Northumbria University Student Brief

We have a long-standing relationship with Northumbria University which strengthens year upon year. Two of our designers here at KOMODO are both graduates from their interaction design course. We often provide internships for their students and course support for their professional profile module which involves mock interviews. Extending past this, Northumbria University approached us to generate a brief for their second year Interaction Design students. This was to act as a form of real-world experience for the students and provide some insight into studio life.

We wanted to create a brief that was more open-ended than usual. This was to help promote the student’s creative abilities and not limit them to a specific medium. We also felt as though, in doing so the students could pick a platform that they prefer to create on. This, in turn, would help contribute to project enjoyment.

The Brief

Topic

Education

Area

Student Loan Management

Scenario

Jordan graduated from university a year ago with a degree in law and is in full-time employment at a local law firm.

She is currently repaying her student loan in regular instalments but finds the whole experience confusing and a little concerning. Every year she receives her annual statement, through the post, outlining how much she borrowed, how much she owes and how much interest the loan has gained. Jordan doesn’t understand these figures and worries whether these loans will affect her future.

Jordan would like a solution that allows her to feel in control of her loan repayments, avoids jargon or small print, educates with clear and honest design, and allows for her to regularly check the outstanding loan balance, manage repayments and feel on top of her overall student loan.

Brief

Design a new solution that helps recent graduates understand their student loan, how they are repaying, and what help they have available to them when it comes to repaying their debt.

Think about educating the students on the implications of the loan and what it means for their future. The solution must be engaging, easy to understand and intuitive.

Deliverables

A presentation to Komodo to demonstrate the final concept designs and clear process.

• The presentation must include research and findings, personas, conducted interviews, analysis, wireframes, usability testing and prototypes as well as the final designs of the concept or proposed concept.

Meet the team

Meet the team of passionate students who are currently working on this brief.

University students meeting with Komodo

Jay

“I’m a 24-year young student currently in my second year of studying Interaction Design at Northumbria University. I fell in love with creative design during my college years where I studied Creative Media Production in Games Design.

Since my time on the course I have grown a fondness towards the prototyping process of UX/UI as well as getting back into 3D modelling from my time at college.”

Ben

“My name is Ben Abbott and I’m currently on my second year of Interaction Design at Northumbria University. I mostly come from a technological background and enjoy doing web development and visual design for websites. In my free time, I enjoy exercising and gaming. I am a massive techie and love new technology.”

Sam

“I am a 21-year-old Interaction Design student at Northumbria University, I love working with vector graphics creating websites and apps to improve people’s experiences when doing even the most basic tasks. When I am not working on design projects, I will be in the woods on my bike or grabbing a pint with mates.”

Keep up to date

Within the first week of the project kick off, the team managed to pull an extensive range of research together. Including multiple user personas and competitor research, which they presented back to us with an immediate understanding of the sector and the issues faced by many. Be sure to keep up with the Komodo blog to see the work produced as this project progresses.