Website Redesign and Prototype Development: Yale School of Art
The objective of this project was to select a company and enhance its digital presence through a redesigned or newly created website. The focus was on improving user experience by identifying and addressing specific user needs, emphasizing usability, functionality, and aesthetic appeal. This work was completed as part of the MIS3506 course, which emphasizes user-centric design principles.
For this project, I chose the Yale School of Art website, a critical resource for prospective students, current students, faculty, alumni, and art enthusiasts. While the existing website provides valuable information, it suffers from outdated design, unintuitive navigation, and difficulty locating key content. These challenges underscored the need for a redesign to enhance usability, accessibility, and overall user experience.
Requirement Analysis
I conducted a comprehensive requirement analysis to understand the primary users and their goals:
- Prospective Students: Seek information on academic programs, admissions, and examples of student work.
- Current Students: Need access to resources, event updates, and tools for booking equipment.
- Faculty: Require a platform to share course materials, communicate with students, and promote their work.
- Alumni: Want to stay connected, access career resources, and showcase their achievements.
- Public Visitors: Look for information on exhibitions, events, and general school details.
The redesigned website needed to feature intuitive navigation, dynamic galleries for artwork, responsive design for accessibility, and tools for event updates and secure portals. Additionally, the site had to maintain the artistic identity of the school while integrating modern usability features.
User Persona: Emma Carter
To guide the design process, I developed a persona named Emma Carter:
- Background: A 32-year-old freelance graphic designer and art enthusiast from Brooklyn, NY, with a Bachelor’s degree in Fine Arts.
- Goals: Stay informed about exhibitions, browse artwork galleries, and learn more about the school’s history and programs.
- Pain Points: Finds academic sites outdated or cluttered, struggles with complex navigation, and dislikes slow-loading pages.
- Needs: A user-friendly event calendar, high-quality online galleries, responsive design, and engaging multimedia content.
Figma Prototype
Using Figma, I developed a high-fidelity prototype for the redesigned website. The prototype reflects a modern, clean aesthetic aligned with the school’s artistic brand. Key features include:
- Navigation Menu: Simple, intuitive design for seamless exploration.
- Five Core Pages: Home, About, Apply, Exhibitions, and Log In.
- Call-to-Action: A prominent “Apply Now” button to streamline the application process.
- Visual Enhancements: High-quality galleries, a responsive layout, and engaging multimedia elements.
Key Takeaways
This project provided valuable hands-on experience in user experience design and prototyping. I gained skills in:
- Conducting requirement analyses and creating user personas.
- Identifying and addressing usability challenges.
- Using Figma to create professional, user-friendly prototypes.
This project reflects my ability to integrate creativity and analytical thinking to deliver visually compelling and functional digital solutions. It also demonstrates my proficiency in applying user-centric design principles to real-world scenarios.
Link to my prototype website: https://www.figma.com/proto/4DlI5Vgdf4bXPTuxXa5Oug/Untitled?node-id=1-2&node-type=frame&t=It6jbWBpAqvMVSQh-0&scaling=min-zoom&content-scaling=fixed&page-id=0%3A1
