International Student Support Pre-Orientation:

RED Frame Lab worked with student staff from International Student Support in the Spring of 2019 to improve the next pre-orientation (Pre-O) experience. As past “users” of the Pre-O experience, RED Frame Lab students unpacked their own experiences and shared insights about what mattered, what worked, and what was too much. Lab students brainstormed and prototyped ways to shift the experience toward what matters to students arriving from all over the world. The small touches made a big difference, and there are plans to design even more improvements to this critical user experience for next year.

Globe Ups

One student asked: How can we get fellow students to read more global headlines instead of only getting news from social media and friends? His group gathered insights through a series of design sessions, brainstormed several parts of the challenge, and prototyped favorite ideas to learn more from fellow students. The first physical prototype was a contraption built from of his television, a couple of metal straps from Home Depot, a rolling whiteboard for a stand, and a looping Google Slides presentation.

The idea gathered support and momentum as the prototype sat behind the Slayter Union mailroom desk where students lined up to get their packages. Since those early prototypes, the team has evolved into Globe Ups. Globe Ups curates headlines on a permanently mounted TV on the mailroom wall, and an Instagram channel and a periodic email are being prototyped. Several other college campuses have expressed interest in this for-students-by-students curated news, and proposals have been submitted to outside funders to scale up.

Spice Cabinet

A group of fearless students approached Red Frame Lab about “spicing things up on campus,” and called themselves, what else, Spice Cabinet. Harnessing the power of user experience design to create and improve several events across campus. Some were meant to increase the number of students coming to existing events on campus by providing fun, accessible pregame activities. Other events were standalone and meant to interrupt the day with some silliness or to remind students to take breaks and meet new people. From pop-up cookouts to stress-relieving bubble-wrap mummies on A-quad, and the legendary 2019 East Quad water balloon fight, the Spice Cabinet is embracing design thinking to create experiences students need.