Ideation

The DHS Schedule App was originally created by the Deerfield High School CodeWarriors team. Unforunately, the app had not been updated in a couple of years and was not properly equipped for users. The old schedule app had a few key issues that urgently needed to be addressed.

Key issues

1. Was not cross-platform. The old version of the app was made specifically for iOS users. There were no available apps for Android that were tailored to the DHS schedule.
2. Did not support new iOS versions. The old version of the app used an outdated combination of XCode and Swift, which led to the app not fully filling the screen on newer models of iPhones (iPhone X and newer).
3. Was not updated for hybrid schedule. For the 2020-2021 school year, Deerfield High School switched to a remote/hybrid learning model and adjusted the schedules of students to accomodate this updated learning model. However, the old version of the app was not updated for this schedule and, as such, was unusable by students for this school year.

With these key issues in mind, I set out to create an updated version of the app that improved on the old app with a redesigned UI, new features, and improved UX.

I reached out to DHS students to seek out ideas for what features I should add and what improvements need to be made from the old schedule app. Many students had the same ideas in mind:

• Push notifications for upcoming classes
• Customization features
• View schedules of future dates

Development process

To address key issues 1 & 2, I opted to use a cross-platform hybrid app development framework that runs on both iOS and Android. This choice made it possible to use one codebase for both platforms, and for users both platforms to use the same app.

To address key issue 3, I first-and-foremost created YAML a file that stored the schedule. I chose the YAML format because it can be easily understood by the app and by humans, so the schedule can be changed and updated in the future. This will future-proof the app for future school years.

Once the key issues were addressed, I began designing the app using Figma. The app uses the Material Design framework because it is an accessible, user-friendly design framework that makes beautiful products without much design work.

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These design screenshots are used as the app previews on the iOS App Store.

These app preview designs were easily implemented in code because thanks to the many available Material Design component libraries and packages.