Character Lab
Character Lab, a nationwide educational research organization, needed a new platform that would allow their users, educational researchers, to apply to conduct a study directly from their website. The new platform needed a fully-integrated application, as well as a dashboard to manage user applications and research studies. They also needed a new website that made the steps of the multi-part process clear and easy to understand.
My Role
UX Research
As a UX researcher, I conducted interviews with key internal stakeholders and users to understand both business and user need. I also led user testing at the wireframe and design stage.
UX Strategy
As a strategist, I created user flows to show how users could move through the site to achieve four key actions; wireframes to lay out organize new content in a way that helped users get key information, access their application, and apply via a fee-for-service model; and a sitemap to organize all pages of the new website.
The Problem
Role at this phase: Lead Researcher
Skills: User interviews, material review
Through interviews and user tests with Character Lab researchers, as well as conversations with internal stakeholders, it was clear there were several pain points on both the user and administrator side. Processes that should have been simple on the user side were filled with friction due to a limited survey builder, and administrators were having to field countless questions from researchers who were not getting the information they needed to complete the application and build a survey. Researchers were at a loss as to key deadlines and specifics of the process, and the large PDF how-to that Character Lab hoped researchers would read to find this information was not serving its intended purpose. In short, everyone was frustrated.
The Solution
Role at this phase: Lead Strategist
Skills: User flows, wireframes, sitemap
The website: The first step in the process was to create a website for researchers that guided them to find the key information they needed, including both general questions related to process and overall timeline, as well as researcher-specific questions. At the same time, the website needed to serve as a marketing tool, conveying to a potential researcher why they should choose Character Lab over other educational research labs. To do this, I built on research to create user flows that demonstrated how users would move through the new site, and specifically, how they would access the information they needed and then take a simple key action: Apply. I created wireframes that invited researchers in by highlighting the benefits of the research program, provided a robust Get Help section that moved the information held in a PDF onto the website in an organized and easy-to-use way, and added a new, clear timeline that spelled out each step of the process for researchers. Finally, a sitemap was created to organize all pages of the new site in a clear way. I then collaborated with design and development teams to bring the new website to life.
The dashboard: In a second phase of this project, a new dashboard was created that allowed researchers to apply and pay for a research project in a new fee for service model, and also see the status of all current and past research projects, in one place. This required a high level of detail and technical understanding to recreate the application from Qualtrics to Apostrophe CMS and include a payment component. For this phase of the project, I worked collaboratively with Character Lab’s UX team to provide feedback and iterate on wireframes. I also worked heavily with developers to create the new dashboard and ensure an easy flow through the application for researchers.
There were a total of four user journeys created to understand several key actions users would need to take on the site.
The second user journey illustrated the need to bring the application onto the new site, versus having users leave the site to access Qualtrics.
The new website's homepage featured a timeline to provide key information researchers were missing.
A robust Get Help section was created to organize frequently asked questions and key information researchers would be searching for.
I worked collaboratively with the design team to move from wireframes to design.
The new Get Help section reduced the number of calls and emails the Character Lab team was fielding from researchers.
The new application needed to take into consideration a fee-for-service model that included grant support.
Working with a designer, we iterated to create a page that provided cost information and calculations all in one place.
Once the application was moved to the new CMS, a dashboard was created to organize all researchers' studies in one place.
The Outcome
Role at this phase: Strategist
Skills: User testing and iteration
The website: User testing post design with researchers confirmed the content and user experience choices that were made, and provided much needed clarity that allowed me to recommend specific copy changes for the Character Lab team to make. In the months since its launch, the Character Lab team reported far fewer calls and emails from researchers, a key metric of success. Now that there is a site that provides all of the information they need in one place, the researchers are happy, too.
The dashboard: While only recently launched, the dashboard has already proven to be a successful tool that has greatly simplified the application experience, and decreased the need for email communications between The Character Lab team and researchers.
This project was supported by:
Senior Project Manager, overseeing strategy, design, and development
Designer
Two Developers
The UX and Product teams and Character Lab, who provided technical support and UX support on the application phase of this work