Online focus groups with prospective high school students uncovered the insight that, when choosing a college, students have a list of criteria but ultimately want to see themselves at the campus exploring their passions and achieving success. Students told us that, “The site says why this school is right for me and draws me in” and “I want it to feel like it is a good fit for me.”

And we couldn’t forget about parents, who want their child to get the full college experience but also a great ROI. Parent told us that, “I want it to feel homey…it should welcome you to your next home where you are going to spend 4 years.” and “It needs to have info about financial aid, jobs and careers.”

JWU had envisioned this experience as a one size fits all but after I mapped the student journey through the admissions process to the various stages students experience (considering JWU, applied to JWU or accepted at JWU), it was clear we needed a more tailored approach.

Recognizable campus photography guides visitors to one of two campuses so they can quickly self identify their stage of the journey (interested, applied, accepted). By providing a campus specific experience and speaking uniquely to students at each stage of the decision-making process, we demonstrated our understanding of their concerns and questions as they navigate their college search.

Those that are considering JWU want the basic facts, list of majors and to make real connections via moderated tours, student chats and meet professors. Those that have applied want deeper content to keep JWU top of mind. And those that have been accepted need to be reminded of why JWU is the best choice and to learn more about what life on campus would entail.

On these customized pages, a student interested in the the Providence campus can learn about the university through facts, success stories, and videos with strong calls to action to connect with a rep or rsvp for virtual events.

By representing all facets of the college experience such as student life, experiential opportunities, and life after JWU, students are able to connect emotionally with JWU.

An “explore campus” menu was created to allow users to quickly jump to another topic or another campus. The menu is anchored under the header navigation and stays with the user throughout their journey.

Students love interview style videos with current students talking about their experiences. They engaged more when they felt they were getting “an insider view.”

I conducted a pathway analysis showed how students would access the new virtual experience from various places throughout the entire site to ensure there was a number of meaningful access points.

Students have many online and in-person opportunities to experience and an easy-to-use registration experience is there to guide them.

The GTECH homepage design utilized layered content areas to make the page interactive and more easily consumed while retaining mobile responsiveness. At first glance, strong use of color for active elements and key calls to action added interest and delight. Visitors get to know GTECH quickly by understanding their businesses, global reach, top news, events, and responsible gaming initiatives.

The new site consolidated the four business units of Lottery, Gaming, Interactive and Betting across their global presence in Germany, Canada, Italy and the United States. Cross regions working sessions and design reviews allowed for consolidation of content and consensus building on the approach.

Each of GTECH’s websites scatted around the globe portrayed a disjointed, fragmented visual presence and inconsistent brand story that would be brought together under one visual design system on a single website.

Site users included typical corporate site users such as media investors, job candidates and prospective customers but also those specific to the gaming and lottery industry such as Product distributors, Content creators (at casinos and other gaming entities) and Licensors.

I created current state site maps were created for each of the 5 regional websites to ensure an accurate inventory. I identified required content versus duplicate or unneeded content. A single sitemap emerged for the new site after many working sessions with a distributed team around the globe.

The visual design leveraged the update style guide with content provided in both English and Spanish.

The BCBSRI Homepage provides links tailored to who you are (e.g. an individual or family, medicare recipient or employer) and where you are in your shopping process (e.g. I have insurance or I need insurance). The site provides many shortcuts and a persistent panel to log into the portals if you are already a member or customer of BCBSRI.

Many rounds of conceptual models were conducted to land on the mechanism for how the site would be organized for sales, service and corporate content.

Shopping for insurance required strong information as there was a large volume of complex plan information that had to be organized. Visual design clearly highlighted the calls to action to connect with a person, use a plan finder wizard or apply online for insurance coverage.

This is a rich page as it allows members to see the plan highlights, ability to link into the detailed plan pages and access the “Find a Plan for Me” wizard. Once satisfied with the research, members are able to apply from the comparison page.

High level journeys / process flows were written for each audience: members, brokers, providers and employer to ensure that each user group’s needs was well supported across their journey.

