Yale University
Project: Yale.edu Website Redesign
Project Lead, Kickoff Meetings, User Research, Creative Brief, Project Goals & Strategy, Information Architecture, Design Prototypes & Review, Content Strategy, Usability Testing & QA
The Problem
Yale University does not have an issue with name recognition. However, they do struggle with a lot of misconceptions. People often assume that because Yale is an Ivy League school it is stodgy, buttoned up, and even cold. But these assumptions couldn’t be any further from the truth. Yale as a place is joyful, exciting, and experimental.
With a vast expanse of web presences, including over a thousand separate web entities, the Yale online experience runs the gamut. But Yale’s main site, Yale.edu, was a product of board room debates and homepage real-estate battles. This site and many of its other online limbs were outdated, stagnant, and no longer a good representation of the vast amounts of personality and possibility that Yale offers. The main navigation of the site had been revised so much over the years it no longer held up. It wasn’t clear who the target audience was or what any one would come to the site to do.
The Solution
PROMOTING EXPLORATION
We built a fully responsive and richly interactive site, that promotes the cabinet of curiosity that is Yale. Users are introduced to a myriad of experiences available and encouraged to explore unique departments and offerings via an interactive homepage feature that filters by topic or shuffles at random, exposing every user, from strangers to even the most insider of insiders with a fresh look at the institution's offerings.
STREAMLINED INFORMATION ARCHITECTURE
Our site needed to act as the table of contents for the University's expansive online ecosystem. It needed to connect Yale's vast and varied audiences to the content they seek, quickly and efficiently. By narrowing down exactly which target audiences we were speaking to, where, and when, we were able to create a well-paced, easy to navigate experience that now acts as a launchpad for Yale’s many other offerings.
THOUGHTFUL USER RESEARCH & PERSONAS
Understanding Yale's target audiences was just as important as understanding the institution itself. We rolled up our selves and conducted one-on-one interviews with key members of the school's highest priority audiences. Using our user research, we crafted personas and experience maps for the various verticals of Yale's core audiences. Our persona work helped to guide both our team and the Yale internal team to make user-focused decisions every step of the way.
ROLLING OUT THE DESIGN SYSTEM
Yale, as an institution, holds it’s many pieces and parts with the highest regard. Divisions of the school have full autonomy and are granted great liberties in how they market themselves. Yale did not want to force any of its departments into a facelift, but wanted to offer up a new fresher look as an option. To accomplish this, we created a related but separate design system that took advantage of the possibility of shared components, without completely opening up the unique experiences and design elements of the main site. By creating a robust, “ready to wear” Drupal Installation, Yale offered an upgrade to its new design system as a gift to its departments and services, not a command.