Ran a comprehensive user research study for the BU Homepage redesign

For this project, my role was solely user research. The Boston University homepage was undergoing its first major redesign in a decade, and the stakeholders wanted to ensure the new design was on target, easy to use, and accomplishing project goals before moving into development. Specifically, testing the usability of the new mega navigation pattern was important, as the new design moved away from mega hover states which made content discoverable more quickly. My job was to propose a plan for research which would answer these questions, design protocols, organize and supervise moderators, and review the data and present findings.

I used a blend of quantitative and qualitative research, including a custom-built survey in Qualtrics with logic and branching, custom-built functionality to track if a prototype menu was opened in Qualtrics, and audience segmentation over five audiences. Two key audiences were also identified for in-person usability sessions, where a moderator observed the participant, recorded their screen, and asked follow up questions. During these sessions, my goal was to identify if there would be any challenges to implementing the new mega navigation from a usability perspective. The study also had a brand perception section, which sought to measure participants’ perception of Boston University based on the design they were presented. For this section, I used Likert scales as well as open-ended text with a sentiment word analysis tool.

The findings were super interesting, and I was able to follow up with recommendations as well. Check them out in full here!