At the beginning of the internship, I met with some of the heads of the department to discuss the current state of the site, the problems it had, and the goals they had for the site going forward. The site had been quickly thrown together out of necessity, and did not properly convey the cool factor of the field or UVU's department (which had been ranked #1 nationally!). The goal of the redesign was to showcase the cool things going on in UVU's department, and the tech industry at large, in a way that would entice prospective students, while also providing important resources to current students.
I learned a lot from my meetings with the heads of the Digital Media department, but I still had some additional questions to answer before I began working on a solution. First, I performed a heuristic evaluation of the existing site to look for usability issues and any other areas that the site could be improved.
From the heuristic markup, I saw many opportunities where additional information and context could be provided to further intrigue and inform prospective students.
In addition to the heuristic evaluation, I also sent out surveys to current students and alumni of the program to ask about why they chose to pursue this program as their major, why they chose to pursue it at UVU, and about their experience using the site. I gained a lot of key insights into what had attracted students that I could emphasize in the redesign.
From the surveys, I learned that the main reason that alumni and current students had chosen to pursue their degree at UVU was because it was the best option for this program. With the redesign, I wanted to establish the department's credibility and make sure to convey to visitors of the site that UVU's Web Design & Development program is #1. I did this with a refreshed section that links to the article in which UVU received its ranking.
From the surveys I also learned that the main thing that had drawn students to this program was the desire to work with new and emerging technologies. The old site had a section with several small thumbnails of student projects, but I wanted to expand this to better showcase the cool things that students of the program have been working on. I refreshed the look of the project thumbnails and designed a page that could provide additional context and photos to intrigue prospective students and give them a call to action to switch into the program.
Another insight I gained from the survey participants was that they wished information about internships had been more easily accessible. The old landing page didn't have any mention of internships, which was surprising, given the fact that internships are an essential part of the program. I added a section about internships that linked out to the department's internship hub and also acted as social proof, showing off the cool companies that students have interned for, to get current and prospective students excited and help them set their expectations high.
Overall, I really enjoyed my internship experience, and I learned a lot. This internship did an excellent job of preparing me for my future career by helping me build my skill set when it comes to staying adaptable, being a good team player, and working within constraints.
If you like what you see and want to work together, get in touch!
taylorwfletcher@gmail.com