ARCHIE KASHYAPA
UI/UX/VISUAL DESIGNER
Importance of Content,
Design thinking, and Storyline
Client: Centennial College
Role: User research, Product Design, Strategy, Information Architecture, Prototyping
Overview
The main objective of the International Education section of the Centennial College website is to attract and engage with international students by providing all relevant information to those who are applying, have applied, or may apply to Centennial College.
Goal
This particular project aimed to identify any usability issues and determine the critical features to prioritize for the next iteration of the site.
Design Process
Understanding the problem
As a student, I understood the pain of not finding information and resources accurately. I wanted to validate these problems with peers so I took the initiative to run focus group sessions at Centennial college with 10 different program students who were equally frustrated.
My team member, Madeline, and I assessed the International education section. We conducted a thorough content audit. This approach gave us a detailed overview of the current content and content structure of the information available on the site. The audit allowed us to identify recommendations on restructuring content to deliver meaningful, helpful, clear, direct, and concise information to users.
A snippet from content audit
After listening to the students and conducting a thorough content audit,
we discovered the top frustrations.
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Lack of streamlined application process - There was no streamlined application process which made it a tedious process to apply for programs.
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Information bombarded - The current section of the site was bombarded with information and links. Hence, confuses the students, parents, and potential students to find the information at ease.
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Multiple embedded links - There is a large amount of content on the International Education site. While, in specific contexts, much of the information is pertinent to an international student, the same information impacts the purpose of the site. Not only does information become buried, but the user is inundated with information through multiple links in one place and can become confused and lost on multiple pages. These links, collected in one location, interrupts the flow of relevant dialogue between the international student and the information they have to find.
Personas
Based on our research, we recognized there were 3 key user types to solve problems for.
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Future students unfamiliar with Canadian immigration policies
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Individuals who do not speak English as a primary language
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Parents of students who are examining potential costs associated with a school abroad
Persona 1 - Raj Singh
Persona 2 - Zala Nur
Persona 3 - Fen Lang
Defining the Problem Statement
After gathering the findings from the research, I worked with the team to define the problem statement.
Problem statement
Career-oriented international students are frustrated with getting ahead in their careers as the information is not presented in a manner that is accessible, coherent, and anticipatory of questions or struggles faced by them.
A snippet from content audit
After listening to the students and conducting a thorough content audit,
we discovered the top frustrations.
-
Lack of streamlined application process - There was no streamlined application process which made it a tedious process to apply for programs.
-
Information bombarded - The current section of the site was bombarded with information and links. Hence, confuses the students, parents, and potential students to find the information at ease.
-
Multiple embedded links - There is a large amount of content on the International Education site. While, in specific contexts, much of the information is pertinent to an international student, the same information impacts the purpose of the site. Not only does information become buried, but the user is inundated with information through multiple links in one place and can become confused and lost on multiple pages. These links, collected in one location, interrupts the flow of relevant dialogue between the international student and the information they have to find.
Vision
Centennial College values and respects multiculturalism and diversity by inviting students from across the world to be part of the college’s programs.
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A guide to the international student admission process - We want to help individuals by providing them step by step guide to the international student admission process.
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Contact regional admission members - We want to provide individuals with advice on the application status, process, and what they need in order to achieve their goals.
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Understanding the fee structure and financial aid - We want to provide individuals and parents understanding of the fee structure of interesting programs along with financial aid services.
Once we arrived at a clear problem definition and target audience, I collaborated with my team members to validate the premised behind my thinking before I started designing. We started card sorting as it provides a good understanding of the user’s subconscious and how they would expect the information to be organized. Later, created
wire-frames and paper prototypes and started testing with the target users.
We started creating wireframes
Prototype and Designs
User testing was an iterative process that was conducted at every milestone of the project to identify the biggest pain points in the current version. Once feedback was gathered, I revised the prototypes and tested them again.
For the designs, I wanted to keep the UI simple, clean and concise using centennial’s brand color
The prototype and design suggestions, and content audit recommendations were handed over to the International Education representative to take it to the further step.
Key Takeaways
Focus on the problem - At the end of the day, you will be solving for the user’s pain points so do not lose sight of that.
The design comes at the end - Do not worry about the small details and look of UI. Focus on user problems and reassess user flows to ease their pain points.