Student Experience Development Project
Service Design / June-December 2025
Lab University of Applied Sciences, Design and Art.
Project Overview
The project was initiated to enhance the overall student experience in a complex service environment. Students faced unclear onboarding, fragmented communication, and difficulties in finding the right support.
Findings and Observations
Through research and mapping the end-to-end student journey, I identified key pain points and opportunities:
Students need clearer and more accessible information.
Current tools and services feel fragmented and time-consuming to use.
Support and guidance are not always easy to find.
Engagement and sense of community could be strengthened.
My Role as a Service Designer
I led the service design process end-to-end alongside my colleague Tytti Leppänen, combining research, facilitation, strategic thinking, and hands-on execution to address these challenges:
Conducted user research to uncover and validate student needs.
Visualized the student journey to create a shared understanding across teams.
Facilitated co-creation workshops to generate practical, collaborative solutions with students and staff.
Translated insights into clear, actionable service improvements that enhanced clarity, accessibility, and consistency across student services.
Outcome
The result was a prioritized set of solutions that directly addressed the most pressing challenges, improving communication, usability, and the overall student experience.
Background Research & Preparation
Before the project started in june 2025, groundwork was done to ensure development was based on real insights rather than assumptions. The preliminary research was conducted by service design students, with two faculty members actively involved, providing both student-driven and academic perspectives.
Reviewed existing student feedback data, including national AVOP survey results
Analyzed previously collected internal research and service design student materials
Mapped existing practices, processes, and digital environments affecting student life
Validated initial findings through workshops, informal encounters, and observations
Built an evidence-based foundation for the upcoming project
Staff Workshop
Through a staff workshop conducted in August, Helsinki Hietaniemi. We helped uncover critical factors shaping the student experience and translate them into actionable insights for service design. We facilitated discussions and observations highlighted that student experience rests on three interconnected elements: psychological safety and a sense of belonging, meaningful learning, and motivation and inspiration. A supportive, community-oriented environment was identified as essential for learning and professional growth.
The workshop also surfaced key challenges—such as misaligned expectations between students and the institution, limited pedagogical flexibility, and growing group sizes—that directly impact guidance and interaction. At the same time, strong organizational assets were recognized, including committed staff, a hands-on learning culture, and a low-hierarchy, creative environment.
By capturing these insights, we provided a critical staff perspective that informed student-centered service design decisions, ensuring that proposed improvements were grounded in both everyday practice and organizational realities.
Pullapäivä
We designed and facilitated Pullapäivä, a low-threshold, informal event that brought together students, staff, alumni, and industry professionals to strengthen connections and make working-life links more visible and approachable in everyday campus life.
By creating a relaxed, unstructured environment, the event enabled open conversations about careers, collaboration, and professional roles, supporting community building, peer learning, and trust across roles. Pullapäivä also generated valuable qualitative insights, complementing formal workshops and directly informing student experience development.
The event featured professionals from design and arts fields, including Mikko Koivisto (Digitalist), Marika Lehti (Design Forum Finland), and photographer Unto Rautio, who shared their firsthand experiences as professionals and offered students practical insights into working in these fields.
Pullapäivä demonstrated how informal, community-based interactions can enhance student engagement, professional identity formation, and readiness for working life. Poster was created by Tytti Leppänen.
Kokemuskioski (Experience Kiosk, workshops)
We designed and facilitated Kokemuskioski, a low-threshold, on-campus service design format that made students’ voices visible and actionable in everyday development work. It addressed the challenge of fragmented or delayed feedback, enabling direct student input to inform improvements in real time.
The kiosk provided a conversational, walk-in space where students could share experiences, reflect on challenges, and contribute ideas without prior registration or preparation. Using guided discussions, simple tasks, and visual tools, the format encouraged participation from both active and less vocal students, ensuring diverse perspectives rather than feedback dominated by a few.
Kokemuskioski supported continuous co-creation and validation of development ideas, strengthened trust and transparency, and increased student involvement in shaping services and organizational decisions. It demonstrated how embedding participatory methods into everyday campus life can generate meaningful, actionable insights while fostering a sense of being heard.
Project’s Outcomes
The project provided a user-centered understanding of the student experience and a foundation for long-term development. Through research, workshops, and co-creation, it revealed both organizational strengths—such as committed staff and a hands-on learning culture—and key challenges, including unclear communication, fragmented digital systems, limited pedagogical flexibility, and a weakened sense of community.
The project produced actionable service concepts and recommendations, from low-threshold community initiatives to structural solutions enhancing clarity, guidance, and continuity across the student journey. It also fostered a shared understanding of student experience as an ongoing, systemic responsibility, emphasizing continuous feedback, co-creation, and student partnership.
Overall, the project delivered practical solutions and strategic insights, providing a scalable model for student-centered development grounded in real user needs.
We developed a total of 19 proposals, including Pullapäivä and Kokemuskioski. The list also featured Kahvia sohvilla, designed to bring students closer together. Another concept, One Door, provides a single login that opens a page where students can easily access study-related information, messages, and other relevant resources.