UofG – TommyDesign

University of Glasgow Service Excellence Programme

As Head of Design, I led a team of service designers and user researchers through a multi million pound transformation programme. Responsible for both strategic planning and operational delivery, I redesigned the way students and staff interact with wellbeing services at the University.

Wellbeing at University of Glasgow

Established 600 years ago, the University of Glasgow employs 10,000 staff and enrols 40,000 to 60,000 students annually. Services across the institution have grown in silos, creating a challenging and disjointed student experience. My team and I carried out a 'Wellbeing Review', mapping the students and staff journeys through the wellbeing services, proposing improvements in a 'future state service blueprint' and an ambitious roadmap. 3 selected priorities were delivered in time for the beginning of term.

Wellbeing home

Wellbeing Home is a new, consistent web experience (Content, UX and UI) on all wellbeing pages, providing clarity on staff roles and academic procedures, and to streamline student’s access to services

Support Finder

A new, personalised ‘Student Support Finder’ tool using a 5 tier triage model (Low-to-High risk) and a conditional logic questionnaire, with automated escalation process.

Note of Concern

A new ‘Note of Concern’ online form (statutory compliance post-Abrahart case), enabling staff to raise a concern with the Safeguarding team and provide appropriate reasonable adjustments.

Alt Text: A Journey map visualising students and staff navigating the wellbeing services at UofG, through 6 main steps: Awareness, Enquiry, Triage, Assign, Provide and Offboard. The journey is a Service Blueprint of the proposed design, including a new triage model.

Wellbeing Home

Before my intervention, the wellbeing webpages included some 9 main pages + 20 subpages without logical wireframe, 8 dead ends, inconsistent layout, content and language. The whole navigation was service centred, not user centred, providing a frustrating experience, especially for new students. I redesigned the wellbeing web wireframe and the pages layout to align it with the Service Excellence Programme, replaced 13 pages with newly designed ones, dead ends/ broken links were eliminated , 6 pages were co-created with SME’s, 2 pages were archived and most importantly the content design was optimised for AI driven SEO.

Alt Text: 3 screenshots of the new webpages, including features such as: Clear service description, Clarification of expectations, Easy to access human assistance and an open feedback mechanism.

Support Finder

The former tool to showcase the University's wellbeing services had the tendency to over-escalate enquiries due to its lack of clarity around services/ teams' roles. The new Support Finder is a conditional logic questionnaire with an integrated risk assessment and built-in escalation pathways. It's student centred and problem focussed, rather than service focussed. It's been designed to be completed in 2 minutes or less and it's divided into 1) risk assessment, 2) incident definition, impact on studies/personal life. On completion, it has a tailored list of recommendations with links to the relevant services.

Alt Text: Screenshots of the Support Finder: Questions such as “How do you feel today?” are problem focussed rather than service focussed, while “are you in danger of harming yourself?” are designed to risk asses the enquiry. Students can select answers ranging from “I’m feeling ok, I just want to explore resources” to ” I am feeling worried for my safety”.

Note of Concern

Following the tragic case of Natasha Abrahart, the University of Glasgow designed extra measures to provide students with the right reasonable adjustments. Note of Concern is an online form for staff to easily identify the right wellbeing pathway and raise a concern about a student. The form sits in the Staff Portal for ease of access, and it uses an Helpdesk ticketing system to enable all stakeholders to follow the enquiry at any given point.

Alt Text: Screenshots of the Note of Concern form. A text field which reads: Please provide a brief summary of your concern(s), with a Review & Submit button.