Innovation Hub Website Redesign
Improving clarity, impact, and user experience for the University of Toronto's Innovation Hub.
Project Overview
Timeline
April 2024 - June 2024
My Role
UX Designer, Frontend Developer Lead
Tools Used
Figma, Wordpress, HTML, CSS, JavaScript
Research & Discovery
Stakeholder Analysis
In order to understand who this website serves and what pain points they may have, we conducted interviews with the Innovation Hub's stakeholders. Here's what we found:
Students
Primary users who need to understand how to engage with the Innovation Hub and what benefits it provides to their university experience.
Campus Project Partners
Faculty and staff looking to collaborate on initiatives who need clear information about capabilities and process.
External Users
Visitors from outside U of T who need to quickly understand the Innovation Hub's purpose and impact.
Problem Space
Through usability evaluations, we identified three main pain points that users experienced with the Innovation Hub's website.
Lack of Clarity
Stakeholders couldn't understand what Innovation Hub was, despite reading the landing page. Content was overly complex and lacked a clear value proposition.
Poor Space Utilization
Excessive white space that didn't effectively communicate information. Important content was buried below the fold, leading to high bounce rates.
Unclear Impact
Difficulty understanding the Hub's achievements and value to the university community. Metrics and success stories were absent from the main user flows.
Design Process
User Research Methods
User interviews, A/B testing, and usability testing
Design Iterations
After creating multiple iterations of the landing page, we conducted usability evaluations with users to see which variations were most effective at communicating the Innovation Hub's purpose and impact.
Solutions Implemented
Clear Language
Simplified and refined content to ensure visitors immediately understand the Innovation Hub's purpose and offerings.
Performance Metrics
Added concrete metrics (58 projects completed, 1700+ student stories heard, 120+ staff stories) to demonstrate measurable impact.
Improved CTAs
Created clear pathways to important content with strategically placed, action-oriented call-to-action buttons.
Enhanced Visual Design
Improved spacing, formatting, and incorporated relevant graphics to create a more engaging user experience.
Results & Impact
Increased System Usability Scale (SUS) score +10, and users reported that the redesigned site was more user-friendly and effective.
Use the slider to compare the before and after of the landing page.
Reflections
This project was a great opportunity to work with stakeholders to improve the Innovation Hub's website. It was also a great opportunity to learn about the importance of clear language and visual design in user experience.