Finding 1
10% answer
“No”
90% answer
“Yes”
Was there something different you expected to see on the screen?
Deep Red represents negative feedback, Grey is neutral, and Deep Green represents the positive feed back
After each task was completed, participants were asked 3 separate questions to evaluate how they felt about the process of completing the tasks and the interface.
Data Synthesis
Post- Task Questions
1
2
3
Simulating Typical User Interactions with the CCPD Website
1. You’re looking to apply to jobs soon, locate information on resume building/review services and check meeting availability.
2. You’re graduating soon and have been thinking about starting to apply for jobs within your field. See if the CCPD offers any events that could help you with this.
3. One of your friends could make use of some of the services at the CCPD, and they mentioned being interested in seeing if any workshops are happening. See how the CCPD could help with this.
4. You need to update your portfolio materials for a job interview you have coming up, and find information about portfolio services offered on the CCPD website.
5. You are trying to find your alumnus for advice regarding your career, and see if the CCPD has any resources to foster these connections.
Tasks
The recommendations focus on improving the website's usability through:
Organization and Structure of Information
Content Strategy
Flexibility and Efficiency of Use
Visual Hierarchy
These targeted design changes aim for high impact with minimal effort, while considering existing constraints.
High-Impact, Low-Effort Usability Enhancements
Overall Findings
Participants found it rather difficult and unintuitive to navigate through the site when seeking specific information
“I would rather just email them for information instead of searching through every sub-tab on the website."
"I usually attend the workshops hosted, they are quite helpful"
" I've already forgotten how I got to this page. I can't even find that link anymore."
Found the workshops hosted by CCPD to be very educational and helpful
Participants felt overwhelmed by the website's dense information layout, which hindered their ability to retain knowledge for future visits.
90%
75%
80%
As a group, we noted down user problems during testing in a comprehensive spreadsheet.
By utilizing affinity mapping, we grouped and labeled these findings by category, revealing the most common issues within the interface. We prioritized problems based on frequency and severity to guide our design recommendations, which will be outlined in the following section.
Identifying and Prioritizing Issues with Affinity Mapping
Give three words to describe your experience with the CCPD website?
Post - Test Question
1
Considering your experience
with the current CCPD website,
would you be inclined to revisit it?
2
Post - Test Question
Overall, specific information is hard for users to locate
Finding 4
Participants universally expressed frustration with the CCPD website experience, finding it difficult to locate information.
Users believe they require email or a method to contact staff for additional assistance.
During testing, participants resorted to clicking through every section of the left-side navigation to find information.
Add a sticky button that is clickable and leads to the CCPD FAQ Google Doc
Recommendation 4
Click Here for Help
Introduce a floating button that users can click at any time while browsing the website for immediate assistance. This button will direct them to the current FAQ document, which presents all information in a structured manner with relevant links, effectively preventing roadblocks.
BONUS - convert the current FAQ Google Doc into a web page accessible through the left side navigation.
The side navigation bar is over crowded with irrelevant information
Finding 3
The CCPD website previously featured an overly extensive array of content, much of which fell outside the typical scope of career services. This surplus of information significantly hindered the effectiveness of user navigation.
Many participants found themselves spending excessive time under topic headers that were not pertinent to their search needs, leading to frustration and inefficiency in their information discovery process.
Remove non-CCPD related content from the left side navigation
Recommendation 3
Eliminate content that falls outside the scope of CCPD to streamline the user experience.
Participants felt that finding information related to portfolio services and resume building appointments was difficult.
Finding 2
Too many clicks!
There are no specific indicators in the left navigation that these services are available.
The "Appointments" link in the current left-hand navigation directs students to a general Handshake page, which then requires multiple clicks to reach the desired location.
This caused frustration among students as they tried to address their specific needs.
Introduce deep links to the appropriate page
in Handshake
Recommendation 2
The Handshake page is deep-linked to a specific appointment type for resume and portfolio assistance
Now when a participant clicks a link to schedule an appointment from a specific context, such as resume or portfolio, it directs them to the relevant appointment group in Handshake reducing time spent on the task.
"I'm excited to implement these changes. You've made them straightforward to follow by considering our constraints and working within the template and scope."
"This research is incredibly detailed and will greatly simplify our pitch to other stakeholders. The insights we've gained into user activity are invaluable."
Client Presentation
Findings from the study and recommendations were delivered to the client in a final report and a presentation.
Charlotte Savidge, Director of Development Communications
Alex Weiss Hills , Director of Digital Communications
Design feature interventions according to recommendations proposed.
