Grace Coleman
Faculty Sponsor: Dr. Laurie Heyer
This project focuses on the design of a web application for the Davidson College Counseling Center which will serve to facilitate students’ usage of the new Walk-In hours service. In today’s world, demand for high quality digitized services is higher than ever and sometimes time pressure can deter designers and engineers from thinking critically about the product they are creating, and all of its implications. A focus throughout this project has been to be intentionally critical in its design. This encompasses not only it’s visual design and aesthetic but also its functional design. With such design practices in place, it is possible to harness the truly beneficial power of technology on not only Davidson’s campus but far beyond. This project explores and aims to explain all of the intricacies that make up application design, the behind the scenes that many never consider about tools they use every day.
The main functionalities of the application include allowing students to easily view how many students are currently waiting to see the Walk-In Counselor and further to add themselves to a waitlist. When students sign up for the waitlist they will be asked if they would like to be notified, via text or email, when they are the next person on the list and should head to the Counseling Center to fill out forms. This will allow students to continue their activities uninterrupted still hold their place in line for Walk-In counseling. In addition, these functionalities will be accompanied by information about the benefits of walk-in counseling and suggestions for what to do while they are on the waitlist. Even a seemingly simple application such as the one described above require careful design. This project necessitated extensive collaboration with the Counseling Center and several visual and functional design iterations in order to reach a viable state.
