Classroom Connect
Modernizing a smart classroom experience through Atomic Design principles
Skills
- Visual Design
- UX Design
- Mobile Design
Tools
- Figma
- Adobe Illustrator
- Material Theme Builder
Team
- Solo
Duration
Apr 2024 - Jun 2024
Background
The IoT-based Smart Classroom system helps reduce energy, paper, and labor inefficiencies by automating electrical components in a classroom and replacing the traditional roll-call-based attendance system in Indian educational institutions.
The project began as a visual refresh to modernise the mobile app, but discovery research revealed deeper usability gaps. This shifted the scope into a complete system experience redesign.
Key Responsibilities
Research, Flows, and Visual System to Modernize the Experience
- Conducted visual audit and heuristic evaluation of the old application.
- Led research pivot into system-level issues.
- Designed new user flows, wireframes, and visual system.
- Applied Material Design principles to align with the application's Flutter scaffolding.
Initial Problem Space
Outdated UI Needed Modernization
The application’s interface didn't meet the expectations of modern mobile design. Its look and feel were dated, with no clear design language or consistency across screens. The absence of a structured component system made it difficult to scale or maintain, resulting in a fragmented user experience.
- Outdated visual style that felt disconnected from current design standards
- Inconsistent use of typography, colors, and layouts across the app
- No reusable component system to ensure coherence or efficiency in updates
Initial Research & Insights
A combination of UI audit and heuristic analysis was used to evaluate the existing mobile application. The goal was to assess visual consistency, information hierarchy, and the completeness of critical user flows.
UI Audit
Current Mobile Application
Evaluating visual consistency and clarity across the interface
Heuristic Analysis
Current Mobile Application
Key Insights
Lack of Visibility into System Status
Students could only see current attendance stats but had no visibility into how future absences would affect their eligibility. There was no clarity on remote session availability, requiring users to calculate and plan manually.
No Error Recovery for Hardware Failures
The app didn’t offer any fallback mechanism for failed biometric check-ins. Students couldn’t request corrections, and professors had no override controls, introducing avoidable friction in rare but impactful scenarios.
Identifying usability issues and missing functionality in essential flows
Lack of Visibility into System Status stood out as critical because it directly disrupted daily users' flow and demanded deeper investigation.
Among the insights from heuristic analysis, the absence of system status visibility stood out. It required deeper analysis to understand why it wasn’t implemented in the original design and whether it could be introduced in the new redesign. To investigate this, I modeled the workflows with UML diagrams.
Target Users
The Humans in the Automation Loop
The system’s value isn’t just in the automation but also in how it reduces friction for the people using it every day.
Classroom Connect is the interface through which professors and students interact with the Smart Classroom system, making it the core touchpoint for the user experience.
Rekha Ganitkar
The Professor
I need a reliable and efficient way to track classroom attendance, manage sessions, and reduce manual reporting. What matters most is clarity in the dashboard and quick access to student records.
Rohan Chhuttiwale
The Student
I just want quick access to my attendance stats and class updates. The app should be easy to navigate, with clear visuals that help me stay informed.
New Problem Space
Live Start/Stop Created Unnecessary Friction
In the current design, professors had to start each class session in real time through the app. This action activated the automated classroom systems and notified students that a class was starting. This meant:
- The Professors had to manually activate each class at the start time, adding an unnecessary administrative burden.
- If the students missed the class start notification, they missed the class entirely, with no way to preview how that absence would affect their attendance eligibility.
Goal
How Might We...
Enable professors and students to manage and track class sessions without relying on live-only activation, reducing missed attendance and improving visibility into schedules and eligibility.
