NID Connect

As a student, I found the amount happening in college overwhelming. Assignments, submissions, attendance and events were all shared through different channels: WhatsApp groups, email, posters and announcements in class. If I missed one message, I missed the deadline.

Attendance was the worst part. We didn't know how many days we had missed until it was too late, and some of us ended up below the limit without realising it. I wanted one college app where every update arrives in one place. That became NID Connect.

I wanted to know whether students actually wanted a college app, which features mattered most, and how they keep up with updates, deadlines and attendance today.

A survey in class

I visited my juniors' class and asked whether they would want one college app for all their updates. 42 of 50 students (84%) said yes. I asked the eight who said no why, and they told me:

• "We can manage things on our own."
• "Most of the time, I find out about things from my friends."
• "Seeing how many days I have been absent would make me anxious."

Those answers shaped the design as much as the yes votes did. The app had to be quicker than asking a friend, and it had to show attendance without making anyone anxious.

Features from students

The 42 who said yes suggested 11 features one by one: suggestion box, queries, module timetable, other courses' classes, events, notices, lost and found, fee notices, leave application to the HOD, submissions and attendance. I added 18 more that a college app usually needs, for 29 in total.

Two proto-personas

Two fictional proto-personas, based on the survey answers, stand for the two groups:

• Aarav, 22, first-year M.Des Interaction Design: "I'm in 15 WhatsApp groups. Important stuff just gets lost." Wants never to miss a submission.
• Meera, 24, second-year M.Des Information Design: "I can manage things myself. I just ask my friends." Gets anxious about attendance numbers and wants a calm app.

Meera stands for the students who said no, so I kept her in mind as much as Aarav.

How might we

• How might we bring all college updates into one place?
• How might we make sure no student misses a deadline?
• How might we help students track attendance without making them anxious?

Must, should, could

I sorted the 29 features with the MoSCoW method:

• Must have (10): notices, smart reminders, module timetable, submissions, attendance, academic calendar, jury and review schedule, events, fee notices, leave application.
• Should have (8): queries, results, resources, faculty directory, emergency contacts, studio and lab booking, other courses' classes, electives.
• Could have (10): suggestion box, lost and found, library, cafeteria menu, campus map, clubs, exhibitions and guest lectures, internships, portfolio showcase, document requests.
• Won't have (1): a material marketplace, left for a later version.

Every must-have deals with one of the problems from the research.

Information architecture

A one-time sign-in flow, then five tabs: Home, Academics, Updates, Services and Profile. Campus life and career features sit inside Services, so the bottom bar stays at five tabs.

Grayscale wireframes turned each step of the flows into a screen. They were built from seven reusable components, so I could change the layout quickly.

Why black and white

The NID logo is black and white, so the app is too. I first designed it in indigo and orange, then switched to match NID's identity. Black is for actions and emphasis, greys for surfaces. Red appears only for deadlines and alerts, and green only for things that are done. Because the rest of the app has no colour, a deadline stands out at once.

Onboarding and sign-in

Splash, three onboarding screens, sign in with an NID email, OTP verification, profile setup (campus, programme, discipline and year) and reminder setup. You sign in once.

Accessibility

I checked every colour pair against WCAG AA (4.5:1 for text). Four pairs failed, so I darkened the grey, red and green until all of them passed. I also made the back and bell buttons 44 × 44 px for easier tapping, and the "off" switch dark grey so it doesn't rely on colour alone.

Expert review

A heuristic review against Nielsen's 10 usability heuristics found 7 issues, and I fixed all of them:

• Error states for a wrong OTP or a non-NID email
• An undo option after "Mark as submitted"
• A booking confirmation screen
• One "My requests" screen
• A log-out confirmation
• A Campus row in Settings
• A clearer "Book a space" label