/ Project Overview
Why is it necessary to redesign the Research & Innovation site?
The VPRI website is where all university researchers go to find research-related information. It's a hub for everything from research events and funding applications to department introductions and regulations.
Over the past decade, with the university's increasing number of research projects and programs, the volume of information has grown substantially, resulting in a website with 1000+ pages with massive outdated content. This extensive website structure not only no longer serves the internal audience's needs, but it also poses difficulties for the website administrators responsible for its maintenance.
/ Objectives
Regarding this, what are our goals?
1. Gain better insight about the audience
Through data analysis, we aim to learn who they are, what they are trying to achieve.
2. Create better experience for internal audience
So internal user can find research related information easily, better use the information, gain efficiency and enable success in their work.
/ Timeline
To achieve a faster release of value, we have adopted an agile approach
Sprint 1 - 2
Find out the what's going on with the site
Data Analysis
The entire university website is integrated with Google Analytics, enabling us to utilize Google Analytics to examine the KPI for each page and determine which pages should be retained or removed.
User Research
By conducting competitive research, user interviews, journey mapping, and usability testing to understand users' habits when searching for academic information and gathering feedback to identify their specific user needs.
Sprint 3 - 4
Improve content organizaiton
Information Architecture & Page Mockups
Design new sitemap and page mockups based on the summary of all findings and content recommendations.
User Testing
Apply Tree Testing to assess the effectiveness of our new Information Architecture and followed up with Task-based Testing to evaluate the usability of our mockups
Sprint 5 - 8
Start implementing. Then launch!
Content & UI Refresh
Content owners focus on content accuracy, check if information is up-to-date. Improve writing style, web readability, SEO, overall layout of the page, etc.
Sprint 1 - 2
Learn and find out what's going on with the site
Part 1.
Data Analysis
What's the most popular pages?
The Google Analytic provides access to key information for the internal audiences.
275K
Total page views from Oct 2021 - Nov 2022
72%
of site traffic is to the Research Support Page
35%
of site traffic is to the Reseach Ethics Office Page
How do audiences get to the site?
1. Landing Pages
We took the number of page views and the number of entrances, and calculated the % entrances (percentage of page views with sessions that started on this page first).
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High % of entrances means the user arrive directly from Google.
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Low % of entrance means user arrive elsewhere and navigate to this page.
Out of around 27,000 pages views during out report period, there were only about 3,000 entrances - the research landing page was where they first entered the site. About 90% of the user entered elsewhere, then navigated to the landing page via the main menu.
Examples of pages with low % entrances
Trending Topics & Offbeat Topics
Most of the relevant clicks from Google result from keyword dealing with "ethics", "ARISE", "Research Ethic Office", etc.
We've generate the most top content for internal audience as the priority pages. Surprisingly, out of 1000+ pages, only 150+ (15%) pages have the pageview more than 0 in the past 3 years. The rest of the pages has 0 pages views in the past 3 years.
/ Summary
Based on the data, what User Story can we gather about the audience so far?
“I'm an internal audience of the U of A Research site, I need a clear guide that swiftly directs me to a research landing page where I can easily find the topics I'm looking for.”
Part 2.
User Research
Select Interview Candidates
7
user interview completed
3
types of target audiences included: Junior Researchers, Senior Researchers and Research Administrators
2
Research Method were used: Journey Mapping and Card Sorting
What do users cares about?
1. Senior Researcher
Main Activities
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Look for grants, find sponsorships
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Manage their grant funding
Most interested in seeing these on the website
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The U of A lead more multi-million dollar large grants
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The U of A's overall reputation in research excellence - storytelling
Ryan - EE Postdoc Researcher
"As a Senior Researcher who's much more familiar with various processes, we rely less on the website for instructions, guidelines and grant information. Therefore we are more interested in seeing the U of A showcase its research strength, build reputation and tell stories."
What matters to them?
We conducted a card sorting session to assess the importance of each page, which will assist us in reorganizing the Information Architecture (IA) and wireframe design in the upcoming sprint.
/ Design Challenge
Their frustrations will guide our design direction towards...
How might we help researchers speed up the process of finding the topic they want through U of A Research site by reducing the researching time.
Sprint 3 - 4
Improve content organization
Part 1.
IA & Prototype
Cleanout and Reconstruct
Using the Google Analytics data shared previously, we removed pages with no views over the last three years. This reduced our page count by approximately 90%, bringing it down from over 1000 pages to just around 150. Subsequently, we redefined the site's architecture based on earlier card sorting results.
