Integrated University Management Platform

Arelim

UX/UI Redesign

Arelim is an official in-house mobile platform developed by Istanbul Arel University in collaboration with its internal research, design, and software development teams. Designed for students, faculty, and administrative staff, the platform brings academic and operational processes together in a single ecosystem, including grade entry, attendance tracking, staff directories, and campus events.

The project was driven by extensive UX research aimed at identifying usability issues, functional gaps, and technical problems within the existing applications. These insights informed the redesign of the overall experience, resulting in a more intuitive interface, streamlined interactions, and a more consistent digital experience across university services.

Redesigned around real user needs and pain points, Arelim continues to evolve through an iterative design process, with new insights and requirements shaping each phase of development.

Responsibilities

Field &UX Research

User Interviews & Surveys

Benchmarking

Wireframing

Design Development

Prototyping

Iteration

Duration

24 Months +

Project Team

UX/UI Design

Ceren Çalışkan Türel

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Identifying UX Challenges

The existing Arelim application, developed for Arel University students and academics, suffered from several UX issues that negatively impacted the overall experience. Repetitive interface elements, an inconsistent visual language, and unclear interactions made the application difficult to navigate and less user-friendly. We redesigned the experience from the ground up, focusing on simplifying interactions and creating a more coherent and intuitive interface.

Research & User Insights

The redesign began with understanding the needs, behaviours, and pain points of Arelim’s users. Through user interviews and surveys, I explored how students and academics used the existing application, where they encountered difficulties, and which interactions were most important to them.

I conducted semi-structured interviews with 18 students and academics, using the findings to identify key usability issues and uncover opportunities for improvement. The research also helped prioritise the most relevant user journeys, interactions, and content within the redesigned experience.

Following the design phase, the same participants took part in user testing, allowing the proposed solutions to be evaluated against the needs and issues identified during the initial research.

Persona & Empathy Map

To make sense of the research findings and identify patterns across different user groups, I developed a user persona and empathy map based on the interviews and surveys. The persona captured users’ key goals, needs, behaviours, and pain points, while the empathy map helped uncover the motivations and frustrations behind their interactions with Arelim.

These insights helped define the priorities for the redesign and provided a clear reference point throughout the design process, ensuring that key decisions were grounded in real user needs.

User Flows & Design System

Following the research phase, I worked closely with the team to map and refine the key user flows based on the identified needs and pain points. These flows provided the foundation for the wireframes and helped establish a clearer structure for the redesigned experience.

The interface was then rebuilt using the Atomic Design approach, creating a consistent and scalable system across the product. Reusable components and patterns helped reduce visual inconsistencies and repetitive interactions, resulting in a simpler and more intuitive experience.

Dr. Ceren Çalışkan Türel

Arelim

Responsibilities

Duration

Project Team

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