Designing a Landing Page - UCD Ireland’s Global University
Project Overview
I developed this personal project as part of my assignment under the guidance of AELA MID (Master Interface Design). The chosen company was the University College of Dublin and its student exchange program, Ireland's Global University.
The Challenge
- Designing a Landing Page in order to increase student enrollment at the university. The project should be suitable for web and mobile standards.
The goal
- Crafting a seamless navigation experience by showcasing the university highlights and key differentiators, aiming to impact students' decisions.
Features designed
- New design
- Visas requirements, University highlights, and Student Testimonials sections.
Role:
UX / UI Designer
Responsibilities:
• User Research
• Personas
• Competitor Analysis
• Wireframes
• Responsive design
• High Fidelity Prototype
• Style Guide
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The Discovery
A deep dive to learn about UCD through desk research
It was a pleasure to develop this project while I was living abroad in Dublin, Ireland. As a language student, I found a connection with the UCD students who came from diverse cultures and countries to pursue their goals overseas.
During the initial kick-off, I began with desk research into the current university website. The data I collected was essential for guiding me through the first phase, which involved structuring a database to address three main questions and formulating assumptions.
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Let's organize the findings from Desk Research
I organised the key findings obtained from the Desk Research using the Affinity Map method, grouping them under three main topics: This approach allowed for a quicker and more intuitive visualisation of the findings.
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My assumptions about the findings
At this stage, I formulated some assumptions based on a thorough analysis of the existing website. Through this analysis, I identified certain information gaps that could enhance the experience for prospective students during their journey.
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Problem Discovery
As I progressed, I had an initial idea that could be at the core of the actual problem. Organizing the initial data was crucial for addressing further questions in this phase.
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What's the Problem here?
"Lack of information regarding the university highlights, recognition, and campus infrastructure provided to students could’ve impacted their choices".
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Drill down to its root cause with the 5 Whys methodology
I gained initial insight into the problem and subsequently applied the 5 Whys methodology to identify countermeasures. I didn't complete the full methodology since I had already achieved my goal of obtaining the Problem Statement.
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Let's speak up about a Problem Statement!
"Focused on displaying all services offered by the program turns the experience is a hurtful task due to the lack of main objectives to accomplish during the journey on the website".
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Qualitative Research with former graduate students
Due to the limited depth of information from desk research, and I couldn't arrive at a clear Problem Resolution, I initiated a Qualitative Research phase by interviewing former graduate students to understand the factors that motivated them to study in Ireland.
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Objectives
- To identify the main reasons to study abroad.
- To understand the motivation for choosing the university.
- How students can support themself in financial scenarios.
- What are perspectives after concluding their studies?
Target
- Formers foreign graduate students.
Form
Online meeting.
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Here's what we got, a clear Problem Resolution!
"Designing a landing page exploring university highlights and recognition, campus infrastructure, study programs Undergraduate and Graduate, and so on. Visa requirements and scholarships must be present during the navigation as these topics can impact students' choices".
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Define
A proper look into competitors' websites
After formulating the Problem Resolution, I analyzed competitor websites to understand their strengths, pain points, and available content.
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Meeting our personas that represent our end-users
All the data gathered during the Discovery Phase contributed to the creation of 2 personas, which aided in identifying user pain points, understanding the context, guiding decision-making, and keeping the end-user in focus.
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Develop
Mood Board
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Crafting a user-friendly navigation that aligns with what users need most
I initially sketched wireframe concepts on paper before transitioning to a digital version. After experimenting with several iterations, I retained all versions to track my progress, leading to the development of the final version. Access here to see the wireframe versions mentioned above.
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Wireframing final version Web
Wireframing final version Mobile
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The Delivery
Visual language design
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High-Fidelity Prototype Web
High-Fidelity Prototype Mobile
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Landing Page composition design
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Icons, colors, font, and CTAs
What I've learned from this project!
- Qualitative Research revealed key findings that significantly influenced the chosen approach and provided valuable insights from a diverse range of students.
- Analyzing competitor websites was crucial in organizing the final layout and addressing the information gaps on the current UCD site.
