Math Alliance website redesign
Client: Purdue Department of Mathematics
Role: Designer and Developer
The National Alliance for Doctoral Studies in the Mathematical Sciences, commonly known as Math Alliance, is a national community of mentors and students. Their mission is that every underrepresented American student with the talent and ambition has the opportunity to earn a doctoral degree in mathematical or statistical sciences. They also have a yearly conference called the Field of Dreams. The clients were David Goldberg, executive director and Rebecca Lank, the program manager. I worked primarily with my supervisor, Eric Hassenplug, to complete this project.
In early March, Eric and I met with David Goldberg and Rebecca Lank to discuss redesigning the Math Alliance website and moving it from WordPress and into Cascade. The WordPress site had become hard to manage, updating the homepage was difficult and there were data storing limitations. In addition, the site had many functions and forms, but not all of them were in use. Some functions could be rebuilt in Cascade (like the jobs section), but others needed to be rebuilt in a web application (like the mentor search). David and Rebecca were also interested in getting more funding from Purdue (its administrative home), but needed to balance that with their university and industry partners. We discussed the Purdue branding guidelines and showed them several Purdue websites that were operating under a similar model; funding from multiple sources. The initial project deadline was September 1.
Eric and I divided up the project tasks. He exported the WordPress site content into Cascade and built the mentors, schools and graduate program group functions in a separate application. I did the site research, reviewed the analytics, redesigned the website and wrote the site documentation. We communicated on a regular basis over the course of the project and kept track of everything in a migration document. The project went through several large phases:
Information gathering phase
I examined the WordPress site, starting with the primary and secondary level pages. I also began thinking about the homepage design, possible site navigation changes, the branding, and ways to improve the site's accessibility and usability.
The WordPress site used a server-based analytics tool called Angelfish. I learned about the tool, familiarized myself with the data and made a list of questions:
- What are the top pages? Landing pages? Exit pages? Content sections?
- How long do people stay on the site?
- Who's using the site? Where are they coming from? Which platforms and browsers do they use?
I expanded the analytics search to 6 months and began gathering detailed information. This helped me figure out what needed to be on the homepage and what links needed to be added to the site navigation (Media and Donate pages, for example). I also asked David and Rebecca what they liked and didn't like about the website.
Design phase
I looked at many Purdue websites for inspiration. I found several sites that had good components: one used the secondary Purdue colors and others had clearly defined sections, and used plenty of white space and large text. David and Rebecca's feedback informed me that the homepage had to be easy to edit, that feature sections were needed, and that several pages had to be added to the navigation. Using the analytics data, my design ideas and the client feedback, I sketched the homepage layout.
Then I started building it, made it responsive, and checked for cross-browser compatibility. I also started designing a layout for the other pages.
Development phase
In May, Rebecca sent us detailed information on the site's functions and a wish list of changes. Where feasible, we incorporated the requests into the site. For example, she wanted a different layout for the sponsors page, so I rebuilt the page and made it easy to edit. As a preparatory measure, I started converting pages to the new design, beginning with the primary pages. While working on this, I found an additional function - the schools affiliated with the Math Alliance. I added this information to the Migration file and notified Eric.
Eric and I met with David on June 9. We discussed the homepage redesign, the redesigned content pages, and the Mentor Search app. Several changes were requested, including:
- Adding the Math Alliance logo to the site header.
- Adding a page that lists the Center Sponsors and including its link in the site navigation.
I began implementing the requested changes and started converting the rest of the pages to the new design. I talked with Eric about the Mentor app and recommended several accessibility, usability and SEO improvements. I also asked Rebecca and David additional questions about the site design, various site components, and processes.
Once I finished converting the pages, I started checking the WordPress site for new content every two weeks. By early August, no new functions needed to be added to the app, so I focused more on making the site easier to update, improving the SEO, and cleaning up the site. I also wrote detailed Cascade documentation, as neither Rebecca nor David knew how to use Cascade.
Eric and I met with Rebecca on August 11 to discuss the project status and the app. We suggested two dates for the website launch: September 1 or after the Field of Dreams conference in early November. David and Rebecca needed to focus on the conference, so the site would launch after that. They also didn't have time to start making updates to the new site, so I would continue to do so until website launch.
After the meeting, I added a sitemap page, added a new homepage section featuring the Field of Dreams conference and updated the site navigation. I also updated the Math Alliance app documentation, which was initially written by Eric. Rebecca requested that we add the Graduate Program Group (GPG) pages to the Math Alliance app, so Eric started building the function and connected it to the schools and mentors functions.
In mid-October, I emailed David and Rebecca about a proposed site launch of November 14th. David approved it, so I began discussing the website launch checklist with Eric. It had three phases: prior to launch, site deployment, and post launch. I also switched to checking for updates on a weekly basis.
On November 7, I emailed David and Rebecca about what they could expect next week. Because the Math Alliance site has its own website URL (and several other technical considerations), the new site would take 1 to 2 days to deploy. I assured them that the current site would still be available until the switch is made.
On November 14th, I sent them a reminder email. I reviewed the prior to launch checklist and coordinated with other IT people to get the site deployed properly. When the site launched the next day, I reviewed the website redirects and fixed broken links. On Wednesday, I sent David and Rebecca information about the new site and gave them documentation for Cascade and the Math Alliance app.
The redesigned Math Alliance website is more accessible, searchable and usable (especially on small screens). It is more aligned with David and Rebecca's goals and it is easier to update.
Note: the image below is from the previous website design.
