IceMelting

Three questions to the project team

What was the particular challenge of the project from a UX point of view?
The main UX challenge was defining the product’s core goal. Students needed to form compatible teams while also interacting in ways that helped them discover suitable teammates, which made the direction unclear. Should the product focus on helping students quickly find the “right” team?

After reviewing research on diverse user needs and synthesising tutor feedback that emphasised genuine interaction, the team aligned on the product mission. We prioritised enabling easy, engaging peer interaction rather than directly optimising compatibility. This introduced a second challenge: increasing interaction without overwhelming users required the team to carefully balance game mechanics and simplicity.

What was your personal highlight in the development process? Was there an aha!-moment, was there a low point?
The team’s highlight was the moment we realised that meaningful interaction mattered more than efficiency. By observing real classroom dynamics, we reframed the problem and designed the Pool page as a digital version of in-class icebreakers, enabling students to naturally discover and engage with their peers.

There was no clear low point, but a bittersweet moment came when we recognised that our early focus on efficiency had led us off track. We removed features such as “Fast Connect” to speed up team formation, despite the time invested. This experience taught us the importance of removing unnecessary features to preserve the overall product vision.

Where do you see yourself and the project in the next five years?
In the near term, our team plans to design the tutor version, moving from MVP validation to a high-fidelity prototype, completing both sides of the platform, and making it more feasible for further development. Over the next year, we aim to collaborate with the University of Technology Sydney for selected disciplines and gradually expand to other universities in Australia. We also plan to extend features to support more scenarios in team-based collaboration.

In five years, we hope IceMelting will be widely used in higher education worldwide. Our goal is to become a trusted, engaging platform that helps students and tutors create a more inclusive and dynamic teaching environment.