UX Designer
Minnesota Goes to College Website Redesign
Information Architecture | UX Design
February 2023 - Present
The Minnesota Goes to College website is difficult to navigate due to too many features and low traffic except for two specific periods. As the UX designer and information architect, the proposed solution involves updating the website to improve the user experience, make it easier for counselors to find resources, and ultimately lead to better outcomes for students.
The solution involves a five-step evaluation, including conducting a survey of stakeholders to identify valuable resources, a competitive audit, usability testing, card sorting, and making changes based on user testing. Usability testing with school counselors and a card sorting study with 15 participants were conducted to understand how users interact with the website and how they create mental models of the information provided.
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What was the problem?
The website has become difficult to navigate due to an excessive number of features added over time, making it hard to keep track of what's available. In addition, Google Analytics data reveals that there is low traffic to the website throughout the year, except for two specific periods - during College Knowledge Month in October and Ready, Set, FAFSA in February.
What was my role?
In this project, I worked as the only UX designer and information architect, alongside a UX Content Writer from the Minnesota Department of Education. The project was for Minnesota Goes to College, which is a collaborative effort between the Minnesota Office of Higher Education, the Department of Education, and a Steering Committee consisting of 10 individuals from the education sector.
How did we arrive at the proposed solutions?
We surveyed current users
We conducted a survey of our stakeholders to identify the most valuable resources on our website. Based on the results, we found that the top five resources were:
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a list of free applications
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financial aid training
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social media toolkits
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videos for students
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ideas from other site coordinators
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Given these results, we have decided to improve the user experience and make it easier for counselors to find the resources they need to help their students. Our goal is to create a more streamlined website that enables counselors to access the resources they need more efficiently, ultimately leading to better outcomes for student.
Usability testing & card sorting
This is a five-step project in progress that aims to improve the user experience of our website. The first step involves conducting a competitive audit to see how other organizations, including private sector companies with clear website design, organize their websites. In the second step, a basic usability test will be conducted to observe how users interact with our website based on the most valuable resources identified in a recent survey.
Users will be asked to locate these resources on our website. For the third step, a card sorting activity will be conducted with 15 users to understand how people working in the education sector create mental models of the information we provide. In the fourth step, a high-fidelity mock-up will be created and a second usability test will be conducted to determine if users can find the identified resources more efficiently. Finally, changes will be made to the website based on user testing, and the impact of these changes will be monitored using Google Analytics.