A new digital experience for students returning to study.
Year
2022
UX Design
Visual Design
User Testing
Deliverables
Figma
Maze
Askable
Miro
Airtable
Tools
Background
The University of Adelaide (UoA) is a leading institution in Australia that attracts a large number of international students every year. As both UX Designer and UI Designer on the project, my role spanned user research, information arhitecture development, synthesis of insights, and visual design.
This project was broken down into multiple streams, and the two I sat across were:
Stream 1: Information Architecture and Navigation
The university was looking to improve the information architecture (IA) of the global navigation and sub-menus across its microsites, by reducing clutter, re-evaluting its naming conventions, and, prioritising the students’ experience over stakeholder input.
Stream 2: International Student Digital Experience
UoA also wanted to redesign the digital experience for international students, to enhance their engagement as they welcomed International students back to campus following COVID-19 restrictions.
Objective
During the research and discovery phase, we wanted to gather some initial insights of the current state experience using the global navigation on the UoA website. We worked with the client to determine which demographics to test with, and decided to test with students across domestic and international, and studying a range of courses.
I used Askable to recruit and Maze to conduct the tests. We conducted a closed card sort, asking participants to categorize the existing content of the website into groups that made sense to them. Alongside the card sort, we also conducted a tree jack test, which involved giving participants a series of tasks to complete using the website's existing navigation structure. These tests allowed us to gather data on how users were navigating the site, and identify areas where they were getting lost or having difficulty finding the information they needed. I synthesised the results using affinity diagrams in Miro.
Phase 1: Information Architecture & Navigation
Some of the analysis done during user testing.
Based on my user research and feedback from client stakeholders, I developed a new information architecture for the site, and sub-menus across multiple key microsites. This included reorganizing the site's content into a more intuitive and user-friendly structure, creating a new navigation system that was easy to use and understand, and developing a system for organizing and labeling content that was consistent across the site.
Before and after of part of the global navigation on the UoA site.
Based on the data gathered from the card sort and tree jack test, we were able to identify areas of the navigation that needed to be restructured, improved, or areas to be condensed. We then drafted our first iteration of the future state IA, underpinned by guiding design principles developed in a workshop with the client, and presented back our findings.
As we moved into the second round of testing, I started to work on an interactive prototype of the global navigation which we tested in usability testing interviews. These interviews were conducted through Askable, with the synthesis being conducted in Miro and recorded in Airtable for the client’s reference.
We were constantly refining the IA throughout the project, looking for areas of improvement - tweaks to the language which may better resonate with the audience, or ways to reduce the amount of links which was currently overwhelming.
There are many microsites part of the UoA digital ecosystem, but the focus for this stream was the International Students site - a key area of interest as COVID-19 restrictions were easing and international students were returning to Australia. Through interviews we conducted with international students (both prospective and current), we determined some key areas of interest users would be seeking when learning about International study at UoA.
The main callouts from the testing were:
Difficulty in finding important information to international students, including information on fees, scholarships, life on campus, and career outcomes
Lack of clarity in the application process
Based on our findings, we aligned with the client on the focus areas for International students - the International Home and the How to Apply pages.
We began to develop a new structure of content for the International Home and introduced new content more relevant for this key audience. I also began working on the visual redesign for these pages, using a mobile-first approach that followed best practice. I also worked with the client’s design team to ensure any new components I developed would be suitable in their existing design system. For the How to Apply page, I simplified the application process by breaking out the steps into new sections, and using visual elements to better explain the process.
We tested our new design with international students studying in a range of countries, including India, Pakistan, and Hong Kong, and across many study areas. We iterated on our design again before presenting back our redesigned pages to the client, and received great feedback.
Stream 2: International Student Digital Experience
Redesigned International Students Home page.
Redesigned How to Apply (International) page.
The Result
Redesigning the both the Information Architecture of the site, as well as the international student digital experience for the University of Adelaide was a challenging yet rewarding project. The project required extensive research, analysis, and collaboration with stakeholders to deliver a user-friendly and accessible digital experience. The redesigned experiences better reflect the reputation of UoA and the client gave us overwhelmingly positive feedback on the deliverables and on working with us as a team.