ITS Service Desk to add Student Union location this Fall

A glimpse through the glass doors from the Union into the Service Desk space. A screen over the doors reads Orientation Tech Help — A glimpse of the lobby through the front doors. ITS’ brand colors carry the eye through the space

Next semester, Tar Heels will have another place to go for in-person tech help. ITS is opening an ITS Service Desk location in the Frank Porter Graham Student Union.

The new space will be on the lower level of the Student Union, near Bojangles.

Service Desk walk-in provides campus with face-to-face support for technology issues. The Service Desk fills a crucial role in tech support at Carolina, especially troubleshooting hardware and software issues and facilitating repairs. This fiscal year, the Service Desk expects to reach 14,000 walk-in interactions.

The Service Desk walk-in locations are primarily geared towards supporting students, but faculty and staff are welcome.

Visible and convenient

“The Union is more visible and convenient for students,” said Calvin Groves, Director of the ITS Service Desk. “Our ability to craft a space from the ground-up meant we could focus on designing a space that best works for our customer population,” said Groves.

The renovation has been a nearly year-long project involving stakeholders from across campus. From ITS, the project team included members from the ITS Service Desk, ITS Communications, ITS Project Portfolio & Change Management and ITS Networking. Various groups from Facilities Services also helped plan and build, contributing interior design work, electrical, painting and custom cabinetry.

“The group we put together really helped us achieve what is a beautiful, tech-centered space,” Groves said.

The new location includes a lobby with check-in kiosk, offices, staff huddle spaces, work benches for tech support and a glass-walled conference room featuring an augmented-reality mural.

On brand

Kerry O’Sullivan, graphic designer with ITS Communications and a project team member, helped guide the aesthetic vision. Her role on the project, she said, was to “make recommendations that supported the Service Desk team’s desire for a fresh, bright and modern space” while ensuring that the space reflects UNC and ITS’ brands.

The in-progress lobby area, showcasing Carolina navy, ITS orange, and Carolina blue — The lobby, even while under construction, is filled with natural light from the windows facing South Road. The new mural is visible through the glass walls of the conference room

Last September, O’Sullivan and the ITS Communications team launched an internal brand guide for ITS. The driving force behind the brand guide is to unify ITS’ physical and digital presence. The new Service Desk location design dovetails with other ITS services redesigned using the brand, including the refreshed Help Portal.

Many elements at the new Service Desk location contribute to the energetic, fun and confident vibe — natural light, a variety of textures, clean lines and the mix of invigorating colors from the UNC and ITS brand palettes.

The ITS brand, though, is more than a colorful palette. “The ITS brand guide was created to help instill confidence,” said O’Sullivan. “Putting myself in the customers’ shoes, I imagined they may be feeling anxious about technical issues.” Her measure of success is that the space’s positive and professional energy puts people at ease. “All of these design choices support a welcoming atmosphere,” she said.

Mural sparks life

For Groves, the design element that really “brings the space to life” is a new mural.

Because the location was a blank canvas, the project team could make a bold statement with the mural. Groves wanted the mural to “complement the atmosphere we were trying to create — one that is open, innovative, modern and inviting.”

To select an artist, the project team asked Arts Everywhere to share a list of experienced muralists. Then, the project team, with input from a group of students, asked a few artists for proposals that included a combination of analog and digital components. Ultimately, it was Denver, Colorado artist ILL.DES who rose to the top.

ILL.DES proposed an abstract design, “Command Center,” that depicted files scanning to a database. The design, combined with his background as a computer engineer and deep interest in technology, made him an appealing candidate. But O’Sullivan said it was ILL.DES’ style — crisp lines, bright colors and clean shapes — that made him the best fit. ILL.DES “creates the illusion of movement and depth on a flat wall, drawing the eye deeper into a space,” O’Sullivan said.

Closeup of the finished mural, showing the bright colors and crisp lines

ILL.DES' prep for the mural included a layout of each color used and a rendering of the finished product

Artist ILL.DES hand paints sections of the mural

Artist ILL.DES sits in a chair in front of the completed mural

All of that was enough for the team, but ILL.DES also proposed integrating AR, or augmented reality, into the mural. The AR was “icing on the already-appealing cake,” O’Sullivan said. To see the mural come to life, visitors can download the Artivive app on their smartphones. Motion artist JonnaP Arts created the mural’s AR element.

“The marriage of analog and digital content really makes it a showcase piece,” Groves said.

Soft launch

The new open and airy conference room in-progress, with chairs covered in plastic surrounding a conference table — The conference room, pre-mural. Not only is the mural a visual focal point, but the television incorporated into the design can be used for meetings

This summer, the new location will focus on supporting incoming students during New Student and Family Orientation. The soft launch will give the team a chance to settle in and get ready for the Fall semester.

“The space will continue to develop over the summer as staff get more of a feel for what it needs,” said O’Sullivan. A few more design elements are in the works — new digital signage, light-filtering banners on the exterior of the building and potentially a tech showcase wall that highlights Carolina Computing Initiative (CCI) laptops.

Supporting students during orientation will put the space to the test. It’s a busy time for the Service Desk, with approximately 1,900 walk-in interactions over the two-month period. Students pick up their new CCI laptops from Student Stores, then many walk over to the Service Desk for help.

The Service Desk expects that students will have an easier time finding the new Union location after leaving Student Stores. Both Service Desk locations are nearby, but navigating to the lower level of the Undergraduate Library was often a challenge. With an entrance on South Road and the Bojangles landmark, the new space is “a highly visible location in an easy-to-access building,” O’Sullivan said.

Looking forward

The Service Desk in the Student Union will be open for all Tar Heels starting in the Fall. Both the UL and Union locations will offer all walk-in services with no appointment necessary. Members of the Carolina community can choose to visit either location.

A view towards the lobby from the staff cubicles — Service Desk staff will sit with clients at these workbenches to troubleshoot tech

Groves said he plans to “assess our footprint and where [the Service Desk is] meant to be — we will let the numbers tell the story.” He added he is “excited to see the breakdown of traffic across the two locations.”

A few years ago, the Service Desk operated a location in Student and Academic Services North Building (SASB), but foot traffic was minimal. Because the UL and Student Union are centrally located, Groves expects ample demand for both Service Desk locations.

“We have the staff across the Service Desk to make sure both are covered, and we’ll assess our long-term needs.”