Website Redesign
Roles: UX Design, Graphic Design, Illustration, Project Management
WebAssign is an online instructional system designed to enrich the teaching and learning experience. It provides content for instructors to enhance their courses and offers instant assessment as students complete homework assignments. It gained popularity by word of mouth, but the company decided it was time to invest in a dedicated marketing team.
The Challenge
When WebAssign was founded in the late 1990s, the website, which was mainly used for students and instructors to log into the system, was built directly into the application itself. This made it nearly impossible to use the website for marketing activities because it required a product release to make any changes to the website. It could be weeks or even months between update releases. We knew the site had more than 100,000 visitors each month and we needed a way to tap into all of that traffic.
The Research
I worked with a product manager and marketing manager to identify the three main audiences for the site — instructors, students, and publishers — and determine how each audience would use the site. I also completed a competitive analysis to look for UX and language patterns familiar to our audience. I then worked with the marketing director and communications manager to create an information architecture that would best organize our inventory of information and make sense for our users to navigate.
The Process
I began sketching ideas and creating low fidelity wireframes. Using the wireframes, I collected feedback from colleagues — many of them instructors who have used the product. Once I was confident in a design, I moved on to high-fidelity screens and developed a style guide. I also designed and illustrated all of the visual elements for the site.
Development and Testing
Entrusted with implementing these concepts, I interviewed and retained an outside developer and oversaw the entire process of transferring my vision from high-fidelity screens to the WordPress platform. Once there was a functional site available, I performed some usability testing at our users group meeting with new users and socialized the redesign with long-time users for feedback. I made necessary changes to the site and continued work with the developer to iterate.
The Solution
The new responsive site was launched in July 2014. The marketing team was now equipped with a site that enabled them to promote new features of the product and upcoming events. They were also able to move forward with a modern content marketing plan to help reach in sales goals. The instructors' ability to get product news and tips was significantly improved. Our support staff also saw a reduction in calls from students as they could more easily find help online.
