“On my first day I ended up on the wrong floor and sat in the wrong class for, like, 10 minutes.”
“The ID card broke. Had to pay ₹500 to get a new one.”
Two everyday problems. The same students, the same phone in their pocket.
Four follow-up interviews filled in the how. Students find rooms by memory, WhatsApp groups, seniors and security guards.
Indoor wayfinding was unfamiliar territory for nearly everyone. And the card isn't just inconvenient — when it fails, you're marked absent and have to chase a correction.
One student put the brief better than I could: “One app for everything? 100% yes! Please, no multiple logins and apps!”
The answer was already bolted to the wall.
Before sketching anything, I looked up the spec sheet of the attendance machine already on campus.
It reads EM-RFID cards, HID — and Mifare at 13.56 MHz, the same frequency phone NFC uses.
That changed the project. Attendance didn't need new hardware, a new card or a facial-recognition rollout. It needed a screen in an app students already open every day.
I explored kiosks and QR codes first. Students talked me out of them.
Two features, built on the habits students already have.
Students read “Room 8101” on their schedule, then go hunting. Where should navigation live?
Card taps fail silently. How should phone check-in confirm?
Everyone finished. Two people hesitated. That was the finding.
■ P3 and P5 hesitated between “Attendance” and “Digital ID” — the two slowest runs.
Zero errors. Every participant reached the room in 34–38 seconds.
“The picture-based navigation was very easy to understand. I could quickly figure out where to go without feeling overwhelmed.”
Fix: a visual cue on the home screen that points straight to Digital ID, so “Attendance” (the record) and “Digital ID” (the action) stop competing. Feedback also asked for a “You are here” marker and an always-on QR fallback for phones without NFC.
Then I tested it against Nielsen's heuristics — and myself.
Two of five scrolled a long list to find 8101. Added search to block and room lists.
Digital ID showed a QR icon but used NFC. Changed the icon to match the technology.
“Why open Google Maps?” In-app map for outdoor routes; Google Maps becomes optional.
Photos go stale when rooms move. Added a report button on every direction step.
After “Present!” the only options were Scan again or Home. Added history.
“Where to go?” and “Which block are you in?” were redundant lists. Merged.
Limits I'd own in a review: photos need manual upkeep when rooms change, NFC isn't on every phone (hence the QR fallback), and static steps can't tell if you missed a turn — that's where Bluetooth beacons come in, later.
