SRJC Forward
Design Principles for Reimagining the Student Experience
A shared set of principles guiding how SRJC Forward reimagines programs, services, and systems—so the student experience is clearer, more supportive, and more connected across the college.
How These Principles Are Used
Each design principle is expressed as a short adjective label. These labels are cited on other SRJC Forward pages to indicate which principles are being intentionally applied in a given project or initiative.
These labels are intended to be reused consistently as a shared vocabulary across SRJC Forward pages.
Design with the Student Experience
Design begins by examining how students actually experience systems and services, and by learning directly from students through inquiry, feedback, and focus groups.
Student experience informs design—it is not assumed.
Design Intentionally Architected Systems
Systems are intentionally architected so choices, information, timing, and pathways work together to support student progress.
Structure reduces unnecessary complexity and ensures students receive the right guidance at the right time.
Intentional design replaces accidental complexity.
Make Complex Experiences Navigable
College systems can be complicated or unfamiliar. Experiences are designed to be navigable through guidance, structure, and clear next steps.
Guidance supports exploration while reducing uncertainty and guesswork.
Guidance turns complexity into direction.
Provide Support Before Barriers Escalate
Support is proactive and embedded, rather than dependent on students knowing when or how to ask for help.
The institution takes responsibility for noticing and responding.
Function as One Coordinated Experience
Instruction, educational counseling, and student support services function as a coordinated system rather than separate silos.
Students experience one college.
Design for Early and Sustained Progress
Early success and visible progress build confidence and persistence. Systems support forward movement from the start.
Momentum builds motivation.
Make Expectations Explicit
Timelines, expectations, norms, and unwritten rules are made visible so students are not required to decode how college works.
Transparency reduces hidden barriers.
Honor Multiple Student Realities
Systems are designed for students who work, parent, commute, stop out, return, or attend part-time.
Flexibility is a design requirement, not an accommodation.
Use Technology to Strengthen Support
Technology and data are used to coordinate services, reduce manual work, and better understand student needs.
Well-designed systems enable higher-touch, more meaningful interactions between students and staff.
Technology supports care—it does not replace it.
Build Systems That Endure and Scale
Systems are designed to be maintained, adapted, and improved over time using realistic staffing and resources.
Durability replaces heroic effort.
Design for Those Most Impacted
Systems are intentionally designed with students who stand to gain the most from clearer, more supportive structures in mind— particularly part-time students and first-generation students, who represent a significant portion of SRJC’s student population.
When systems work well for these students, they are more navigable, flexible, and effective for all students.
Equity-centered design strengthens outcomes collegewide.
Continuously Learn and Improve
Design and implementation follow an ongoing cycle of inquiry, reflection, and improvement.
Continuous improvement is institutional practice.