Describe a specific situation:

Teamed up with members of The Center for the Application of Information Technology(CAIT) to redesign the companies website; with purpose of visually formulating a document to explain how different content areas could be aligned to deliver structured entry points for users of various needs and specific tasks.  

Tasks that needed to be done:

  • Take interview notes and identify themes and relationships (affinity diagramming).
  • Infer some user scenarios from staff members depiction of a sample customer.
  • Review current site content and interactions.

My Contribution:

  • Designed wireframes highlighting content areas. 
  • Explained justification for the wireframes with a written document.
  • Constructed two different web design formats for the staff to choose from.

The Results:

  • Started the project moving forward with multiple design option to draw from.
  • Presented to the staff "what is" possible with various design options.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Explained justification for the wireframes:

 

Screen 1:

 

Washington University is a well-known award winning institution and the brand value will benefit the CAIT division for its association with it. The original design made it hard to make this association. Screen 1 places the Wash U Logo and name prominently on top left portion of the screen. 

 

This CAIT institution has a 30-year history of bringing high caliber instructor led courses to the Saint Louis area and this tag line, which is place on the top page without distracting elements will contribute to its credibility.

 

The keyword cloud appears after the training for text words and ties into the key benefits obtained if you take a course at the CAIT.

 

The numerous links that surrounds the current design overwhelms the person visiting the web site and the areas of focused are lost.  Placing local navigational links that encompass many specific topic areas allows exploring within that area instead of having all the options, combined with other specific topics.

 

When people see pictures and testimonials that they associate with a particular group that they belong to (e.g; computer science, business, executives etc.) and they see those people have success with a particular activity, it lends credibility to the activity and they feel a level of comfort. 

 

 

Having an option to be notified when a particular class is available and to be informed

 

Notification of a particular class and organizational news keeps a student/client coming back and because of this informal relationship, they may recommend you to colleagues and businesses.

 

 

Screen 2:

 

Having a typical navigational bar with few but focused options is familiar and the interaction (click on tab to access content) is a web industry standard.

 

The ability to quickly preview class content (Course text images shape like a book) gives a potential student a “realistic preview” of what it would be like to take this course.

 

Scanning images of the facilities may assure potential students/clients that they are going to be working in a modern, safe, and secure building.