Delivering a frustration-free UX experience for multiple audiences.
The Office of Corporate Engagement at Northwestern University (NU) had an aging website and complicated user experience that made it difficult to attract new corporate partners, convert first-time users into regulars, and retain existing users.
Corporate Engagement needed a website that focused on creating a functional and frustration-free user experience to capture the attention of prospective corporate partners and deliver a positive customer service journey for NU faculty and staff. I created the project goals and scope and analyzed websites of similar offices at universities around the U.S. to determine trends. I engaged with key stakeholders to determine usability and information needs and developed the overall UX/UI strategy and webpage designs within the Northwestern University brand standards and site templates. I partnered with IT to establish a timeline and to create several custom page templates in the Cascade CMS, including the staff bio page. I created a content development plan, created the site architecture, and wrote original content to better communicate services to visitors seeking support from the Corporate Engagement team. Our team executed a communications strategy to launch the refreshed website as well as a micro-targeted campaign using email and word-of-mouth for new and lapsed visitors.
Deliverables:
- Project Management
- Stakeholder Engagement
- UX and UI Strategy & Design
- Creative Direction
- Site Content
- Website Development & Management
- Communications Strategy
Results:
The website redesign launch exceeded expectations among all audiences surveyed and increased visits to the Corporate Engagement website across all user groups. The redesigned site creates an experience that’s clear and frustration-free, giving users an experience that doesn’t require more time and effort than is necessary. A new portal was created to provide faculty and staff with much-needed resources in a secure, password-protected environment. The website design is brand compliant, responsive, and provides improved ADA functionality. The IT Department deployed the custom page template designs in Cascade for other campus offices to use.
