ARCHIVE · 2023 · UW HCDE 518
Helping UW alumni reconnect through a digital companion
Digi-Dubs is a mobile app concept that connects UW alumni with events, people, and ways to contribute through a customizable digital husky. As lead UX designer and project manager on a team of four, I helped turn a broad question about alumni connection into a storyboard, mobile interface, and interactive prototype over ten weeks.
Turned alumni research into an interactive mobile prototype. My storyboards gave the team a shared journey to translate into flows and screens. Testing five tasks with three alumni participants informed revisions to event details, filters, and navigation.
Finding what would make alumni participation worthwhile
We began by asking how UW could communicate better with alumni. Research shifted our focus toward the value of that contact: what would make an alum want to reconnect, attend an event, or contribute?
HOW WE FOCUSED THE PROBLEM
TEMPLATE
Improve communication between {group} when {event}.
↓
DRAFT
How might we improve communication between UW alumni and the university?
↓
FOCUS
How might we help UW alumni build a stronger connection with their university community?
Our own experiences of feeling disconnected after graduation gave us a starting point. We used a Qualtrics survey and interviews with UW graduates to understand what staying involved meant to them. The survey suggested a gap between hearing from the university and receiving information that felt relevant.
Most survey respondents had heard from UW, but fewer received communication matched to their interests. This gave us a reason to focus the concept on relevant opportunities to connect and participate.
The survey showed a relevance gap; interviews helped explain what alumni wanted instead. We grouped their feedback into networking, events, and contributions to give the team specific needs to design around.
- Connections that go beyond brief introductions
- Networking options based on their background and interests
- A mix of online events and events held in person
- Recognition and perks for participating
- A clear purpose behind opportunities to contribute
- Visibility into how contributions support the community
Across those themes, alumni wanted to see how participation connected to their interests and community. That gave us a direction: help people find a reason to get involved, then make the next step clear.
WHAT THIS MEANT FOR THE DESIGN
Connection matters
Interviewees linked their willingness to give back to feeling proud of and connected to UW.
We focused on helping alumni find people, events, and causes they cared about.
We used three personas to carry those differences into the design, from graduates unaware of alumni resources to people already active in the UW community. They helped us consider how events, networking, and giving could serve different reasons for staying connected.
Ulysses is busy with his work but open to connecting with UW for his professional interests. He is not aware of any UW alumni resources that might help.
- AGE
- Early 20s
- EDUCATION
- Bachelors
- OCCUPATION
- Engineer
- Professional networking within his industry.
- Keeping up with the work of noteworthy UW faculty.
- Staying socially connected to his cohort of friends.
- UW emails do not surface useful information.
- Giving solicitations are poorly timed.
- Unaware of networking opportunities.
Emma is a graduate of the UW School of Social Work and works as a social worker in south Seattle. She is passionate about social justice causes and likes that UW is involved in areas that align with her values.
- AGE
- Mid 20s
- EDUCATION
- Bachelors
- OCCUPATION
- Social worker
- Professional development.
- Community building.
- Networking.
- The UW events calendar is hard to use.
- Too many random emails.
- Reminders for events are inconsistent.
Ava is a marketing manager with a degree in marketing from the University of Washington. She thrives on connecting with people and making a difference, both in her professional life and within her alma mater’s community.
- AGE
- Early 30s
- EDUCATION
- Masters
- OCCUPATION
- Marketing manager
- A desire to give back.
- Networking with the university community.
- Advancing causes through UW.
- UW emails do not surface useful information.
- Giving solicitations are poorly timed.
- Unaware of networking opportunities.
Giving the team a journey to design around
With those needs in view, we explored a digital husky that alumni could personalize through their involvement with UW. I storyboarded how someone would encounter the companion, join an event, and explore ways to contribute, making the concept concrete enough for the team to discuss and develop.
Exploring a connection beyond the screen
The early concept paired a husky plush with a digital companion. Scanning its collar would connect alumni to the app and activities at events. The sketch explored how the physical and digital experiences could fit together; the ten-week project delivered an interactive mobile prototype.
Translating the storyboard into flows and screens
My storyboard gave the team a shared sequence to work from. We used it to map interactions, organize the sitemap, and identify the screens to prototype. I contributed to the mobile UI as we brought the dashboard, events, networking, and achievements into a coherent flow.
Checking whether people understood the experience
The wireframes made those ideas testable. We asked three alumni participants to complete five tasks, looking at how they navigated and where they questioned a feature’s purpose. Their comments helped us see problems that task completion alone could miss.
We clarified event labels and details after participants asked which events they had joined. We added filters to support discovery and moved Achievements out of the main navigation when its purpose was unclear. Feedback changed what we emphasized, not just how the screens looked.
Carrying the feedback into the final prototype
Those revisions shaped the interactive Figma prototype below. We documented colors, typography, spacing, and visual styles to keep the screens consistent as the team refined them. The result brought the companion, events, networking, and giving into one experience, ready for further evaluation.
Making a playful concept useful enough to return to
Digi-Dubs gave us a prototype and clear directions for improvement. It also left an important question open: would the companion help alumni stay involved over time? My first HCDE project taught me to separate enthusiasm for an idea from evidence that it serves the people using it.
Digi-Dubs began with a broad question about alumni connection. I helped make it concrete through storyboards and mobile design, giving the team a shared journey to build and test. Feedback then sharpened the experience around clearer information and navigation. The work reflects what I bring to product design: connect research to a direction a team can act on, make the interactions tangible, and let what we learn shape the next version.