DI: What is the main principle, idea and inspiration behind your design?
AK : We wanted to create a one-stop platform for students all the way to study abroad. The platform aims to simplify the world of education through technology. The mobile app empowers students to make more informed decisions when shaping their educational path.
DI: What has been your main focus in designing this work? Especially what did you want to achieve?
AK : We want to make applicants' and students' experiences around the world better with an improved user experience. After all the studies, we have been thinking about how to make the process of searching and applying productive, fast, and simple. We have designed a functional, fast and intelligent document selection and submission tool, communicating with a counselor that provides support and quick solutions. An intuitive experience designed to motivate students in choosing the right university.
DI: What are your future plans for this award winning design?
AK : In the future, we plan to continue developing the app to help users find, compare, and select universities, courses, and scholarships that are a better fit for them. The current version of the app has been designed to help users find universities around the world, research them, learn more, view admissions requirements, and communicate with admissions officers and advisors. Users can collect required documents and create an application for admission, all through the app. But it still needs more effort to achieve its goal of creating a better experience.
DI: Where there any other designs and/or designers that helped the influence the design of your work?
AK : None. At the time the application was developed, no such application or solution existed in fact. As for the UI part, I used Dribbble to find inspiration in the style. But there was also a lot of work and sense behind this stage.
DI: Who is the target customer for his design?
AK : The client already had a user base of schoolchildren, applicants, and students. We had access to various data, such as age, gender, financial situation, and location. We used all of these data to create an app that would help current users migrate to the new platform as well as attract new users.
DI: What sets this design apart from other similar or resembling concepts?
AK : Everything from the design to the user experience which is simple and successful at 89%.
DI: How did you come up with the name for this design? What does it mean?
AK : We had many alternatives for the name, however, the crew selected a choice that is straightforward to remember, simple, and short, it describes the feature of the application in detail.
DI: Which design tools did you use when you were working on this project?
AK : I use sites like Dribbble and Behance to inspire me. They allow me to create collections and mood boards that are useful for my creative process. Sketch, Invision, and Miro are my main tools. They are also used to test the performance of my prototypes. Usertesting.com is another tool that I use to check the correctness of my designs.
DI: What is the most unique aspect of your design?
AK : It is a flexible platform and a reliable guide throughout the study period. It is a web service that allows you to search for universities, colleges, scholarships, and study programs. It provides details on admission criteria and continuous help from advisors throughout the application process. The goal is to allow applicants to search for the degree programs they want and learn about all the requirements. Students can submit an application and receive help from an advisor via mobile & tablet apps. IOS & Android platforms for students: Undergraduate, Postgraduate, Doctoral.
DI: Is your design influenced by data or analytical research in any way? What kind of research did you conduct for making this design?
AK : After conducting a thorough analysis, I identified the main features that are most important to the users of the app. These included the ability to navigate through the app easily and the micro-interactions that the users have with it. To improve the app, I conducted market research to find the factors that will help launch it.
We conducted interviews with people who already use educational apps. We also tested various usability concepts and prototypes through Usertesting.com.
DI: What are some of the challenges you faced during the design/realization of your concept?
AK : Our goal is to create mobile & tablet applications based on the existing web application. The app will help applicants to search for universities, colleges, and scholarships, browse courses and learn all the conditions of study and criteria for admission as they already do when using the web application. Detailed settings are sometimes difficult to display well in a mobile application so that they are convenient and intuitive, and do not take up multiple screens. We have developed a simplified Country Choice. You can easily find the best university by using easy settings and preferences.
DI: How did you decide to submit your design to an international design competition?
AK : I wished to share my style with a broader audience, and hopefully, it will inspire alternative designers in their work. As a designer, I perceive however vital it's to invariably get exposed to contemporary inspirations. I actually have benefited tons from other designers' wonderful work and it' time on behalf of me to present back to the community.
DI: What did you learn or how did you improve yourself during the designing of this work?
AK : I learn most each on conceptualizing a project and therefore the technical skills as a designer.