SMC Design

role

UX UI, Web design, Branding, Graphics

tools

Figma, Adobe CC, Framer

year

May 2024

01. The Problem

The amount of students enrolled at Santa Monica College can easily isolate a student's sense of community. By focusing on and highlighting the creative minds of the Center for Media and Design campus, we can create a foundation for strong relationships to be formed and career-minded leaders to grow and succeed.

To strengthen skill building through community, sharing of knowledge, and increased connection, I aimed to create a platform for driven learners to be hands-on and involved with their learning.

How can we promote community that encourages self-learning for creative students at the Center for Media and Design?

02. Research

My research phase prioritized gathering insights straight from students using platforms such as the SMC Discord and Reddit, alongside academic resources made available to students.

Insights indicated a clear lack of communication among students, the importance of collaboration and having a community platform to share knowledge and personal resources.

Insights identified student needs, current resource gaps, and expectations for creative resources provided by SMC.

03. Approach

To kickoff the design process, I drafted low-fidelity wireframes as a general guide for the foundation of the website. Due to the short timeline, I iterated on the site's structure with the high fidelity wireframe phase until the flow made sense and covered primary needs for students.

The site features:

• A resources search function

• A resource repository overview with sorting and filtering options

• Pre-designed resource tracks for the primary majors offered at CMD

• A suggestion box for students to contribute to the resource collection