PROPEL Learn

UX Writer & Strategist

Imagine stepping into a room filled with every book you’ve ever wanted to read, only to find them scattered in heaps on the floor, their titles obscured by a fine layer of dust. That was the Propel Center's website—brimming with potential yet maddeningly inaccessible, a digital labyrinth where clarity and user-friendliness seemed to have lost their way.

Objectives

A Tidy Up: We embarked on a digital spring cleaning, aiming to transform chaos into order. The content needed a makeover, something akin to organizing a wardrobe by color and season—intuitive, satisfying, and remarkably simple to navigate.

A Mobile Makeover: Recognizing that our audience was more likely to browse on a bus than at a desk, we tailored the digital experience to fit into the palm of their hand, ensuring no pinching, zooming, or squinting was necessary.

A Testament to Trust: We decided to weave in tales of triumph and snapshots of success, allowing our users to see the faces and hear the voices of those who had navigated the path before them.

A Whisper into the World Wide Web: Our digital presence was as visible as a polar bear in a snowstorm. SEO became our lighthouse, guiding lost users to our shores with the promise of enlightenment—or at the very least, better usability.

A Clarity Clarion: Programs and services were described with the brevity and wit of a dinner party anecdote, ensuring that users could grasp their essence without a glossary at hand.

Target Audience

Our digital soirée welcomed a motley crew: HBCU students with dreams bigger than their dorm rooms, faculty striving to weave magic into their syllabi, partners seeking collaboration over coffee, alumni with tales to tell, and industry professionals hunting for the next big thing. Our mission was to charm and inform, transforming the website from a dusty archive into a lively salon, inviting conversation, exploration, and perhaps a little enlightenment.

Tone of Voice

The tone of voice and writing style we've established for this project is approachable, empowering, and forward-thinking. It's designed to resonate with an audience that's ambitious, diverse, and eager to make a significant impact in their careers and communities. Here's how we've encapsulated this essence across various facets of our content:

User flow analysis

Upon diving into the project, it was immediately evident that the path our users were treading was more akin to navigating a labyrinth than a straightforward journey. The app download process and the enrollment form were fraught with unnecessary complexity, turning what should have been a simple expedition into an odyssey.

Enrollment Form

With the client's attention in hand, we illuminated the intricacies of the user flow, laying bare the convolutions that marred the experience. Their understanding and agreement were our green light to embark on a mission of simplification.

My task was to redraw the map, eliminating the unnecessary twists and turns that had beleaguered our users. We streamlined the process, cutting down the steps to download the app to the bare essentials and transforming the enrollment form from a daunting obstacle into a welcoming gateway. This restructuring was not just about removing barriers; it was about crafting a journey that felt intuitive, engaging, and, above all, cohesive from start to finish.

Challenges

During our project, we faced challenges that ultimately deepened our understanding and approach to user experience (UX) design. Initially aiming to overhaul the website while leaving the app unchanged, we encountered resistance from stakeholders, partly due to the school's partnership with a premium service provider, which complicated our goal of creating a unified user experience.

To advocate for a comprehensive redesign that included both the website and the app, we meticulously mapped the user journey from website to app download. This revealed significant UX issues beyond the website, emphasizing the need for a broader redesign effort. With these insights, we made a strong case to the school's key decision-maker about the necessity of addressing these issues in a unified manner.

This stage of the project highlighted the importance of persistence, thorough UX research, and the effective communication of findings to stakeholders. By conducting a detailed analysis of the user flow, we were able to steer the project towards a more intuitive and seamless experience across all digital platforms.

Learnings

Our journey through the Propel Center's website redesign has been both challenging and immensely rewarding. By taking a comprehensive approach, integrating both the website and app into our redesign strategy, we have significantly enhanced the user experience, making it more intuitive, engaging, and accessible for a diverse audience of students, faculty, and industry professionals. The meticulous mapping of user journeys and the strategic implementation of content have not only resolved existing usability issues but also set a new standard for how educational platforms can engage and inspire their communities.

The results speak for themselves: improved engagement metrics, higher conversion rates, and positive feedback from users who now find the website and app not just useful, but indispensable for their educational and professional development. This project underscores the power of a well-executed content strategy to transform digital spaces into vibrant, welcoming communities.

Looking forward, we recommend continuous user feedback collection to further refine and evolve the content strategy. Keeping pace with the dynamic needs of our audience will ensure the Propel Center remains at the forefront of educational innovation. This case study stands as a testament to our ability to tackle complex UX challenges with strategic thinking and creative execution. It's clear evidence of our capacity to deliver transformative results, making us an ideal partner for organizations looking to elevate their digital presence.

Check out the full PROPEL website here.