TL;DR
I created a rapid prototype for the OU Math Center Kiosk to address pain points I noticed as a Front Desk Assistant, using first-hand observation and general design judgment to fix the issues I saw and provide general UI updates.
Intro
At the time this rapid prototype was created, I had been working at the OU Math Center for about 2 years as a Front Desk Assistant. Users (students, employees, and faculty) sign in on an iPad at one of 3 Front Desks upon entry and sign out upon leaving. Noticing pain points for some students, I used first-hand observation and general design judgment to create a rapid prototype in Claude that addresses the issues I saw and provides general UI updates.
Problems
I noticed that students were getting confused about how to sign out/check out when leaving the Math Center, as the button on the start page only says “Get Started.” A smaller issue was students getting lost finding the room for their math class.
Before
After
Other Decisions
I also changed the employee label, which currently reads “Tutor Check-In (Not a Course)” even though both Front Desk Assistants and Tutors use it, a pain point for new Front Desk Assistants.
I included some other features behind an admin panel accessible via a secert code which houses custom messages, an hours display, and snow effects. The ID was inspired by the Konami Code (up, up, down, down, left, right, left, right), since I love a good Easter egg and figured I'd go with the most iconic one.
The custom messages spread good vibes around finals (“Good luck with finals!”) and holiday cheer (“Happy Holidays!”), though they could just as easily announce an early closure. The hours display gives students a general idea of our hours and a gentle reminder if they come in with 10 minutes left in the day. The snow toggle was added at my friend's request, another way to spread some holiday cheer.
Status
The Math Center Director and Associate Director both liked it, and it's currently making its way up the chain at OU. With around 24,000 visits to the Math Center during the 25/26 school year, the redesign would smooth that check-in flow for a large number of students once implemented.
Takeaways
This project was a great opportunity to practice rapid prototyping and apply design principles to a real-world problem, and I learned a lot about using Claude to build a prototype along the way. A big takeaway: shipping AI-generated code isn't right for every project, but it's a great way to get started on prototypes and personal work. I also learned that I enjoy deciding what gets made more than actually making it; there's plenty I left out of this project that I would have liked to include.
