Minnesota Tech for Success
Usability Testing and Recommendations to improve navigation.
Deliverables
Client:
Minnesota Tech for Success (MTFS) is an organization dedicated to providing technology education, certifications, internships, and employment opportunities to prospective students, particularly those in career transition. This case study showcases how a comprehensive UX research and design process led to valuable insights and improvements to the education aspect of MTFS's public-facing marketing page.
My Role:
UX Researcher, UX/UI Designer
Tools:
Keynote, Notion, Adobe Illustrator, Microsoft Desirability Toolkit, Prototype, Quicktime, Zoom, Otter Ai, Figjam, Figma, Google Docs, Slack
To put it simply…
After conducting several rounds of research and interviews, I identified that improving the UX writing for the content copy in the navigation would provide the most improved user experience and would be the simplest to implement. Changing the language to be more familiar would result in a higher click-through rate.
Users were confused by “MTFS” so I suggested based on their feedback to improve the language to phrases that people understand immediately. I also changed the letters to a more readable case.
Users don’t know how to sign up:
Prospective students, often facing barriers such as career transition, limited resources, or varying reading levels, were experiencing friction when trying to find information on courses and sign-up processes on the MTFS website.
Our goal was to identify pain points, enhance navigation, and recommend improvements to ensure a seamless user experience.
The team and I planning out how to solve our users problems so that they align with client goals.
Plan of attack:
We adopted a multi-faceted approach involving various research methods and collaboration across our UX team.
The process included:
Heuristic analysis
Usability testing
User interviews
Collaborative synthesis.
Our teams data repository in Figjam helped us collaboratively synthesize our findings.
Heuristic Analysis:
Following Nielsen's heuristics, we conducted an analysis of the website's usability.
Key findings included the need for:
Familiar language
Simplification of contact points
Improved contrast for accessibility
Consistency in language for key navigational buttons.
Users were confused by “MTFS” so I suggested based on their feedback to improve the language to phrases that people understand immediately. I also changed the letters to a more readable case.
Usability Testing:
We developed a comprehensive test script based on our heuristic analysis and individual usability insights.
Through both individual and collaborative usability testing, we assessed how:
Users navigated the site to find course information
Users interact with request forms.
Conducting some remote usability tests via zoom.
Design Iterations:
As a UX Designer, I utilized Figma to create low-fidelity prototypes incorporating the recommendations. We focused on improving button labels, rephrasing headings, and ensuring a consistent language throughout the site.
The aim was to make subtle yet impactful changes to address user feedback.
Redesigned UI makes a form more understandable for users who may growing their technical literacy skills.
Results and Impact:
After implementing the recommended changes based on our design iterations, we conducted further usability testing. The responses were overwhelmingly positive.
Users found the website even easier to navigate, and the improved button labels made it more intuitive to find course information and navigate the sign-up process.
133%
Improved click through rate
Conclusion:
Through a holistic UX research and design approach, we were able to identify pain points and recommend targeted improvements for the MTFS education aspect of their website.
By focusing on enhancing button labels and language consistency, we achieved our goal of improving the prospective student experience.
The success of this case study underscores the importance of iterative design and the value of listening to user feedback to create a more user-centric digital experience.
Moving forward, we look forward to refining our solutions and continuing to enhance the user journey for prospective students navigating the MTFS platform.