The site map spanned over 18 tabloid pages as it notated all content, guided step processes, integrations and, links to other digital tools in the ecosystem.

Task flows were created for critical and frequently performed tasks to ensure to right logic and pathways.

A welcoming color palette for the organization allowed the portal to be non-intimidating despite the complex financials and multi-step process to enroll each child.

Parents tend to perform these activities like paying bills and enrolling their children during school pick up and had to be easy to do from a mobile phone.

Strong information hierarchy, Iconography, and meaningful use of color were key elements to increase usability.

The design balanced the use of instructional copy and visuals cues to make it easy to process a screen and find the key information you need.

The sitemap organized three sets of information and features: (1) The ‘My children’ area includes each child's identifying information, doctors, insurance, health status, contacts and permissions and (2) ‘Contacts’ area to manage family arrangements for parents, grandparents, dual families and other care providers and lastly, (3) Sign up for new parents. You might notice that the site map was used to note the sprints and track the completion status of the wireframes and visual designs.

Accuracy and thoroughness of the specifications streamlined the engineering process.

The final solution consists of a branded masthead that can be updated based on key things happening at the university (e.g. anniversary celebration), modular blocks that represented key resources that are organized in a way that is meaningful to students. The words they use in discussing their university experience were used to organize the modules: academics, library, career, student life, registration & grades and financial. Fitting to their world made it easy for them to find what they were looking for.

This user map shows the many audiences that could access the portal but emphasis was placed on students. Student characteristics (e.g. full vs. part time, on campus vs. commuter, class choices) were used to personalize the resources that they would see while allowing them the power to customize those choices.

The key insight we uncovered is that students cobbled together disparate methods to stay informed about what is going on at the university (inc. random methods such as flyers posted in the restrooms). Not a single student was aware of well supported, important university resources and out of that insight alone, a compelling vision was born that drove this year long project.

Workshops were conducted with key departments around the university that provide services and resources to the students. The results of these working sessions were used to create the final organization of the portal.

The team rallied around a vision with confidence after defining 4 distinct direction by drafting unique stories that outlined the idea, described the future experience, referenced student quotes and listed what features that direction might include. The team agreed that the solution would be GATEWAY which was about directing students and SUPPORTIVE which was about guiding students. This was an incredibly useful exercise to gain consensus and bring clarity to the work and design decisions that had to be made.

A visual inventory used color to highlight the JWU items (tools, content, communications, calendar items), non-JWU resources and wish list of future items that were needed in the portal. Marking those items that were top of mind further highlighted how few of these items were being used by students due to lack of awareness.

Items that were used by more students and used more frequently were prioritized in the portal by reserving more real estate, placing them towards the top of the screen or creating featured links.

Templated components provided consistency across the portal. Each resource could have a shallow component that just needed a description, a medium component that provided shortcuts and resources or a deep component that also provided more elements and contact information to get assistance.

Communications, tools and support were anchored in specific area so that students would easily know where to look for information. The timely news and announcements (blue) were located along the left edge, key information and tools in the center (green) and support resources (orange) along the right. Following these rules for each of the six tabs eased students situational awareness as they moved from tab to tab.

By showing images of small business owners and comforting quotes, visitors fears are quickly dispelled. For those that may not be comfortable with an online application, alternative ways to apply using a paper application or by phone ensures completion. Laying support through the use of FAQs following by customer service number encourages self service before seeing the phone number. Since a number of applicant do not speak English as a first language, multiple languages options are provided.

A six step guided process take the user on a journey that gathers prescreening information, income and expenses, loan request amount, business information and loan agreement with empathetic redirects and coaching when information entered does not render them eligible at this time.

Using color and checkmarks to mark the completed steps is comforting to user and encourages them to finish the application. On each page, contextual quotes ease any concerns and FAQs specific to that step are easily accessible. Loan amounts that are too high to match their income and expenses are quickly flagged to eliminate loan requests that would be denied, increasing the chance of acceptance and eliminating unreasonable requests.

An option was included to save the application for later which encouraged applicants to return, preventing reentry of data.

Each step in the process could also be accessed in the primary flow or at the end of the process from the confirmation page.