FetchUW
An all in one app to manage your club and connect with students.
Context:
An interactive Figma prototype created for INFO 360: Design Methods.
Role
UX Designer
User Researcher
Technical Writer
Timeline
Oct – Dec 2024
(3 months)
Team
Nhu Tat (me!)
Molly Banks
Aileen Kuang
Kathryn Rochleau-Rice
Keira Wong
Problem Statement
How might we centralize UW Registered Student Organization outreach and communication to enhance relationship satisfaction with students?
The Problem
HuskyLink, the official RSO database, is outdated, cluttered, and unreliable. Promoting clubs on Instagram and Discord is labor-intensive and inaccessible to students without social media.
My Solution
I designed FetchUW, a mobile app that centralizes RSO management and student engagement. Clubs can easily promote events, track memberships, and communicate with students all in one place.
Issues with HuskyLink
Empty screens…
Broken links…
Limited filters…
Research
Why is it important to have effective tools for student clubs? I conducted a literature review to understand the impact of student clubs on cultivating campus belonging and community.
Fostering Personal Growth
Involvement in student organizations significantly enhances psychosocial development, including purpose, educational engagement, career planning, and cultural participation ↗.
Supporting Underrepresented Students
Campus clubs play a crucial role in helping first-generation and minority students thrive beyond academics ↗.
The Need for Clear Communication
Inaccessible or unclear information can discourage potential members and damage club credibility ↗.
Expert Interviews
I conducted 3 semi-structured in person interviews with leaders from administration, a large membership-based RSO, and a smaller non-member RSO to understand frustrations with current tools.
Associate Vice President, Student Life
Pull Quote:
“There are campuses using tech and AI to recommend opportunities based on student interests. These are becoming more popular on campuses.“
Takeaways:
- Emphasized limitations of HuskyLink, which most RSOs don’t use for outreach.
- Suggested AI-driven platforms could improve student engagement by recommending relevant activities based on individual interests.
Outreach Coordinator, Hiking Club
Pull Quote:
“A centralized tool would be incredibly useful to the club IF widely adopted across campus. It would save officers time and improve accessibility.“
Takeaways:
- Emphasized need for widely adopted platform.
- Make outreach more accessible to students without social media.
- Recommended integrating club registration to improve efficiency.
Editor-in-Chief, The Garden of Ideas
Pull Quote:
“We need to reach non-members with event ads. Live updates and event booking integration would be a huge benefit.“
Takeaways:
- Highlighted the challenges faced by smaller non-member RSOs.
- Emphasized need for system with real-time updates and easy event management.
Survey
I conducted a user survey via Google Forms, gathering 33 responses from current undergraduate students at UW through snowball and convenience sampling to understand student experiences with current RSO discovery and management tools.
View my survey questions here.
Survey participants found HuskyLink ineffective for discovering clubs and events, highlighting widespread dissatisfaction with the platform.
2.6/5
effectiveness of HuskyLink
4.2/5
effective of social media for finding clubs and events
3.6/5
likelihood to use an RSO search app
“I can never find any clubs that actually interest me on there/there isn’t relevant information for the clubs.”
“I have used the RSO database once and it was not really up to date.”
“I didn’t even know it existed.”
“It works, but it’s overwhelming and sometimes info isn’t updated”
“A lot of RSOs that I found on the database were outdated and no longer had regular meetings”
These survey findings reinforced the need for a centralized, intuitive RSO platform.
User Personas
Using findings from my expert interviews and user survey, I developed user personas that accurately represent FetchUW’s target audience, ensuring the design addresses both student engagement and club management needs.
Charlie, an introverted freshman at UW.
Goals:
Charlie wants to easily discover clubs that align with her interests and help her build a sense of community on campus.
Pain Points:
⏳ Limited time to search for clubs
📱 Frustrated by HuskyLink’s outdated and unintuitive interface
Jo, a senior at UW and president of Hiking Club.
Goals:
Jo wants a more efficient way to manage the club’s 100+ active members, streamline event promotion, and improve communication with students.
Pain Points:
⏳ Spends too much time managing outreach across 5+ platforms
📱 Struggles with decentralized, inefficient tools
Mid Fidelity Wireframes
Login Screen
Student feed, explore, and messaging
Student view of RSO profile
RSO view of RSO profile
RSO event creation
Branding and Aesthetics
Used colors reminiscent of UW branding to establish familiarity and align the design with institutional identity.
#2D0D67
#8755EE
#FFDF40
#B7A57A
#E1CBFF
#FFFFFF
Usability Testing
We conducted in-person and remote usability tests with 7 UW students (3 students, 4 RSO leaders) to validate our design decisions and gather qualitative feedback. Our goal was to identify pain points in navigation, language, and feature accessibility to inform iterative design improvements.
RSO leaders tested admin-specific features like creating posts, events, and leadership openings. Students tested features like saving events, browsing RSOs, and checking notifications
Tested Interface
❌ Confusion over Feed and RSO Page Icons
Final Design
✅ Adopted more intuitive icons (home and search)
Tested Interface
❌ Confusion over “Save Post Draft” vs “Save New Post”
❌ Users weren’t sure if their actions were completed
Final Design
✅ Changed button language from “Save New Post” to “Post”
✅ Improved clarity and action feedback
Tested Interface
❌ Uncertainty for what the “Search” button would search for
❌ Button language seemed unrelated to task of searching for room availability
Final Design
✅ Changed button language from “Search” to “Search Availability”
✅ Clarify function
Tested Interface
❌ Unified feed mixed too many post types (events, updates, opportunities)
❌ Users felt overwhelmed with information overload
❌ Users wanted to filter content but found filter button hard to locate
Final Design
✅ Introduced tab-based feed navigation (General, Events, Open Positions) for quicker access
✅ Moved topic-based filters (cooking, diversity) into separate filter icon
✅ Simplified visual hierarchy for easier scanning
Meet FetchUW!
Interest Tags
- Select topics (aka tags) you’re interested in during sign up
- Algorithm uses tags to suggest students RSOs and events that are aligned with their unique interests
- Helps facilitate student-RSO connection and discovery
Integrated Event Planning
- Plan and promote in one place
- Integrated room booking
- Integrated event RSVPs
- Set: event name, date/time, maximum attendees, and require RSVPs
Student Messaging
- Quickly ask RSO leaders questions
- Send cool opportunities to friends
- Create a social network for campus and student life
RSO Messaging
- Quickly answer student questions
- Efficiently send updates and changes to events
- Facilitate collaboration with other RSOs
Discovery
- Find events and register with ease
- Discover new clubs by category and filters
Profiles
- Your interests, friends, events, and clubs all in one
- Centralized hub for an RSO’s information
What’s Next for FetchUW?
In Feb 2025, we presented our prototype to the Tech Innovation Task Force at UW, which focuses on finding AI programs to streamline opportunities for students. Under the guidance of Lincoln Johnson, Associate Vice President for Student Life, FetchUW is being considered as a source of student input for potential HuskyLink redesigns!
In addition, Molly Banks is adapting FetchUW into their Informatics Capstone Project, HuskyHive, where it will undergo further user research, design, and technical development.
Nhu Tat 