Shaping a better college experience through connection, discovery, and belonging
Role
UI/UX Designer, Marketer
Duration
36 hours
Tools
Figma, Illustrator
Team
Allison Song
Ella Kim
Overview
College Buddy is a concept app developed during Producthon 2025. It helps college students discover communities, and access essential campus resources in one centralized platform. This project was developed during a hackathon and received an Honorable Mention.
Problem Statement
“How can college students avoid feeling disconnected, homesick, and overwhelmed while still finding belonging?"
Students experience overwhelming information fragmentation, difficulty finding clubs or resources, and stressful onboarding.
Solution
Hashtag & Ranking
Discover events, food spots, and study spaces tailored to your interests.
Event Feed with Smart Sorting
A clean, scrollable event feed that surfaces what's happening on campus.
Student-Powered Map Experience
A student-curated map that shows only peer-verified spots—color-coded by category and based on your location.
Social Connection & Personalization
Social connection and personalization through shareable boards and peer reviews.
LET'S START BUILDING THE SOLUTION!
Research
We conducted user interviews with 15 students across different demographics to understand their daily challenges. Key insights revealed that students juggle an average of 5-7 different apps for campus life, leading to missed opportunities and stress.
15
Students Interviewed
95%
Used campus apps daily
73%
Feel Overwhelmed
Insight
Most of the survey participants often struggle to find clubs and communities that match their interests.
Competitive Analysis
Eventbrite
Provide school event
Event ticketing
No social features
No personalization
ZEEMEE
User generated content
Social networking
No school event info
No personalization
College buddy
Provide school event
User generated content
Social networking
personalization
Opportunity
We will unifies campus schedules, communities, and resources to reduce app-switching and improve student connection.
Target Audience
Freshmen, transfer students, and international students who are new to campus life, seeking connections and guidance.
Design Journey
Ideation
Through brainstorming sessions, we generated over 30 feature ideas. Using impact-effort matrix and hackathon time constraints, we prioritized features that would deliver maximum value with feasible implementation.
Wireframe
Low-fidelity wireframes allowed us to quickly iterate on layout and navigation structure. We tested multiple approaches before settling on a tab-based navigation for easy access to key features.
Outcome
We delivered a full concept and interactive prototype within the hackathon timeframe. The project received positive feedback for its clarity, practicality, and strong UI/UX structure, and was awarded an Honorable Mention.
This experience strengthened my skills in collaboration, rapid iteration, and design storytelling.
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