A website redesign focused on prospective students and admissions
Project Overview: A from-scratch Drupal Site Studio website and starter component library. The MVP goals were to strengthen student recruitment and admissions via the public site, simplify the intranet site for students, staff and faculty, and modernize the content build and entry process for site managers and content editors.
My Role: Senior UX Designer responsible for design discovery, style tiles, component design and theming, design comps, client coaching, stakeholder presentations, developer/engineer collaboration, and project roadmapping.
Project Wins
- Streamlined initial component design by leveraging basic components included with Site Studio as a starting point
- Gained advanced knowledge of Site Studio, a new (to me) web theme building platform, allowing me to assist with training our team and the client team
- Built enthusiasm among leadership by showcasing the new site through high-fidelity mockups and component demos
*Project has not been completed yet, and client can not be disclosed publicly at this time. All work done while at Palantir.net
Beginning with a heuristic evaluation of the existing site, I identified improvement areas such as consistency and standards for CTA links and buttons. I documented these findings in a usability checklist with examples and notes, which became a clear starting point and alignment tool for the client during the new build.
I designed style tiles based on their branding, choosing to introduce an underused secondary color and re-balanced the palette. In later design comps, I ensured buttons and UI elements were WCAG compliant and expanded the palette with tints and shades to improve accessibility and color contrast.
I also partnered with the client’s digital content team and design manager to select and prioritize components for the pattern library.
To guide decision-making, I facilitated review sessions and used a collaborative Miro board with digital stickies, helping the group align on priorities for upcoming sprints and allowing our team to create Jira tickets for different epics.
We prioritized designing the homepage with new and customized components to demonstrate their flexibility, gain stakeholder buy-in, and establish a tangible design goal. As one of the site’s highest-traffic pages, the homepage also served as a compelling showcase of how the new system could be used.
Clear navigation was key to the project’s success. With data from user testing, we felt confident that a simple horizontal mega menu would be a good place to start. Based on previous knowledge gained while working at Northwestern University, I knew it was important to highlight the top level landing pages for each section, so I used a larger link to the top level pages in each section with an arrow icon.
I also mocked up a few mobile versions which was helpful for the client and our team.
