Semesterise
Interactive Biome Display is a mobile application that allows users to paste product links and preview those products in immersive biomes. The app enhances product discovery by blending nature-inspired environments with intuitive mobile interaction.
Overview
At Ashesi University, Ghana, one of Africa’s leading liberal arts institutions, students and staff were navigating academic workflows that hadn’t evolved with their needs. From petitioning course substitutions to requesting graduation audits, critical tasks were slowed down by Manual paperwork, Ambiguous approval paths, Lack of status visibility, It wasn’t just inconvenient. It was inefficient, anxiety-inducing, and error-prone.
My Challenge?
Design a modern academic platform that simplifies submissions, gives users clarity, and makes institutional review processes feel seamless without overloading the system or the staff.
Understanding the Landscape
The client provided access to survey data, staff interviews, and system audits. From this, I extracted key friction points and use cases to anchor the design work.
Core Challenges Identified
Students were lost. After submitting forms, there was no visibility into what happened next.
Staff were overwhelmed. Chasing missing documents or fixing submission errors created bottlenecks.
Workflows were inconsistent. Approvals varied between departments and lacked clear structure.
Reframing the Submission Experience
With the client team, I redefined the submission flow not just as a data entry task but as a guided journey that respects users’ time and attention.
Design Priorities
Clarity: Help users know where they are in the process
Speed: Reduce back-and-forth through better guidance
Structure: Bring consistency to how forms are submitted, reviewed, and approved
Digital Form Submissions
We replaced paper-based forms and PDF downloads with clean, structured web forms.
Exactly the same inputs as the old forms, but now filled online
“>Clean interface with built-in validation to prevent empty or invalid fields
“>
Smart Dashboard for Reviewers
Staff see submission priority, approval history, and attached docs, all in one place.
Triage view for quick sorting
Inline commenting and approvals
Document viewer and status history
Transparent Status Updates
Real-time progress tracking means fewer emails like “Just checking on this…”
Status badges (“Pending,” “Reviewed,” “Approved”)
Alerts when actions are required
Digest view to stay updated without being overwhelmed
