Client: Immigrant Employment Council of B.C. (IECBC) www.iecbc.ca
Dates: September 2016 - March 2017
Product Design, UX Research, UI/UX Design, Web Design, Project Management
Scope
Website was targeting wrong users who were mostly looking for employment in B.C resulting in high bounce rate. Targeted users had difficulty finding the resources they needed to make informed and intelligent decisions. The website’s CMS was outdated and difficult to navigate and use for publishing content.
Relevancy
The website is an important online resource and educational tool for B.C. employers. IECBC works with employers, government and other partner stakeholders to ensure that B.C. employers can effectively integrate skilled newcomers into the B.C. labour force.
Roles and Experience
Project Manager – Using Agile methodologies and tools such as BitBucket and Gantt charts, communicated design and tracked tasks and code versions with web developer and stakeholders. At end of contract provided hand-off documentation including technical support documents with screenshots and step-by-step instructions and design assets.
UX Researcher – Designed research plans such as email and phone surveys, and gathered and analyzed qualitative and quantitative data from observations, usability tests and Google Analytics to confirm and validate key findings
Design Strategist – Created an information architecture road map and user journeys for complex enterprise level website
UI/UX Designer – Provided lo-fidelity wireframes using pen & paper and rapid prototyping in Sketch and final interface designs and style guide in Photoshop and Illustrator to present UI and UX design to web developer for collaboration and for stakeholders’ approval.
Deliverables
A comprehensive digital content strategy to support thought leadership initiatives. A newly designed responsive website that required a new content strategy, user interface, user interaction and information architecture to reduce user confusion and simplify content navigation, as well as an improved CMS to reduce pain points and frustration.
Timelines
Phase 1 – Discovery, Identify UX Issues
Phase 2 - Quantitative User Research, Analyze Qualitative Data
Phase 3 – Summary of UX Research, Ideation
Phase 4 - Present and Validate Design Strategy and Solutions
Phase 5 – UI Style Guide, Wireframe, Prototype
Phase 6 – Web Framework Build, Content Migration
Phase 7 – Usability Testing, Debug, Delivery, Iterate
Phase 8 – Support, Training, Hand-Off Documentation
Result
Successfully migrated a content-rich Drupal-based platform to Wordpress-based platform and delivered a user-centric, responsive website that reduced client’s web publishing time by more than 50%. Bounce rate reduced from 80% to under 30%. Website rating increased to 4.5 stars.
