Knowledge at Wharton Redesign
︎Knowledge at Wharton
A business journal from the Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania. They aim to share their intellectual capital with free access to all of their articles, podcasts, and videos highlighting Wharton faculty research and analysis of current business trends.
︎role
Iterative Design
Wireframing
User Interface Design Brainstorming Workshops
Design System CreationLogo Redesign
Brand Refresh
Content Audit
Iterative Design
Wireframing
User Interface Design Brainstorming Workshops
Design System CreationLogo Redesign
Brand Refresh
Content Audit
︎understanding the challenge
Knowledge at Wharton has a lot of content and resources to offer, but people don’t know it exists. The content that did exist on the site often lead to dead ends.
︎opportunities
+ Introduce Knowledge at Wharton to new users
+ Strike a balance between bite-sized pieces that are digestible easy to skim and more in-depth content
+ Create unique design elements that not only provide a wholistic on-site experience, but can be used to promote the site
+ Consider user-friendly cues to increase engagement with all types of content
+ Article pages must act as website landing pages, with so many users landing first on these pages
+ Streamline the main site navigation to cater to how users are moving through the site.
+ Create consistent callouts at the bottom of content detail pages so users are always met with something else to read.
+ Introduce Knowledge at Wharton to new users
+ Strike a balance between bite-sized pieces that are digestible easy to skim and more in-depth content
+ Create unique design elements that not only provide a wholistic on-site experience, but can be used to promote the site
+ Consider user-friendly cues to increase engagement with all types of content
+ Article pages must act as website landing pages, with so many users landing first on these pages
+ Streamline the main site navigation to cater to how users are moving through the site.
+ Create consistent callouts at the bottom of content detail pages so users are always met with something else to read.
︎goals
+ Establish a design system and identity that helps define who Knowledge at Wharton is on and off-site
+ Aggregation of insights to create one seamless user experience
+ Create an experience that strategically connects various types of related content in an accessible and user-friendly way
+ Capture all audiences once they arrive on the site and create an experience that makes them want to return and take an action
+ Optimize article pages to become landing pages that not only house article content but encourages deeper site exploration - retention
+ Establish a design system and identity that helps define who Knowledge at Wharton is on and off-site
+ Aggregation of insights to create one seamless user experience
+ Create an experience that strategically connects various types of related content in an accessible and user-friendly way
+ Capture all audiences once they arrive on the site and create an experience that makes them want to return and take an action
+ Optimize article pages to become landing pages that not only house article content but encourages deeper site exploration - retention
UXD
︎research conducted
In order to make informed decisions during strategy and design, there were a series of exercises to minimize assumptions and establish opportunities.
︎︎︎ User Interviews
︎︎︎3 Workshops
︎︎︎ Survey Results Review
︎︎︎Material Audit
︎︎︎Website Heat Mapping
︎︎︎ Competitor Analysis
In order to make informed decisions during strategy and design, there were a series of exercises to minimize assumptions and establish opportunities.
︎︎︎ User Interviews
︎︎︎3 Workshops
︎︎︎ Survey Results Review
︎︎︎Material Audit
︎︎︎Website Heat Mapping
︎︎︎ Competitor Analysis
︎synthesizing research & establishing opportunities
The various research methodologies provided great insight into the user journey, who are audiences are and the areas needing the most optimization. Creating surveys and workshops help set our goals and get real time feedback from the users themselves.
“Even when [looking at] market trends or things like that, it’s the things that offer conclusion rather than regurgitating the data.” - In response to article content
The various research methodologies provided great insight into the user journey, who are audiences are and the areas needing the most optimization. Creating surveys and workshops help set our goals and get real time feedback from the users themselves.
“Even when [looking at] market trends or things like that, it’s the things that offer conclusion rather than regurgitating the data.” - In response to article content
Audiences
Based on analytics and interview, there were several audiences defined.
︎wharton associated audience
︎︎︎Students
︎︎︎Alumni
︎︎︎Faculty & Staff
︎︎︎Students
︎︎︎Alumni
︎︎︎Faculty & Staff
︎non-wharton associated audience
︎︎︎Journalists
︎︎︎Press
︎︎︎Industry Professionals
︎︎︎Journalists
︎︎︎Press
︎︎︎Industry Professionals
︎︎︎Organic Search Visitors
Organic Search drives the most amount of traffic to the site and has continued to increase year over year. This provides a large opportunity to get in front of an audience who is not as familiar with Knowledge at Wharton and convert them into a return audience - only 15% of organic search users returned to the site more than once in the past year.
︎︎︎Email Subsribers
According to the survey results, the majority of this audience has subscribed for more than 5 years, while there is also a newer audience as well (subscribed for 2 or less years). This audience mainly lives in North America, skews older (over 55) and works in the following industries: C-Suite, Manager, Retired.
Strategy
︎wireframing & content audit
Knowledge at Wharton is a content heavy site. There were 4 main types of content - articles, video, podcasts and books. During the strategy phase, it was key determine the content pieces for each of the content types. This would optimize the content pages and lead to digestible information. This was the start of thinking through the component library with the goal of effortlessly incorporating different types of content together in a way that feels easy to understand and expected.
Knowledge at Wharton is a content heavy site. There were 4 main types of content - articles, video, podcasts and books. During the strategy phase, it was key determine the content pieces for each of the content types. This would optimize the content pages and lead to digestible information. This was the start of thinking through the component library with the goal of effortlessly incorporating different types of content together in a way that feels easy to understand and expected.
Design
︎design & component systemI created a design system that allowed space for fluid, creative evolution. I made sure to create components that were easily accessible and could even be applied accross other mediums. The content pieces needed to be fluid enough to be placed throughout different pages and layouts of the site. The system was based off the atomic design methodology — base styles, UI elements, components, templates and pages.
