The University of Maryland Baltimore Website Redesign
As prospective and current students navigate the University of Maryland, Baltimore’s Financial Assistance website, we’d like to understand the website's users, their needs, motivations, and frustrations, enhancing the UX design process.
Group Members:
Gabriella Colarusso
Rachel da Silva
Caroline Campbell
Timeline
September - December 2023
Client
The University of Maryland, Baltimore
Purpose:
Use Information Architecture to analyze the structure, organization, and labeling of the University of Maryland, Baltimore, Financial Aid website to present the information effectively.
Objective:
This project aims to apply Information Architecture principles to evaluate and improve the structure, organization, and labeling of the University of Maryland, Baltimore's Financial Aid website. We aim to thoroughly understand prospective and current students' needs, motivations, and challenges as they use the site. This insight will help us enhance the user experience (UX) design, ensuring that the information is presented more effectively and meets users' needs better.
Process
Competitive Analysis
Personas
Card Sorting
Proposed Sitemap
Wireframe
Samantha Rodriguez
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Samantha is a 27-year-old from Silver Spring, MD. She is a working mom with one five-year-old. She is an assistant dental hygienist but wants to further her career and salary. She is in her first year attending the University of Maryland, Baltimore Campus, for her masters in CLINICAL INFORMATICS (MS).
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Samantha is looking for some financial help paying for her schooling due to the financial strain of needing additional childcare.
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To graduate with her master’s and advance her career while not having crushing debt.
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Samantha has been struggling with her payments to the university and is looking for some relief. She hopes to find some help with her degree and some grants or scholarships to help ease the payments. She struggles to understand what is available for her and is looking to make an appointment to discuss her options.
Henry Kugel
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Henry is a 24-year-old from Catonsville, MD. He is enrolled in the bachelor’s of nursing program at UMB, where he is in his junior year and a full-time student. He knows tuition is expensive and wants to look into what financial aid the school offers students.
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Henry lives with his parents and commutes to school. He is grateful for that, but he still has to pitch in for the rent. He works part-time as a CNA while in school, but it is hard. He is aware that he needs to finish his nursing clinical, and to do that, he must reduce his work hours. He is computer proficient but not a computer expert by any means. He wants to apply for scholarships quickly to ease his financial stress.
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Ease his financial stress
Figure out how to easily pay tution with aid and scholarships
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Henry has great grades and wants to look into merit scholarships or nursing scholarships before resorting to applying for loans. When he looks at the site he is unsure of what a lot of vocab terms mean so he uses the glossary of terms on the website. That is helpful but he is still overwhelmed.
Amara Jones
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Amara is a 22-year-old female from Towson, MD, who is enthusiastic about her future. She is now looking for a school to help build a foundation for her career path.
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She is looking for a school that will provide as much financial aid as possible.
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Amara's goal is to graduate with a Bachelor’s degree in Bachelor of Science Dental Hygiene Program in hopes that it will increase her salary and market value in the years to come.
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Amara is a bright and ambitious young woman, who found herself at a crossroads after high school graduation. She made a list of priorities. Her list considers factors such as academic programs, campus culture, and most importantly financial aid to ensure she makes the best choice for her future. She is struggling to find prudent information for the specific program she wants and the financial aid UMB offers.
