18 - 4 - 2026
Sawyer Miller
MSOE Dining Experience
This is a project written for my graphic design class. The goal was to take these interviews and personas turn them into a concept of a working app for our school to fix people's gripes with the current cafeteria expereince.
This was also a good excercise in patience and working on things more then you'd have liked. I found out the first time that I focused way too much on the logical side of the 'program' and redid it, this time applying Maslow's Hierarchy of Needs strategically, a concept we've learned about in our 'Pyschology of Design' class.
Problem
Students were frustrated with the MSOE cafeteria experience such as long wait times, unknown menu options, and a lack of dietary infos which made dining a pain point across the campus
Role
As a solo designer I conducted user research, put interview data into personas, built wireframes, and made changes to build on the full UI from concept to high-fidelity prototype in Figma
Process
Started with user interviews and personas, then built a first wireframe that leaned too heavily on the engineering side. Then after reflecting on Maslow's Hierarchy of Needs from our Psychology class, I scrapped the first attempt and redesigned the experience around students core needs, like ease of access and clear information
Outcome
Delivered a polished Figma prototype that addressed the real frustrations surfaced in research, and learned a hard lesson about the value of iteration which is that sometimes you have to throw out work you like to make something that actually works for users or the project guidelines
Attempt One
Attempt Two
18 - 4 - 2026
Sawyer Miller
Creddit - building a better financial future for young adults
This was a prototype made for my 'Human Center Design' class. Noticing a worry among ourselves and other peers about the future of the housing and job market, not to mention the economy in general, we decided to create an app that would help young adults learn about personal finance in a fun and social-media like way.
A cool thing about this project was it was done in a team setting. Each member of the team brought to the table, so to speak, new ideas for features, new findings from research, and perspectives on the project as a whole.
Problem
Young adults feel overwhelmed and anxious about personal finance. The housing market, student loans, and a volatile economy leave many without the knowledge or confidence to build a secure financial future
Role
Team member in a collaborative design group. Contributed research findings, feature ideation, and hands-on prototyping in Figma. Helped shape the app's educational content strategy and social-media-inspired UX patterns
Process
We followed a human-centered design approach (handy because of the class name haha) - data and analysis of research showed the core worries, which we put into into a persona on our Miro board. From there we ideated features - finance information, progress tracking, and a social feed for accountability, then built and tested an interactive Figma prototype after a few rounds of peer feedback on a previous PowerPoint prototype. The PowerPoint was also an excerise in patience, as it is defenitely not a design tool
Outcome
Produced a fully interactive Figma prototype that reframes personal finance as approachable rather than scary - pairing short educational content with social engagement mechanics so young adults can learn, track progress and also motivate each other
Here's our research, personas, and the whole shebang of the behind-the-scenes...
Link to Live Figma prototype...
GitHub
My Projects
