Redesigning the LSSE website was an iterative and ongoing process. For the purposes of this post, there were two redesigns; of which, the second redesign was more robust.
The first time I redesigned it, it was quick and dirty. I used the immediate tools at my disposal, focused on the visuals, and arguably didn’t bother much with planning due to a lack of time and resources.
I took a more methodical and thoughtful approach the second time around. I parsed the sitemap and reconfigured the hierarchy. I sought the help and advice of our IT and software support staff. Most importantly, by that time, I was more informed and established within the department. I had a clearer sense of our goals, who our users were, and what they wanted. The end result was a website that was easier to navigate, used by more people, and less frustrating.
Although I count my work on the website a success, the most prominent thing I look back on was how little knowledge of UX I had!
Common Sense
Steve Krug, author of Don’t Make Me Think, aptly named his UX consultancy business, ‘Advanced Common Sense’. While it’s a funny name, common sense is a guiding force of UX. As a result of the ubiquity of the internet, nearly everyone is a user and has some knowledge of conventions and recognition for user-friendly design. That’s why, as a user jumping the fourth wall into designing user interfaces, it was tempting to think that UX work was going to be easy. It’s one thing to be able to recognize good UX design, but it’s a whole other thing to be able to implement it effectively in the right contexts.
I found myself reflecting on my first website redesign project while reading his book. It was exciting to read through a chapter and realize that I had inadvertently done the right thing, just as it was humbling and informative to read through and realize a lot of the things I had tried were wrong.
Background, Problems, and Solutions
LSSE stands for Leisure Services and Supplemental Education, and it is essentially the parks and recreation department of the Town of Amherst where I worked the better part of 2 years as their marketing coordinator. At the time of my hire, the department’s website was in disrepair. I made it my banner cause to fix it.
LSSE’s homepage had exchanged so many different set of hands over the years. Someone would take an interest, change a few things, add a page or two, then put it down. Then, another person would do the same. Countless iterations of this haphazard design process loaded the site with aimless and outdated content.
The most glaring issue was that there were two (2) homepages for the department; one hosted by the Town’s website provider, CivicPlus, and the other by its registration software provider, Vermont Systems. Like fraternal twins, the homepages were related but dissimilar. They had incongruent menu navigation and only a single link connecting one to the other.
While this did not make for a website with a particularly great user experience, it did turn out to be an excellent playground for an intermediate graphic designer interested in UX.
Things I inadvertently did that were right
User Testing
In the way that user testing is typically thought of, I did not conduct formal testing where I observed a user navigate the site. However, I was able to gather user data through the customer service aspect of my role. Customers (or users) would call the office and I would be the first to pick up the phone. I would talk them through the online process and ask probing questions to figure out where they got lost. With this information, I was able to figure out the issues to fix. Since I was fielding calls and customers every day, I was able to get continual feedback to make iterative changes
Affordances, Conventions, and UI
From my experience as a graphic designer, I knew that visual layout mattered and affected how easy it was to use webpages. Visual cues like affordances were a part of this. I adhered to a style guide and arranged text and visual items in aesthetic ways so that they were more likely to be read and understood.
Information Architecture
Poring over the sitemap and taking stock of the existing content proved to be a good starting point for the redesign. It informed my decisions of what content was important, what was not, and what information was lacking. I was able to create a hierarchy and drop-down menu which made it easier for users to find what they were looking for.
Things I tried that didn’t pan out or were embarassingly wrong
Instructions
Since the website had two homepages and was inherently confusing, I was desperate to find a temporary solution on my first try. I employed the use of a link titled ‘Instructions’ next to a ‘Registration homepage’ link. The result was more calls to the office with questions about, not only how to register, but the instructions and their wording. I removed it after a week of confused calls from parents.
Conclusion
I’m happy to say I learned a lot organically from working on this project and reflecting back on it. It is always good to look back at past work with a more informed lens in order to reevaluate and improve. This is especially important in the field of UX. As I have been broadening my knowledge of UX and refining my skills as a designer, I am looking forward to seeing how I will improve in the future!