MClubs
Reimagining the club recruitment process for University of Michigan
Discipline
User Research, Product Design, Interaction Design, Product Thinking
Timeline
12 weeks (Jan'25-March'25)
Role
Project Manager & UI/UX Designer
Tools
Figma, Miro, Adobe Photoshop & Illustrator
Duration
Summary
The University of Michigan is home to over 1600+ student organizations. These organizations shape students' professional and social life at the school. Coming in as a freshman, who was unaware about the dynamic club culture at the U of M, I was left anxious and confused about the recruitment process since it was scattered via Instagram, festifall, or word of mouth and felt I lost out on the recruitment process because of it.
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The Problem: Though the U of M boasts to have the best student clubs, the recruitment process is not structured and leaves incoming students confused and anxious to apply to clubs and in turn lose out on the opportunities gained by joining these organizations.
Core Experiences
1. Find Clubs For You
The app is built to find your organization at U of M. The initial survey recommends clubs based on basic questions. Furthermore, the search bar and the filter option give more leeway to users to find clubs geared towards their interests, and most importantly doesn't bind them to their survey answers
2. Keep Track
Each club chooses its own calendar and communication channels during recruitment. The app allows users to add clubs to their schedules, which automatically adds all upcoming club events to their calendars. Additionally, the app features a chat function that helps streamline communication and reduce fragmentation. You can even use the platform after recruitment to stay connected with your club events!
3. Streamlined Applications & Communication
Each club has a distinct recruiting process facilitated through social media pages, which creates difficulties related to maintaining track of applications. Furthermore, students can save, apply to clubs and track the status of their application.
Discovery
Although I had identified areas for improvement in the club recruitment and engagement process, I wanted to gain a deeper understanding of how students across different clubs at the University of Michigan felt about their experiences.
I recruited a diverse group of interview participants based on their level of involvement in student organizations, ranging from first-time applicants to executive board members. This allowed me to identify patterns in the challenges they faced, ensuring that my insights were reflective of a wide range of club experiences.
Key Insights
1. Students Struggle with Club Recruitment Timing and Information Access
Students often miss crucial deadlines due to how overwhelming recruiting can become – deadlines, prompts, and other application data is scattered across various platforms
2. Application-Based Clubs Can Feel Exclusive & Unclear
"I struggled to manage multiple deadlines and interviews for finance and consulting clubs."
Due to the volume of applicants, feedback is not readily available which leads to student uncertainty on the reasoning behind not being admitted. Often, students feel that the processes favor club appeasement over demonstrating authentic passion
“I really wish these clubs provided me feedback since i dont truly understand where i went wrong - i answered questions correctly and showed that im very interested in Investing"
3. Transfer Students and Upperclassmen Face Unique Challenges
Transfer students feel excluded from the club recruiting process since there is an emphasis on Freshman applicants. Better access to clubs that recruit year-round and more transparency around potential opportunities would be valuable
"I transferred to michigan as a sophomore and didnt really have access to clubs since the recruiting was fully focused on Freshman.."
4. Club Discovery Methods Vary, but a Centralized Approach is Needed
Students are reliant on a combination of peers, social media, and various student-run sessions to discover clubs. However, a structured platform that allows direct filtration based on time-commitment, career objectives, and personal passions would be much more efficient.
“I mainly discovered the clubs i was interested in through my friends and a couple social media pages on Instagram that were recommended to me”
5. Students Want More Interactive and Personalized Recruitment Tools
Through a club recruitment app with features such as personalized recommendations, chat options with current members, and video introductions, the recruiting process would be much more engaging and accessible
“It would be cool to get a list of clubs that match my criteria/interests and the option to speak to members directly rather than harassing them on LinkedIn”
Solution
Based on my research and key insights, I concluded that a one-stop app was essential to streamline the club recruitment and engagement process. Many students struggled with discovering clubs, managing applications, and staying informed about events, often navigating multiple platforms with inconsistent information.
With this in mind, I designed a centralized platform that simplifies the entire experience—allowing users to explore organizations, track their applications, and stay updated on club events—all in one place. This solution ensures a more seamless, accessible, and efficient way for students to engage with campus organizations.
User Persona
Drawing from my interview data and key insights, I developed a primary persona that represents the ideal user of the app. I carefully mapped out her goals, pain points, and feature preferences, ensuring they align with real user needs. By highlighting her motivations and frustrations, I created a user-centric foundation that guided design decisions, optimizing the app to enhance the club recruitment and engagement experience.
User Journey Map
I created this User Journey Map to visualize the key stages that students go through when discovering and applying to clubs. By mapping goals, actions, thoughts, pain points, emotions, and touchpoints, I identified critical gaps in the current experience—such as scattered recruitment information, complex application processes, and lack of communication post-application. This analysis helped me define opportunities for improvement, leading to the development of a centralized, intuitive platform that streamlines club discovery, application tracking, and engagement.
Ideation & Prototyping
Step 1: To kick off the design process, I first identified the three main screens that would be essential for the app’s functionality: Home Page, Profile/Tracker, and Application Page. After defining these key screens, I created rough sketches to explore different layouts and interactions. Through this process, I iterated on my designs and ultimately finalized on a low-fidelity sketch
Step 2: After finalizing the key screens, I created a site map to outline the app’s structure and determine how many additional screens were needed. This helped me establish a clear navigation flow, ensuring that users could seamlessly move between the Home Page, Profile/Tracker, and Application Page, as well as access supporting features like club details, schedule, and messaging. Mapping out the site architecture allowed me to design a cohesive and intuitive user experience before moving into high-fidelity prototyping.
Step 3: Low-Fidelity Prototyping – With the site map finalized, I translated my sketches into six low-fidelity wireframes in Figma. These frames focused on the core layout and functionality of the Home Page, Profile/Tracker, Chat, Schedule, and Application Page, ensuring a logical flow between screens. By keeping the designs minimal at this stage, I was able to quickly test and refine the structure before adding visual details and interactions in the high-fidelity prototype.
Final Prototype
For the final prototype, I refined the design by incorporating UI elements, branding, and animations to create a seamless user experience. The prototype features a streamlined navigation system, ensuring users can effortlessly discover clubs, track applications, and manage their profiles in one place. With user feedback and iteration, I enhanced usability, making the app intuitive, visually engaging, and optimized for a smooth club recruitment experience.