UCI students rely on WebReg to build their class schedules, but the existing interface presents too many input fields at once, overwhelming users, especially those unfamiliar with the system. Our target user was a student who felt stressed and inefficient when searching for courses. The goal was to improve clarity, reduce cognitive load, and modernize the interface while preserving the university’s visual identity
I served as a UX designer and researcher on this project, leading user story creation and task flow redesign, and contributing to expert review, wireframes, and the final prototype. The project was completed over the course of the quarter in a collaborative team setting.
Designing for a system students already depend on meant balancing improvement with familiarity. We had to simplify the experience without removing important functionality, and ensure that changes helped both novice and advanced users. Translating abstract usability principles into concrete design decisions, like when to hide or reveal filters, required a lot of careful judgment and iteration before we got it right.
I began by crafting a focused user story centered on student frustration and cognitive overload, which guided all design decisions. I then redesigned the task flow, reducing multiple scattered inputs into a single search bar supported by optional advanced filters. I contributed to usability evaluations using established heuristics, helped identify key points of issues, and worked with the team to translate findings into wireframes, mockups, and a fully interactive Figma prototype. Below is some of my work.
User Story
“As a UC Irvine student, I want a simplified and visually clear way to search and compare class times so that I can easily build my schedule without feeling overwhelmed by cluttered input fields.”
Task Flows
Existing Task Flow
Open Schedule of Classes.
Enter multiple input fields (course code, department, section).
Scroll through a long search results list.
Manually compare times across results.
Manually navigates to new tabs to search for prerequisites.
Redesigned Task Flow (Proposed)
Open Schedule of Classes.
Enter the course name/keyword in a single search bar.
Use advanced filters (e.g., by day/time, instructor) to refine results if needed/wanted.
View the schedule list, which displays available times along with additional information (instructor, time, location, etc.).
Our findings showed that the original system placed unnecessary cognitive load on users by presenting too many choices upfront and requiring users to remember information across multiple pages. Through expert review and heuristic analysis, we identified issues related to user control, error prevention, and short-term memory load. The redesigned interface addressed these problems by prioritizing a single search entry point, providing clearer error feedback, and displaying relevant course information (like time, instructor, and prerequisites) in one place. Overall, the redesign demonstrated how small structural and visual changes can significantly improve usability, efficiency, and user confidence without sacrificing functionality.
