Project summary 🗒️
OBJECTIVE
To work on and improve a student-run alternative to Northeastern University's existing course catalog
ROLE
Product Designer
RESPONSIBILITIES
I helped design new components that fit within our design system and redesign existing features while working closely with developers to ensure the smooth running of a community project.
Following the agile process, I worked closely with the team in regular meetings, including stand-ups and design critiques, to design and improve our features. This helped us to stay on track and make sure the features met our users needs and overall goals.
IMPACT
SearchNEU has been a valuable tool for Northeastern students, professors, and deans, with 7,000+ unique users each month. During busy times like course registration, site traffic increases to 11,000+ unique users. Its simple design and accessible features have made it a go-to resource, helping to make the course selection process easier and more efficient for everyone.
THE PROBLEM
How can we refresh SearchNEU’s UI and messaging to improve engagement while honoring its legacy?
EXPLORATIONS
Banners
As part of a larger software consultancy, we wanted to highlight our other projects alongside SearchNEU. One such project is GraduateNU, a companion tool that helps students create and organize a plan of study based on Northeastern’s graduation requirements.
To announce GraduateNU’s release, we placed a banner on the SearchNEU home screen. This ensured maximum visibility, making it easy for students to discover the tool and its benefits for course planning—all without disrupting their workflow.
EXPLORATIONS
Modals
Our team runs SearchNEU as a free service, but we’ve had trouble with funding. The popular seat notification feature, which helps students track course availability, costs money to run on Amazon Web Services (AWS). To keep it going, we needed to show university leaders how much SearchNEU helps students and ask for more funding. We asked users to fill out a Google form to share how SearchNEU has made a difference for them.
For SearchNEU, we use modals only for the most urgent messages, which it was in this case.
EXPLORATIONS
Toast Notifications
We also added a toast notification in the bottom corner of the screen to remind users to fill out the Google form. This notification was chosen for its subtle yet noticeable presence, ensuring the message was seen without disrupting their workflow or overwhelming the interface. For users who hadn’t completed the form yet, the toast served as a gentle reminder to keep it top of mind.
Putting it all together 🧩
Designing individual elements like modals, toasts, banners, and tooltip is important, but the real work is making sure that they all fit together in a cohesive way. Each element has to look good on its own, but also contribute to the bigger picture. By thinking about when and how each element should appear, I created a system that feels clear, helpful, and easy to use. Together, these pieces make the experience more seamless and enjoyable for the user.
Updating SearchNEU's UI 🛠️
Along with making new UI elements, we also looked for ways to update existing parts of the website. One such thing that we tackled was the sidebar. The main goal of redesigning the sidebar was to enhance overall user experience by improving navigation efficiency and content accessibility.
Testimonials 💥
SearchNEU has become a pillar of Northeastern's community, an essential tool to ensure that people get the classes that they need. Although it started as a tool for students, our users have grown to reach Northeastern faculty, which has been really gratifying to witness.