New Information Architecture: We've streamlined the content from over 1000 pages to just over 150.
Previous Navigation Bar
Mixed up with internal and external content. Doesn't help researchers to find related content
Current Navigation Bar
Internal content only! Listed out the high demanded content which prioritizing audience's needs
Improve the Site Usability
Based on Google Analytics data, we've identified pages with high pageviews and extended time spent. We aim to prioritize the redesign of these pages as they are in high demand.
1. Research Services
Previous Design
An index of links, which is not easy for audience to find information
New Design
Each page with high pageview is contained in a box with an icon for the audience to quickly identify the content.
Also, we acknowledges the audience acees the content within the Research Support sections throught Google Search because they can't easily navigate the site. Now, the audience can see and access all sub-pages directly from this page since new design slove this problem by providing a comprehensive view of all the frequenctly visited pages.
2. Research Ethic Page
Previous Design
This page doesn't give the audience a sense of being designed, and visually, it doesn't align with the overall style of the website
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New Design
Floating Nav Bar allows audiences to access all Research Ethics related information.
Based on interview feedback, "Do I need research ethics approval" is the question frequently asked by researchers. So we add the isolated section of that question which directs users to the answer they need immediately.
We also add the quick links section which takes audiences tot he most commonly used pages with in the Research Ethics site.
Part 2.
User Testing
Site Has Become More Navigable
We enlisted six frequent users of the Research site to test the navigation bar featuring our revamped Information Architecture. Through a Tree Test, we assessed how easily they could locate specific pages. The findings revealed that a majority of testers could access their target pages more directly, cutting down on clicks and time, which in turn improved the overall site usability.
Tree Test (Click to zoom in)
Tree Test (Click to zoom in)
Tree Test (Click to zoom in)
Tree Test (Click to zoom in)
Tree Test (Click to zoom in)
Tree Test (Click to zoom in)
Tree Test (Click to zoom in)
Tree Test (Click to zoom in)
Tree Test (Click to zoom in)
Tree Test (Click to zoom in)
Tree Test (Click to zoom in)
Tree Test (Click to zoom in)
Tree Test (Click to zoom in)
Tree Test (Click to zoom in)
Tree Test (Click to zoom in)
Tree Test (Click to zoom in)
A Successful Page Re-design
To test whether the redesigned Research Ethics Page effectively addresses the audience's needs, we assigned the task: "Find out if my research requires ethics approval." All testers successfully navigated the correct path.
Landing Page to Research Ethic Page
From Research Ethic Page to the Correct Page in the Mission
Sprint 5 - 8
Start implementing. Then launch!
Refining Massive Content Needs Management ... and Patience
As we discussed earlier, we've successfully reduced the number of pages from over 1000 to around 150. However, this is still a massive amount, and we need to further refine the content and UI for each of these pages. The good news is that we are in the final stages of the project. Our current focus is on effective project management and properly allocating tasks.
Trello Board Project Management
Define the timeline and goals of each sprint.
Google Sheet SME List
We've identified the corresponding 28 Subject Matter Experts (SMEs) for each of the 150 pages. They are responsible for the content on their respective pages.
How do we collect massives feedback of 150+ pages?
Collecting feedback for all 150 pages proved challenging. We initially tried copying everything into Google Docs or having SMEs send screenshots with highlighted issues. However, these methods were time-consuming and cumbersome. That's when we discovered Pageproof, a proofing tool that enables SMEs to easily mark issues directly on web pages. This tool significantly streamlined our feedback collection process. Still, for those less familiar with software, we continued to offer the option of providing feedback via email or discussing concerns in a meeting.
Implement the Redesigned UX&UI
We used Hannon Hill’s Cascade CMS to manage and publish web content. Cascade is both simple to use and allows web admins flexibility within the University of Alberta brand guidelines.
/ Reflection
Project done...so what's impact of the work we've done in the past 10 months
Redesigning the university website was a big task. We cut down from over 1000 pages to just 150. This wasn't just about reducing the number; we also made sure each page was better in design and content.
Getting feedback for all these pages was tough. At first, we tried using Google Docs and asking for screenshots, but these methods took too much time. Then we found Pageproof, which made it much easier for experts to give feedback right on the webpage.
What I learned most from this project was the need to be flexible. We used new tools, but we also knew that not everyone was comfortable with them. So, we made sure there were other ways for people to give feedback, like email or in-person meetings. This project taught me that while technology is important, it's also crucial to consider the people involved and make things easy for everyone.