Michael Experience Design
Case study 011 · UCLA Smart Recommendations

AI personalization for every student

Industry
Education
Role
Experience Design Lead
Company
UCLA
Year
2017–2018
A student studying a large yellow architecture exhibition wall in a bright gallery
01 / Challenge

Personalized guidance from first class to first job

Streaming apps personalize everything, but education lagged behind. Students needed timely recommendations matched to their own path.

UCLA Graduate Education funding search shown on a laptop
Fig. 01 — Graduate funding search with personalized recommendations
02 / Process
  1. 01ResearchSurveys, interviews and workshops with students and staff.
  2. 02Information architectureA sitemap and data diagram to validate personas.
  3. 03Design auditA coded design system of new and existing components.
  4. 04PrototypeHigh-fidelity prototypes handed off to development.
A student working at a laptop in a design studioPortrait of a student in front of a colorful painted wall
Fig. 02 — Designing for graduate students across every discipline
UCLA wordmark graphicHow it works: 1 Sign in, 2 Explore, 3 Learn$1M+ in funding available across areas of study
Fig. 03 — Supporting graphics: how Smart Recommendations works
03 / Outcome

The personalization of streaming, brought to academics.

Because it’s open source, other schools can adopt and adapt it.