The Reflections Video Booth: Amplifying Student Voices at NYU
Challenge
NYU continually works to enhance the student experience, but many students skip surveys because they’re busy, disengaged, or unsure their feedback will create an impact.
Approach
Leveraging NYU’s brand, I designed vinyl panels and video prompts featuring questions from the Data Strategy team, in alignment with the Belonging principle of the Student Flourishing Framework.
Solution
To gather more student feedback, I helped design the Reflections video booth that invited students to share their NYU experiences in a way that felt fun, effortless, and meaningful.
Timeline
Two weeks were allotted to design and submit the vinyl to the vendor for printing and installation. When the video component was later requested, the project was extended by an additional week.
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Core Responsibilities
Visual Design
Created vinyl panels and video prompts for the booth’s exterior and interior experience.
Collaboration
Partnered with the vendor and stakeholders to ensure alignment with the project vision.
Project Management
Oversaw timelines, coordinated production, and supported installation process.
Additional Project Context
Collaborators
Office of the Dean of Students: Initiated the project and coordinated with the vendor for on-campus booth setup.
Vendor: Printed the vinyl, installed the booth, and provided guidelines to ensure measurements aligned.
Data Strategy team: Developed survey questions and reviewed student feedback, turning qualitative insights into quantitative results.
Target Audience
Graduating students who are reflecting on their NYU journey and open to sharing advice with future students.
Tools
After Effects for video prompts; Illustrator for vinyl design.
Logistics and Setup
Coinciding with cap and gown pickup, the Reflections video booth was open for seven days during Commencement Week in the Kimmel Center, a high-traffic area between classes and extracurriculars. Graduating seniors were invited to step inside the booth and record one-minute reflections on their time at NYU.
The booth provided a quiet, reflective space amid the excitement of commencement, allowing students to share authentic stories and insights in their own words. These recordings later served as qualitative data for understanding how students experienced belonging throughout their time at NYU.
Video Booth Front Exterior
The Design Process
Visual Direction: Using NYU’s brand and accent colors, I aimed to design a booth that felt energetic and celebrated individuality, highlighting the University’s collective spirit.
Design Collaboration: Partnering with the Marketing and Communications team, I ensured the vinyl design aligned with NYU’s commencement graphics.
Iteration: Working with the vendor, I refined and finalized the design to meet measurement requirements and fit the booth precisely.
(Left to right) NYU violet, medium violet 2, megenta, teal, blue, and yellow
The accent colors and graduation caps represent the unique and vibrant energy of NYU’s graduating students.
(Right to left) first side panel, back panel, second side panel, and doorway
Inside the Reflections Booth
The booth, provided by the vendor, was decorated inside with an NYU-branded wallpaper. It also included a built-in video recorder, microphone, and a touchscreen that participants used to navigate the video slides I created.
Students were seated under fixed lighting and could close the door for privacy, creating a comfortable space to answer the following questions:
Where on campus did you find connection and community?
What advice would you give your first-year self about how to find connection and community at NYU?
After a five-second countdown, participants had up to one minute to share their responses.
Welcome Slide
Instructions Slide
Data Analysis
In total, the video booth collected 118 student interviews. The Data Strategy team analyzed the videos and transcribed them to identify patterns in student reflections.
Responding to the reflection questions, students shared:
Advice to their younger selves, providing insights for future students.
How their sense of belonging manifested during their time at NYU.
Where Students Found Belonging
From the analysis, four primary areas emerged as central to students’ sense of belonging:
Academics – 38 students
(including classes, programs, study abroad, cohorts)Extracurricular activities – 36 students
(including clubs, events, Greek life, athletics, research labs)Physical spaces – 33 students
(including dorms, Washington Square Park, Bobst Library)Social media – 7 students
Advice to Their Younger Selves
Students also offered five key pieces of advice to their younger selves:
Explore outside your comfort zone – 41 students
(including put yourself out there, explore the city, say yes to things)Have fun and be yourself – 23 students
Take advantage of resources and opportunities – 6 students
Find community – 6 students
Take mental breaks – 2 students
Impact
Student Insights on Belonging Barriers
Unlike traditional campuses, NYU is dispersed throughout New York City, which students noted can affect their sense of community.
While they shared positive reflections in their video testimonials, they also highlighted that:
Limited third spaces and common areas make casual social interaction difficult.
The urban environment can feel alienating or overwhelming.
Photo Credit: New York University
Creating More Opportunities for Community and Belonging
The Kimmel Center’s main staircase serves as the unofficial central hub for both commuting and on-campus students, where they often run into each other and interact on their way to class or club meetings. Many memories have been made here, and a recent renovation will allow for even more.
At the start of Fall 2025, the Office of the Dean of Students unveiled seating pods to provide spaces where students can study, socialize, and engage. This major renovation will help foster a stronger sense of community and belonging on campus.
Photo Credit: New York University
Project Reflections
Challenges
Design Constraints: As the first video booth project, it required precise alignment of vinyl panels and video slides to fit the booth’s exact dimensions, demanding extra attention to detail.
Timeline and Vendor Coordination: With only three weeks before commencement, balancing production deadlines alongside last-minute vendor requests created a tight schedule.
Data Usability: Despite careful planning, 10 out of the 118 video interviews were unusable due to audio issues, limiting the data available for analysis.
Takeaways
Amplifying Student Voices: By capturing over 100 reflections through video rather than a standard survey, the booth gave students a platform to be truly heard. The impact of their voices was evident in the creation of the Kimmel Center’s seating pods.
Design Leadership: Leading the design of the Reflections video booth, I drove student participation through engaging vinyl graphics and supported meaningful data collection, demonstrating the power of data-driven design.
Skills Development: This experience further developed my expertise in environmental design, cross-team collaboration, and project management, equipping me to drive future initiatives that enhance student experience and foster meaningful connections.
Video Booth Back Exterior