Reroute
Transforming design learning for Architecture students
How might we adapt as per the changing design landscape and bridge the gap between the profession and design education?
The design industry is undergoing a seismic shift worldwide due to technological integration. Traditional design curriculums are not adaptive enough to focus on the changing landscape. Reroute will provide an interactive and collaborative environment to bridge the gap between experts, working professionals, and students.
Role: Research, Content and UX
Completed: February 2021
The Challenge
Create image and structure in 8 months
Our team’s aim was to build and launch a seamless platform to connect experts, professionals, and design students. Our ambitions were to create a strong foundation that embraced a rapidly evolving business and a more diverse user base.
Our goals were to:
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Make the platform fast and easy to use for everyone, everywhere.
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Encourage support and promote self-growth.
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Inspire innovation and deeper engagement.
My Role
I collaborated with the founders of Design Cult Collaborative to ideate and create a brand vision and product strategies. I was responsible for the research, interaction design, branding, content writing, and coordination with the front‑end development of web-based applications. To achieve this, I worked along with Researchers, Web Developers, and Event Managers.
The Approach
First, understand the design education and industry
The design industry is no longer restricted in the traditional parameters, now it is aligned with the benefits of the people in diverse industries. It also becomes an integral tool for solving business problems in every industry due to the rapid growth of digitization. In addition, it is gaining popularity as a discipline as it is shaping lifestyles. In India, the demand for designers has shot up in diverse fields, but there are not enough professionals that can keep up with the demand. The idea is to deploy technology to promote connections between experts and professionals from different backgrounds and aspiring designers who want to contribute to the digital present and future.
Demand of designers
Experts stated by 2020, the potential market for design in India is expected to be Rs 188.32 billion. The number of designers required by 2020 in India’s industrial, graphic, communication, packaging, and other design domains is potentially 62,000. There are around 7,000 qualified designers in India with perhaps 5,000 studying design.
There are around 60 design schools in India and 10% of students get admission which also reduces when students move from bachelor’s to master’s level. Moreover, 78% of students who enrolled for master’s degrees are from non-design backgrounds.
Reroute will support designers in these ever-changing times for networking, finding learning & work opportunities, and collaborating within or beyond the field of design. The primary user base was defined to include aspiring designers (20-30 age group), as it is an important phase for a designer to develop skills, explore the field, and make connections.
Understanding the users
Persona
Deeper Insights
User's scenario
The following diagrams illustrate the existing opportunities for the design student community and what Reroute could offer to fulfill their needs and accentuate the learning process.
While the present college curriculums facilitate the growth of students majorly through group work and class exercises, Reroute offers opportunities for pragmatic development by exposing them to the market scenario and enabling them to learn from the journeys of practitioners.
Reroute would support students in developing relationships with mentors and understanding aspects of creation and formulation so that they continue to benefit from diverse learning processes after graduation.
Building upon the idea of establishing professional connections, Reroute would offer a medium to the student community to gain field insights and organize personal discussions with experts/mentors.
Key Design Approach
A major aspect of design education is learning from one’s context by observing people. Thus, it is imperative to offer design students opportunities for engagement and allow the free flow of creativity. The following points shaped our design approach:
Students adapt quickly.
Students are passionate about their goals.
Design students like to engage in a process-oriented approach and derive the resultant.
Students love to work for society and humanity at large.
Students look for opportunities and mediums to channelize their thoughts
Information Architecture
User Flow on App
The user flow is designed in a way that caters to diverse requirements by enabling the user to explore learning opportunities and engage with the community through interaction with experts, professionals and peers.
Solution
Onboarding & content
The platform onboards the user via a simple login/signup process, and then leads the user to a personalized library on the home page with suggestions of courses, lectures, joining groups, or workshops categorized as per popularity and relevance. The user can save articles and courses for later and also view their history. Additionally, the search section allows the user to explore specific content.
Connect with like-minded people
Facilitating interaction and establishing connections is the key goal of Reroute. The chat section enables the user to view group and individual chats separately. The platform also assists the user by suggesting them to join relevant groups based on the interests and inclination listed on their profile.
Learnings: What did we learn?
Understand the relationship between business and product design
As the brainchild of my firm, Reroute enabled me to lead business planning and strategy making in terms of investments and projected returns. The startup process was challenging but rewarding as worked towards designing a product that was both useful and marketable. As a result, the role business planning plays in the design of a product is one of the major lessons from this project, and it will support me as I pursue my upcoming ventures.
Building the team
Building a team for this product was a unique challenge as it started with understanding the existing core team and their abilities. Further, we hired people with the requisite skill set that was lacking in the core team. It was essential to ensure that the project team consisted of diverse team members ready to take up different responsibilities to work towards a shared goal. As I learned more of the individual traits of the team members, I was able to manage the team efficiently and get better results.
