Challenge
Background
After acquisition by 2U and rapid integration of the companies, edX b2c funnel metrics started rapidly declining. Product Design team hypothesized that we had lost touch with the learners and suggested a complete overhaul of the e-commerce experience.
Project timeline and background
Problem
Logged-in user navigation suffered from inconsistent menu items and usability issues.
Logged-in navigation before re-design
Information architecture workshop
I facilitated the ORCA workshop (Object-Oriented UX) with Design and Product stakeholders. It helped:
- Clarify learners' mental models
- Value of each page to the users
- Define main user tasks
- Identify issues and opportunities for the key pages
ORCA workshop results and main takeaways
During the process I realized that ORCA could help with other parts of the marketplace, and expanded its scope beyond authenticated navigation to clarify structure and content for account, dashboard, and profile pages. The exercise helped create a blueprint for user-centered wireframes.
ORCA wireframes
Unified streamlined navigation
The ORCA exercise fully solved the authenticated navigation re-design.
Re-designed navigation
Learnings
User-centered design
This project highlighted the value of user-centered design in complex, business-driven environments.
Structured methods
Structured methods like ORCA and Design Thinking fostered effective cross-functional collaboration.
What I'd do differently
More frequent user testing and stronger use of data could have further improved decisions and sped up iterations.