OASIS

RC
Mar 20, 2023
4 min read

Updated: Apr 21, 2023

Oasis is an innovative solution for Chinese international students who are coming to the United States for the first time. The app provides a comprehensive guide for all the essential aspects of adapting to a new place, including documents to prepare, airport arrival, housing rental, and driving license. The app simplifies the process of adapting to a new environment and provides peace of mind in an unfamiliar place. With Oasis, international students can feel less overwhelmed and more confident as they navigate their way through a new country.

In this group project, I major in design research and visual design, as well as UI prototyping. And I take a role as the brand designer and video director.

Research

[Secondary Research]

We do secondary research to understand the situation of international students: According to the Insitute of International Education, 2023, there were 948,519 international students in the United States in the 2021/22 year. The United States has historically been a top destination for students, driven by opportunities for research, professional advancement, and sociocultural engagement. In Statista, 2023, 30.6% of international students come from China, who are regularly paying full tuition rates, international students generate significant funds that lower the cost of attendance for domestic students: they generate over 15 billion in economic contributions per year (Forbes, 2022).

However, life is not easy for them, Chinese students are facing problems, such as social isolation, culture shock, language barrier, and emotional difficulties.

[Competitor Analysis]

With these data on International students, we also research some applications and productions in the current market.

Uhome

Uhome is a Chinese application with an intermediary agent that serves Chinese international students to rent apartments and live in oversea countries.

For the Pros of Uhome:

Provide live stream/ video tour/ and VR camera on the homepage
Consulting service
Provides some benefit gifts for students.

But Uhome has some Cons:

Initial purpose is still making money but not the international students.
Pay an extra agent fee
Low housing resources - low selectivity for students
Bad service in reality

Zillow

"Live View" function in Google Map

[Primary Research]

We did the Online Ethnography with the research question:

How do international students adapt to living in the United States, and how can Oasis help to facilitate this process?

We put our target participants as Chinese international students who have recently moved to the United States or are planning to move shortly. They were recruited through social media platforms, student forums, and university groups. For Social Media platforms, we went to major social media platforms, online forums, and online communities in China to gather and explore information. We generate insights and recommendations for the development of the Oasis app to better meet the needs and preferences of international students. Through the research, we gained these five insights:

Therefore, we got our "How Might We" question:

How might we find a way to help international students to relocate?

Persona

Based on these research data, we design a character called Lili Li, who is aged 18 and comes from Shanghai, China. She is shy and Social Phobia, being afraid of conversation.

Professional characteristic: Lili is a Student. Having graduated from a Chinese Senior High school a few months ago. She got an offer from a BFA Service Design at SCAD. Lili has basic English Listening, Reading & Writing abilities. (IELTS: 7/7.5/6.5/5.5) Lili is not good at Communication and lacks English communication skills.

Tasks: Sept.6 is SCAD orientation, and Lili needs to arrive in Savannah on Sept.5.

Also, Lili needs to find a house, get the furniture, get the local SIM card, get the debit card, and get transportation. Then register/check-in at the SCAD student center.

For Lili's goal, she will solve these relocated problems without difficulties. And adapt to American life as soon as possible. For her trip, Lili will meet the airport and custom staff, the airport pick-up Service (Driver), the landlord, the banking staff, the car/ bike store owner, and the SCAD staff. And Lili will meet some difficulties: she has no idea about customs and transfer, her time management for transferring flights, how to deal with house renting (sign the contract), how to move the furniture. Besides, Lili has no idea about the process of getting a credit/debit card, SIM card, purchasing a car/bike/getting a driving license.

Journey Map

With the persona of Lili, we mapped her journey in relocate America.

Scenario

For Lili's scenario, we design two parts: locate and airport.

Scenario: airport

What do you need to do? (Objective) Why?

I need to know in the airport, what’s the next step I should follow & where should I go next. I need to pass all the processes smoothly and never miss the next flight when I’m transferring.

On Whom does it depend?

other passengers
navigation staff
customer service desk
security check staff
custom administrator

Who can do it?

International students come to the United States first time and land at the airport.

Who benefits from it?

International students

It depends on...

users’ familiarity with US airports and the process
language
the number of passengers
communication

What does it manipulate on transform?

users aren’t familiar so they are easily lost the in airport
users need to wait in a long line so they may miss the flight
users are afraid of asking for help

How is it done?

Reach the terminal after getting off the plane
- encounter scam car and lose a lot of money
Reach the departure in the airport of next flight
- have no idea how to get a boarding card
- the line of security check is too long to pass before boarding time
- look for the customer service desk to change the flight
- be upset with the impatient staff at the service desk
- the next flight is tomorrow so that need to rest for a night
- look for a taxi to the hotel

What can/should change?

provide users with a detailed guidebook of the specific airport in the US, including the location, internal route, facilities, required documents, etc.
Provide users with AR ability to get real-time directions in the airport
provide users with real-time alarm when they approach scam cars or bad guys
provide users with vocabulary for airport situations and also common language skills or small tips
provide users the opportunity to find nearby peers (other international students) and meet with each other
provide emotional support to users, like a notification card with some encouraging words on it

What can go wrong?

lack of guidance
lack of effective communication

How do I know if it went right or wrong?

users miss the next flight
users are frightened by bad guys
users are upset by impatient staff
users leave an awkward impression on this new place, and feel fearful, stressful, frustrated...

How else could it be done?

With our product or service, users can:
- improve self confidence and sense of security
- make it easier to find a place in the airport
- make it easier to talk to foreign strangers
- meet with peers and travel together
- no longer miss the flight
- no longer forget to bring a certain required document
- no longer cheated by bad guys
- pass all the processes smoothly

Scenario: locate

Prototype

We did our information architecture.

Based on these functions, we made a series of the low-fi prototype.

[Usability Test]

We invited six participants to do our usability test, and each test last for 1-1.5 hours.

Usability Test Script

Hello, Oasis is an app designed specifically for international students who are new to the United States, aimed at helping them quickly adapt to life in the country.

Next, I will give you five scenarios. Please read the prompt out loud and tell me what you would do in each situation. Thank you.

Scenario 1: You have arrived at JFK airport in New York and need to transfer to Savannah airport.

You are lost in the airport and need to find the security checkpoint.
You want to find other international students who are traveling in the same direction as you.

Scenario 2: You have two months before starting school in the United States and are planning to rent a house.

You want to find a two-bedroom, two-bathroom apartment to share with a roommate, with a budget of no more than $1000 per person, and a washing machine in the city center.

Scenario 3: You are leaving for the United States in a week and want to check the information about the airport arrival.

Scenario 4: You have been in Savannah for a while and find that public transportation is not very convenient, so you decide to get a driver's license and buy a car.

Learn about the process.
Learn how to drive.
Purchase a car.

Scenario 5: You are under a lot of academic pressure and want to engage in some leisure activities.

Choose a movie.
Find a nearby movie theater.

[Affinity Map]

Based on the data from these six participants, we collect their data and concisely to the series of yellow sticky notes.

We categorize yellow notes into 5 code lists:

I am confused about...
I can't find it...
I want...
I don't like
UI Issues

And make them transfer to the blue sticky notes:

Then we keep essential information and change it into pink sticky notes...

And we generate our insights into the green sticky notes:

And finally, we generate design decisions based on the insights...

Based on the user test result, we deleted some functions and adjust the prototypes.

Brand & Visual Design

[Visual Design]

To decide on our brand, we need to confirm our color palette. Based on the participants' suggestions during the usability test, we got some keywords about the impression of our application: