Redesigning a campus platform to reclaim engagement at City Tech
If it looks modern, will it improve student accessibility and engagement? Spoiler alert: yes it will.
The problem
Free courses & portfolio sites; yet only 5% of City Tech’s students used OpenLab
City Tech is a college in Brooklyn, NY with over 13,000 current students and an alumni network spanning over 113,000 members. As their UX Team, we had to figure out why students look past OpenLab’s free and extremely valuable features, and redesign the platform to solve the issue.
Background
The OpenLab at CUNY’s City Tech college is at the intersection of online communities and open learning resources, presented as a hub for all students, faculty, alumni and the public to find courses, clubs, projects and portfolios. The site was last updated in 2016, and is maintained by one developer.
The outdated layout, inconsistent labels, and overloaded interfaces made it difficult to navigate.
They preferred going to their courses directly, and used bookmarks often. They were often confused with filters & labels on course pages.
The approach
If it looks modern, will it improve student accessibility and engagement?
Spoiler alert: yes it will.
Reaching this outcome meant diving deep into research, collaborating with stakeholders, and iterating tirelessly in Figma. By simplifying the structure and modernizing visual elements, we focused on prioritizing clarity to solve most of our user issues!
The solution
Organized information with hierarchy and navigation tabs
We decided to implement an information hierarchy on the site to enable quick scanning and access. Created bold buttons to direct CTAs.
We fixed the hamburger menu problem
We used tabs to sort in-page menus, created expandable sub menus where it matters, and created dashboard shortcuts to ensure fast and direct access.
Upgraded style guide to include modern visual cues
We defined use cases for icons, decluttered the colors and contrast on each interactive element to ensure universal understanding and accessibility.
WE FIXED THE THREE MENU PROBLEMWe used tabs to sort in-page menus, created expandable sub menus where it matters, and created dashboard shortcuts
Organized information with hierarchy and navigation tabsWe decided to implement an information hierarchy on the site to enable quick scanning and access. Created bold buttons to direct CTAs.
Upgraded style guide to include modern visual cuesWe defined use cases for icons, decluttered the colors and contrast on each interactive element to ensure universal understanding and accessibility.
You can interact with our redesigned prototype here!
Results & learnings
Our stakeholders loved our redesigns, and are taking it back to the board to discuss strategies to implement it!
This project was a rollercoaster, but I learned great lessons working on a project with great ambitions.
Stakeholder negotiations require listening. This project made me understand the need to empathize with clients and speak their language if you want to communicate your vision and ideas.
Limitations = practicality. Working within limitations is not a limitation at all! I liked having a fixed scope and it was a fun challenge to fit our ideas in a box.
