Context & Challenge

What do students need in a pandemic? Not what we gave them.
IST-Go was a campus safety app designed to help students avoid crowded spaces during COVID-19. But adoption was poor, and trust was lower. The real-time occupancy data was patchy, the health check-in feature felt invasive, and the app was widely misperceived as a contact tracing tool. Students didn’t just ignore it—they actively distrusted it.

This wasn’t a usability problem. It was a purpose problem.
Through survey and interview research, we learned that students wanted to be on campus—for focused study, reliable Wi-Fi, and quiet space. But the app didn’t support that goal. It monitored space without enabling access to it. We needed to reframe the core value: from passive observation to active control.

From Confusion To Clarity: Designing a Room Booking Feature

Booking gave students what they really needed: certainty.
I led research and co-design workshops to reframe the product around students’ actual job-to-be-done: finding and securing a quiet place to work. We evaluated multiple feature directions and prototyped a room booking system that gave users clarity and control—while giving us cleaner occupancy data as a side effect.

We stripped away features that confused or alienated users (like the health check-in), and rebuilt the core flow around purposeful booking. This work didn’t just improve UX—it reset user trust, raised signups by 30%, and made the app genuinely useful for the first time.

Approach

The Users & Real Needs

Problem
Needed to understand why students were attending university during a pandemic and their specific needs.

Strategy & Approach
Developed and distributed a survey to capture data on student attendance patterns, motivations, and frequency.

Execution
Recruited 214 respondents using student networks and analysed survey results. Found that 70% of students attended regularly for work or quiet study, guiding feature development.

Results
Recruited 214 respondents using student networks and analysed survey results. Found that 70% of students attended regularly for work or quiet study, guiding feature development.

Uncovering Current Issues

Problem
Existing app features, such as health check-in, were confusing and misinterpreted as contact tracing tools.

Strategy and Approach
Uncover why engagement is so low, through targeted interviews aimed at high engagement, "power" users.

Execution
From the survey, we identified users who fit typical user profiles. We conducted open ended interviews to uncover their pain points.

Results
The health check-in feature was controversial- The usefulness was questioned and the purpose was not clear to the users.

Ideation

Room booking enables the main student need- Deep work

Problem
Needed to consider various options, given possible technical and operational feasibility challenges.

Strategy and Approach
Brainstormed and evaluated potential features- Assessing them for viability, feasibility and desirability.

Execution
Created story-boards of potential features, including social feeds, daily alerts, gamified challenges and room booking, to communicate the concepts to stakeholders.

Results
Room booking was selected for its potential to solve multiple pain points and meet business requirements.

Without a centralised room availability tracker, we needed a check in/check out capability

Problem
The university lacked an existing room booking system. We managed to uncover room mappings, which could be easily surfaced in an app. So, how do we track and manage availability?

Strategy and Approach
On a whiteboard, we brainstormed ideas. We had an app, which we could use to create a check in /check out capability.

Execution
Created a service map, exploring a sensible end to end approach. Identified potential barriers and opportunities.

Results
We generated a number of in app notification and check in/check out features. We transcribed these into requirements.

Room booking & enchanced app UX

Room & Desk Booking Feature

This new feature allows users to easily reserve rooms or desks, ensuring that booking information is correctly recorded and accessible.

By doing so, it better aligns with user needs by providing a streamlined and efficient process for reserving workspaces.

Furthermore, during the implementation of this feature, the app also addressed existing issues with the health check-in process and resolved challenges related to changing user locations. These improvements collectively contribute to a more user-friendly and reliable application.

Outcomes & Reflections

  • Enhanced User Engagement: The introduction of the room booking feature led to a significant increase in app usage and user contribution.

  • Improved Data Accuracy: Real-time user-reported data enhanced the reliability of occupancy information.

  • User Satisfaction: The redesigned booking system and removal of confusing features led to higher user satisfaction and a clearer app purpose.