Challenge
To improve service to and communication with stakeholders and the general public, the Department of Education (“ED” or “Department”) plans to modernize its public facing website. Accordingly, ED is seeking interactive prototypes for a redesign of ED.gov, the Department’s homepage.
The Department is not seeking a run-of-the-mill refresh but rather a creative redesign that maximizes user experience and proposes new innovations in layout, typography, animation, illustration, video and photography, and other modern advances.
Timeline:
~2.5 months
Role:
UX Lead & Video Editor
Design Process
For this challenge, we used the foundation of our Ignyte Design Process to guide us.
Research - Competitive Analysis, User interviews
Define - Personas
Ideate - Mid-fidelity wireframes
Build - High-fidelity wireframes
Iterate + User Testing - User testing
Implement - Prototype
Research
To gain a better understanding of the education field, we explored agencies across the country and the world. We conducted a soft competitive analysis and were able to take quick notes on what these agencies do well with their websites and what we would like to be sure to emphasize in our designs.
While not part of the submission requirement, but as part of Ignyte’s user-centric web redesign approach, we interviewed users of ED.gov to understand their needs and frustrations. These insights were integral to our prototype submission. We conducted user interviews with several individuals whose work and day-to-day activities are impacted by the Department. Below are a few highlights about these personas:
We believe user interviews are a critical part of the design process and take care to leverage best practices when conducting them, while allowing flexibility to derive insights.
Key Takeaways
During these interviews, we explored users’ objectives and goals, pain points, and how ED.gov impacts their educational journey. They also provided these key takeaways for the existing website:
1. Users found it difficult to find the information they were looking for
Information on specific web pages was laid out in an unintuitive way that caused users to frequently skip over it entirely. Information was not prioritized and tailored to their unique needs.
2. Navigating the website was confusing and frustrating
The existing website lacks breadcrumbs and links to related information, which made it difficult for users to backtrack, if they made a mistake in navigation. This resulted in multiple users dropping off the website altogether.
3. The visual design and branding was inconsistent and distracting
Pages were not perceived to be parts of a larger, cohesive whole. Some pages seemed to be more dated than others, and users were not engaged by the few small images used.
Mid-Fidelity Wireframes
From our research, we created wireframes in Adobe XD to lay out the user interface, tailored towards the Department's audience and to address the pain points we’ve identified.
High-Fidelity Wireframes
Using the wireframes as a guide, we dove into redesigning the ED.gov website, giving the site a modern feel and brand-driven look. We then conducted usability testing, which revealed insights into accessibility that allowed us to iteratively improve the mock-ups and ensure that user’s objectives are being met.
Finally, we transformed the mock-ups into a live, interactive website !
We also invite you to watch our short video explaining our user-centric approach and how ED will benefit from the redesigned pages.