Evaluate new concepts at scale to measure success through beta test to make iterative improvements and launch successfully.
Consider full content audit to reduce text and optimize messaging for efficiency.
Next Steps
Incorporating design recommendations from stakeholder feedback sessions was immensely helpful, enabling us to implement effective changes while respecting template and information architecture constraints.
The positive client feedback and the practical application of our recommendations affirmed the project's impact. We anticipate these changes will significantly improve the website’s usability, improving user experiences during crucial moments and promoting intuitive design.
Takeaways: Navigating Challenges
Scope of work and Timeline
Kick off Meeting:
Scope & Goal + Research Plan
UX:
Moderator Script, tasks, Questionnaires
Testing:
Participant recruitment, Usability testing, List of usability issues
Report :
Analyze & identify usability issues, findings and recommendations
UI :
Mockups, Presentation desk, final report
Discovery
Design
Delivery
We employed moderated remote user testing to collect our data. My role involved recruiting participants, designing, and setting up the test. I conducted two of the eight sessions, analyzed the data, identified issues, and proposed recommendations. Additionally, I prepared presentation slides and a report, presented the research findings to the client, and addressed their questions. I also coordinated team communications and managed the planning and scheduling of meetings.
Kick off meeting
Our journey began with a promising kickoff meeting, during which we collaborated with CCPD’s director to define the scope of the study. Through which, we were able to obtain information about the CCPD’s target users, as well as the key functions of the website that were then highlighted for evaluation.
Optimizing Pratt's Career Center Website for Intuitive Information Retrieval
Over 6 weeks, our team of four UX researchers and designers conducted a user research project on the Pratt Center for Career and Professional Development (CCPD) website. We aimed to improve usability and engagement by simplifying access to services like portfolio assembly, resume writing, and interview prep. Through online moderated testing of five key tasks, we identified and implemented high-impact, low-effort recommendations to enhance communication and resource accessibility, ensuring a more seamless experience for students seeking career support.
Center for Digital Experiences at Pratt Institute , New York
My Role
User Researcher
UX Designer
Moderated User testing
Duration
6 weeks
(March-May 2024)
Collaborators
Team of 4 UX Designers and Researchers
Evaluation Focus
Participant Selection
To enhance
the usability of the CCPD website to better meet student needs.
To identify
which elements of the website students find challenging to navigate, gathering insights to guide targeted improvements.
To recommend
adjustments to the site that would provide maximum value with minimum effort.
We identified our target users to be undergraduate students at Pratt Institute who are actively seeking resources for resume and portfolio development, internships, and general career assistance. We created a screener questionnaire to be sent out to students at Pratt Institute so as to recruit a diverse set of participants
Nationality
Current Year
Gender
Ineffective Communication and Information Access on the CCPD Website
Problem Space
Goals
To tackle the identified issues, we initiated moderated online testing with targeted user groups.
This approach enabled direct interaction with users, allowing us to capture detailed feedback on their experiences and frustrations.
The integration of both quantitative and qualitative data from these sessions informed precise, actionable recommendations to enhance the website’s usability and effectiveness.
Implementing Moderated Testing for Strategic Improvements
The CCPD Center was overwhelmed with enquiry emails and calls due to students' difficulty in accessing the necessary information on their website.
Although the website contained crucial information, students found it challenging to navigate, leading to ineffective communication and low turnout for events hosted by the CCPD.
This highlighted a pressing need to improve the website’s usability and communication strategy to better serve students and meet the center's objectives.
Demographics of selected participants
Degree Type
What are you studying?
Have you ever used the CCPD website before?
Have you attended any events organized by the CCPD previously, If yes how did you find out about it?
User Type
Pre Test Questioning
Photos chosen for pages don’t feel relevant to participants, and don’t act as a visual cue to help them find what they’re looking for.
Pages have dense sections of text that participants either skim or skip past entirely, instead opting to search for a direct link. This leads to them missing key information.
Direct links can be a bit unclear, as they’re often hidden within paragraphs.
Reorganize content to be less dense, and add
relevant images to help with content searching
Recommendation 1
Make it clear resume and portfolio appointments are handled on this page, as that was an important insight gained from testing.
By giving specific services their own section and making the "Schedule Appointment" link more visually distinct with an arrow, the update ensures that users clearly understand what they wish to perform.
Resources information is now visible on appointments page
Include more imagery in general, and make it more task relevant to aid users in their search for information.
Users have a hard time locating key information on pages
Finding 1
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