Promoting Cultural Education
Through User-Friendly Design
CulturexCo was a recently developed web and mobile platform launched in June of 2020. The purpose of the website is to provide educational resources and content pertaining to world cultures and education.
Summary
Over a span of four months, I spearheaded and guided a thorough research endeavor, exploring usability issues with the information architecture on CulturexCo’s website. Through the utilization of Semi-Structured Interviews and a Card Sorting Activity, we delved deeply into user needs. Collaborating across functions, we partnered with a design team to develop a prototype reflecting our findings which we tested with users (through a heatmap analysis). Our research allowed us to work with developers to envision a long-term product roadmap.
CulturexCo was built out on the need for cultural eductation during Police Brutality Demonstration in 2020.
The Problem
Our Stakeholders, the company’s business team, came to us with two major problems.
The Culture School (website service dedicated to BIPOC education) experienced low web traffic despise analytics suggesting users were visiting the website's main page.
Through Web analytic analysis all Call-to-Action buttons received minimal user-traction. Leading stakeholders to speculate that navigation was an issue.
Examples of Protest movements where educational resources are critical to spread accurate information.
Goals
Improve and reorganize the website's experience by understanding problems with the website’s information architecture. Including CTAs.
Evaluate prototype designs to deeply understand user feedback and behaviors.
Teams
CulturexCo’s Research Team
CulturexCo’s Design Team
CulturexCo’s Development Team
CulturexCo’s Project Manager
CulturexCo’s Workstream Lead
Research Results
Our generative data synthesis revealed user desire for both cosmetic and functional changes to the website. Specifically, users expressed interest in adding a dedicated webpage for educators to assist with lesson planning on sensitive topics. Additionally, categories such as a Knowledge Bank for historical and geographical information were identified through card sorting all essential in creating our prototype.
Evaluating our prototype through a heatmap analysis highlighted the need for further iteration, particularly in addressing lingering issues with CTA. While demonstrating the increase in navigation speed of the new architecture.
Process: Generative Research
Semi-Structured Interviews
The team conducted 10 user interviews with CulturexCo users, many of whom were educators.
Our research plan consisted of questions about their impressions of the current interface, their experiences using the website, and their perspectives on potential improvements.
Key Discoveries
User’s expressed interest in changes, such as:
Addition of a dedicated website section for educator’s aimed at assisting with lesson planning, especially for sensitive topics
Redesign of the website's information architecture for clarity and learnability
Interview Sessions Infographic
Card Sorting Activity
During this activity, participants were tasked with categorizing specific website features into broader expected categories. The goal was to understand what users felt the intuitive web architecture structure should looked like.
Key Discoveries
Our synthesized results indicated that new organizational categories (Ex: Suggested Reading, Learning Resources, etc) could enhance the fluidity and learnability of the website.
Notably, we uncovered the necessity of a "Knowledge Bank" category where users can access historical and geographical information, instead of having this information scattered throughout the website.
Card Sorting Activity
Based on synthesis and analysis of our generative findings I worked alongside CulturexCo’s design team to create a Wireframe architecture.(Credit Chelsea Chisholm)
Process: Evaluative Research
Prototype Design
Based on our generative findings we collaborated with the design team to develop a high fidelity prototype including new content categories unveiled by the card sorting activity and an overall IA redesign based on attitudinal data from our interviews.
Based on synthesis and analysis of our generative findings I worked alongside CulturexCo’s design team to create a Prototype architecture.(Credit Chelsea Chisholm)
Heatmap Analysis (Usability Testing)
Utilizing the high-fidelity prototype design, we employed a heatmap analysis test to closely track user interactions with the prototype in a real-world context. Through this methodology, we were able to measure quantitative metrics such as time of task completion, error rate per task, and the location of errors through the heatmap results.
Key Discovery
Two major findings came from this research:
Users succeeded significantly more per task as the error rate was an average of 0.3 errors per task.
The errors that were committed were mainly committed around Call to Action buttons, allowing for more investigation into the location and structure of these buttons.
Example of a Heat Map from a User Test and the Before and After State (Credit: Chelsea Chisholm)
Results and Future Goals
Were we successful? I Think so.
We presented our Evaluative Research findings to the Design Team and worked with both the design and development team to create a roadmap for continuous iteration based on our research results.
In tandem with this qualitative data gathering, we conducted a thorough analysis of quantitative data sourced from Drupal our web management and analytics platform. This dual approach, combining qualitative depth with quantitative precision, fortifies the robustness of our findings.
Within the first few weeks of presenting our updated insights, we worked with the project manager to outline a 3-month roadmap to help develop CulturexCo’s updates with respect to the design and research decisions we laid out. The development team and the design team worked closely here with input from the Research organization.
Currently, CulturexCo has seen more user engagement, especially from educators and more traction on their call to action.
What I learned
I have learned thoroughly how to utilize UX methodologies and the ability to conduct research within the constraints of a Lean UX Sprint schedule, with diverse stakeholders (project managers, designers, and engineers) allowed for a nuanced usage of my UX strategy and research skills integral to the field.
Why these Spaces are Important
CulturexCo was purposefully crafted with the mission of advancing society and enlightening individuals on pivotal cultural and social subjects, essential for fostering a more socially conscious world. As an integral member of our dedicated team, I keenly sensed the profound influence of our efforts in enhancing the interface's usability and accessibility for our users. In a time of deep division and protests (from BLM, to Palestinian activism) CulturexCo acts as a space where humans unite based on their shared experiences, whether they be Israeli, Palestinian, Sudanese, etc.
CulturexCo stands as a vital resource, and by placing a strong emphasis on usability, the platform is poised to deliver a human-centered educational experience, a pivotal component in championing anti-racist and cultural education.
Sources:
Emmerling, B. (2016). Protest BLM Black Lives Matter. photograph.
Surprising, Snapshots. (2023). People Ladies Girls. photograph.
Unrated Studios (2020). Demonstration, Show Me. photograph.