Know the Code

Optimize the usability of Humber College’s regulations and policies website to build a safe community

My Responsibility: UX Research, Design, and Content Design

Team Members: 9 Members of UXD, IXD, and ID

Time Period: 2023

Overview

What is Know the Code - Humber College?

Know the Code is a student community standards website offering online resources and accessibility information. However, the current design makes it challenging to navigate due to complex wording and dense text.

Challenge

Humber College is looking to improve navigation's findability so that users can easily submit meaningful reports that will support in building a safe community.

Design approach

01. Research/Synthesis

Open card sorting
Usability testing

02. Solution

Information architecture

03. Validate

Usability testing

04. Outcome

Final delivery (information architecture on a web)

Research/Synthesis

Moderated Research: Open card sorting and usability testing to find pain points in navigation and task performance

Participants: Domestic and international students attending Canadian college

Duration: 1 - 1.5 hour per participant

Number of Participants: 4

Part 1. Open card sorting

Listen and watch to uncover their perspective on grouping and ask questions to understand their reasonings.

Part 2. Usability testing

Listen and watch to find issues and pain points while performing tasks. Ask questions to understand their perceived viewpoints after.

Part 3. Wrap up

Questions to uncover any additional insights.

Open Card Sorting: Understanding the mental models of users regarding the site labels

2

of 100% pairing

14

of 75% pairing

33

of 75% pairing

Takeaways from the card sorting

Confusion arises from weak groupings and a lack of correlation between navigation labels.

Usability Testing: Finding the worst performing tasks to prioritize iterations

Takeaways from the usability testing

Make main navigation labels more accessible to help users successfully complete their tasks.

Give priority to Task 3, the worst-performing task, and lower the priority of Task 1 based on the overall score

Insights

“Website isn’t really accessible. A code of conduct...... I really didn’t know what it meant.”

“Not sure what that means. Apology what? Is this school's doing? It's too broad. Are they apologizing to the community?”

Recommendation

Reword the student community standards code, community service verification form, and impact reflection paper. Provide more context for the apology and appeal processes

Solution

New Navigation Labels: Changing the navigation labels to better match user mental models

Codes of student community standards

Policies and regulations

Community service verification form

Community involvement form

Impact reflection paper

Violation Reflection Paper

Outcome

Reparation

Appeal

Appeal Form

New Information Architecture: Ensuring navigation labels match site content and business goals

Summary of information architecture

Make sure the content and business objectives match the new navigation labels. Consistent language tone and improved accessibility enhance navigation findability.

Validate

Usability Testing: Ensuring design iterations are improving task metrics

Takeaway from the usability testing

Main navigation labels need to be more accessible for users to complete their tasks successfully.

Task 2 had the best improvement. While task 5 has improved, it still needs work based on its SEQ score and duration.

Outcome

Final delivery

New navigation labels have improved usability, making it easier for students to support Humber Community in creating a safer environment for everyone.

Next steps

Tree testing

Now that we have conducted the open card sort, analyzed the data, and created our proposed solution for the navigation, our next steps are to run a moderated tree test to evaluate the navigation of our solution.

To run the tree test, we will prototype the site structure, create a set of tasks for participants (e.g., Where would you click to file a complaint?), and define the success criteria and metrics. The moderated session will also allow us to explore why participants choose particular labels over others and where they have trouble.