Case Study  GetHelp!

1 Usability vs Aesthetics.

First, user interface is greatly important for software engineering since this is the main part to connect users and our apps. A good user interface does not mean colourful or complex, it should be very clear and user friendly. The biggest problem of this GetHelp app is the main page. Too many options and confuse user a lot. I really don`t know what to do first.  And the overview page,  I think user should see some popular or related posts in their main page. This is really similar to my first assignment: Eureka~

May be the color of the buttons should change to consistent to facebook color theme. Another problem is the new project button. It is not very easy to find it and it may not need to appear in every page. 

So I think some features need to remove from the main page. Make sure user can easy get what they want and they know what they are doing. 

2 Number of options / freedom given to user when posting a need.

I think the problem is still too many fields to fill. It should only show the most important and required fields and hide other fields to a more info option. For me, the most important fields are only deadline and topic like: "can someone help me finish the final assignment by tomorrow?"  And the people options may be too complex, I think only post to all / post to friends is ok.

3 Cycle of interaction & incentives (Are the elements of the app engaging?)

I think the main method of incentives is the statics. People may be happy seeing their ranking up when they help others or post helps. But this may not work. As we thought in Eureka, we thought if someone ask and answer questions, there will be more people ask and answer. Also a ranking system may engage them. But there may exist many ways to achieve the same stuffs like google, baidu. We need something they don`t have. I think we must focus on only small point first. It is hard to be very general at first. We need some user base from this small group then extend the functions using this small group people to engage more people. So my suggestion is to focus first like only in NUS. I know one example is an app developed by students in top University of China called "Xue Zhang Bang Bang Mang". It is about some junior sister can ask question and senior brother can help them. And this is rally popular in SOC since I have the same experience...

4 Other problems you think 

In this kind of app, I think the matching is also quite important. How can a user`s problem to be solved  efficiently. It must appear in the feeds of people who can solve it or who can easily search it. Some string parse and natural language processing and also a search engine should be done to support it.  Only the product can really help people solve problem will become popular.