D.I.S.C.O. Design Jam

A semester-long internship completed at the University of Pittsburgh in the Spring of 2025.

What is the D.I.S.C.O.?

The D.I.S.C.O. is an acronym referencing the purpose of the design jam; our toolkit aims to help people experience. D.I.S.C.O. stands for:

Design an Inclusive Spaceship Collaborative Operation

The workshop was originally inspired by the "Design a Spaceship" essay from Uncanny Magazine. It’s a project co-created by Dr. Jessica FitzPatrick and DNID alum Lynn Priestley and backed by the University of Pittsburgh’s Digital Narrative and Interactive Design program and Digital Media Lab.

My Role

Web Developer, co-UX Designer, UX Researcher

Skills

  • Web Development

  • UX Design

  • UX Research

  • Prototyping

Toolkit

  • HTML/CSS

  • JavaScript

  • Figma

Phase I: Prototyping

Before beginning the development of the website, I assisted our accessibility coordinator in creating our prototype for the website for web, mobile, and tablet devices. Using the color palette created by our Print Layout and Design Editor, Karlynn Ricitelli, we prioritized creating an accessible visual experience for our visitors.

Color Palette

Color palette chart with two rows and eight columns, each cell labeled with a letter and a hex color code, displaying various shades from black to cream, including shades of blue, purple, orange, and white.

Prototype

Phase II: Usability Testing

Using Google Forms and usability testing methods such as the System Usability Scale (SUS), I conducted a usability testing session with 9 of my peers to understand where there were design flaws, how simple the design was to navigate, and where users were looking as they were navigating the website.

Feedback

Situational Questions

For the most part, the design was easy to follow. Before the usability testing, a change was made to the name of a page. The “Leaders” page was previously named “Facilitators”. Users found this name to be misleading about the content on the page, and that it was unnecessarily long; a name such as “Leaders” would be more suitable.

Design Questions

In this section of the form, I was primarily looking for design feedback. I was looking to gauge any design flaws/inconsistencies and emotions of what users felt when looking at the site.

Users expressed that margins were inconsistent, and image layouts could be more consistent. Using this feedback, I applied the appropriate margins and created a more visually appealing image layout as well.

System Usability Scale (SUS)

Using five questions from the System Usability Scale, I wanted to understand what users were feeling while navigating through the prototype to create a simpler and more user-friendly experience for users. The scale ranges from 1 (strongly disagree) to 5 (strongly agree)

Bar chart titled 'I found the system very cumbersome to use' showing 9 responses with four bars: 1 response at rating 1, 4 responses at rating 2, 3 responses at rating 3, 1 response at rating 4, and 0 at rating 5.
A bar chart displaying responses to the statement 'I needed to learn a lot of things before I could get going with this website.' The chart shows 9 responses, with the highest number (4 responses) selecting '1,' followed by 3 responses selecting '2,' and 1 response each for '3' and '4.' No responses selected '5.'
Bar chart titled 'I found the system unnecessarily complex.' displaying responses with counts and percentages: '1' with 5 responses (55.6%), '2' with 1 response (11.1%), '3' with 3 responses (33.3%), and '4' and '5' with 0 responses.
Bar chart showing responses to the statement 'I felt confident navigating through this website.' with 0 responses for ratings 1 and 2, 3 responses for rating 3, 5 responses for rating 4, and 1 response for rating 5.
Survey chart with the question, "I think I would need the support of a technical person to use this website," showing 9 responses. Five responses rated 1, three rated 2, one rated 4, and none rated 3 or 5.

Phase III: Website Development

After tweaks were made to the high-fidelity prototype based on user feedback, I began the development of the D.I.S.C.O. Design a Spaceship website using HTML/CSS and a bit of JavaScript.

The website is live at: https://discodesignjam.com/

Screenshot of the D.I.S.C.O. spaceship design project website homepage with logo, navigation menu, and a spaceship icon in the center.

Limitations & Key Takeaways

  • Conducting user research was tough, trying to find an appropriate time for myself and participants due to conflicting schedules within a week-long period.

  • Feedback given by users opened up my perspective to show how certain language can affect the user’s experience.

  • Iterating with users showed that less can be more when improving a user’s focus on tasks.