• By storytelling and displaying the information via a journey, students can search for the information easily and be able to imagine their future.

IA

From basic university and subject information (Before) to university and surrounding facilities (During), and the career (After) at last.

Showcase

Reflections

Take care of wider potential users

As the project was first launched in Hong Kong in the MVP stage, design thinking activities were mainly conducted with Hong Kong people. In the future, this platform aims to serve students worldwide. We will need to take care of the user from different backgrounds and consolidate different views of consideration.