Over the course of a semester, we conducted research and began the early steps of redesigning HOKIESPA. We conducted a survey across the Virginia Tech campus and had 150 respondents. Part of the assignment was to display the data we found in an info graphic poster. The poster below was printed out at 30x40. The goal of this project was to uncover the flaws within the current design and begin to fix the issue using our skills as designers.
Our research implied that the overall usability of HOKIESPA was severely lacking according to modern standards. For example, the site is not accessible nor is it responsive to mobile, which is the primary way people view the internet in modern times. 98% of our respondents reacted negatively to HOKIESPA upon using it for the first time.
The idea of our redesign was to create a more streamlined and pleasing experience for students, while adhering to Virginia Tech brand guidelines. The acronym SPA mean single page application. Therefore our design attempts to fit all the functionality of HOKIESPA, in a one page website with a variable div that changes based on what the user is looking for. One of the main issues we learned from our survey was that it was too hard to find things. For example, the grade menu requires you to navigate 3 different pages, each with long lists of text, to view your grades. In our redesign, it has been streamlined to only 3 clicks. Here is an example below.
These are our early steps towards fixing HOKIESPA. There is still much more work that needs to be done, but as students we felt that it was in dire need of a redesign.
Above is a limited prototype of the redesign. The grade menu is an example function that shows how the website would work.
Thanks for viewing!
