Metaphor
A design language built from the ground up to ensure all web apps maintain consistency with CSU Northridge (CSUN) branding and identity standards.
Product Owner · Product Designer · Front End Developer · Mentor
Clients
- META+LAB
- Academic Affairs
- CSU Northridge
Challenge
CSUN has a suite of products all designed and developed by different organizations across the university. A major problem facing all products was the continued re-development of interface elements and a lack of branding consistency. Our challenge was to create a design language that could streamline the experience for users as well as unify product teams across multiple product lines.
Faculty Profiles
Provides CSUN faculty members with a professional and customizable web presence to enhance communication and collaboration among professors, and researchers.
Upper Division Writing Proficiency Exam
Commissioned by the Department of Undergraduate Studies, this product allows CSUN students to take the Upper Division Writing Proficiency Exam electronically.
Electronic Thesis & Dissertation
Allows graduate students to submit their thesis and dissertations electronically. It creates an end-to-end online workflow for the creation and approval of a master’s thesis, eliminating the need for paper submissions and manual routing.
Ask Matty
Ask Matty is a chat bot resource dedicated to answering questions about enrollment, clubs, organizations and other frequently asked campus questions.
Electronic Assessment System
Allows students to submit copies of their assignments for future course, program, and University assessment, which helps the university meet student learning objectives.
Research
Our largest user demographic was college students from the ages of 18-24, which made up 43.7% of our total active users. We conducted a small user study and learned that in addition to a lack of cohesive design, which was making our users frustrated, we also needed to address a sub par mobile experience which was becoming a major pain point for our users.
18-24
Target Market Age
43.7%
% of Total Users
“It's frustrating. I really wish I could use my phone to quickly checkout information, but it's almost impossible to use on my phone”.
Rahil Hashim
Sociology Major
“There isn’t much aesthetic consistency. I'm always concerned if they're all official applications because they look so different”.
Jasmine Beeman
Graphic Design Major
“Honestly, the worst part is not having access to any of these resources on the go”.
Edgar Limon
Business Administration Major
Approach
1. Branding & Identity
We wanted the experience to be seamless across all our products, so we focused heavily on reinforcing campus branding.
2. Mobile Responsive
We architected everything from the ground up to transform the mobile & desktop user experience.
3. UI Components
We crafted every component to have enough flexibility to be reusable, but also gave each product its own uniqueness.
That’s All Folks.Let’s Chat!
Hi! I'm Alex Hernandez, a designer based in Los Angeles, CA. I enjoy collaborating with brands of any size that have passion and purpose.
Product Designer · Front End Developer · Entrepreneur