Overview
Forge is Northeastern University's Product Development Studio, operating under the Sherman Center. Forge is dedicated to teaching students entrepreneurial and engineering skills through hands-on workshops, speaker events, and collaborative projects. The primary objective of the website is to effectively convey Forge's vision and connect with more Northeastern students. As the website team lead, I am responsible for leading a team of 5 in crafting and implementing a digital platform that is simple, informative, and user-friendly.
Improve Readibility and Navigation
To achieve the overarching objectives, specific design and development goals were established:
Improved Readability: Ensure all content is easy to read and digest, using clear typography, appropriate line spacing, and sufficient contrast.
Enhanced Layout: Create a visually appealing and organized layout that guides users through information intuitively and highlights key content effectively.
Visual Communication: Integrate relevant imagery and visuals to convey Forge's activities, community, and impact more effectively than text alone.
Optimized Information Architecture and Navigation: Restructure the website's content and navigation to make it logical, intuitive, and easy for users to find the information they need quickly.
Streamlining the "Get Involved" Process
Early on, the Forge's director emphasized the importance of making the process of joining our organization as simple and engaging as possible. Previously, users had to navigate a four-click path and wade through extensive descriptive text before reaching the application form. We found that the lengthy process deterred individuals from applying, so we decide to change the user journey.
We focused on two improvements:
Reducing Friction: The user journey to find and start the application for a role was streamlined from four clicks down to a maximum of two clicks.
Optimizing Content: We minimized the textual information displayed to users, adding more visual content instead, and ensured only the most essential, high-impact details were presented.
This minimization of information and steps helped address the problem of user disengagement. By creating a faster, clearer path, we ensure that interested individuals are not bored or deterred, but instead are immediately directed to get involved with Forge.
Building a Better Way to Attend Our Events
A crucial goal for the new website was making sure students could easily keep up with everything happening at Forge and improve attendance at our workshops, speaker events, and project showcases.
To achieve this, we created a newly designed Events Page that puts the student experience first. We added an integrated calendar that gives viewers the whole picture instantly. It also allows viewers to add any event (or all of them) directly to their personal calendar. Next to the calendar, we included scrollable events cards that provide essential details and, when hovering, short descriptions about what to expect. This approach helps get people more enthusiastic about attending.
It's been great to see how these small changes have helped students feel more connected, have access to more information, and involvement in our workshops and showcases has noticeably increased.
Clear, Effective, and Responsive Design
From colors, layout, typography, to visuals, every detail of the site was designed to clearly communicate Forge's mission and ways to get involved. We prioritized structure and readability to make sure the message always came through and discoverability so people could easily get to the information they needed. Furthermore, we focused on creating a consistent and polished experience across all devices. Whether viewed on desktop or mobile, the site remains visually refined and easy to navigate.
Next Steps
Our focus for next semester will be on continuing to improve the overall design, ensuring information remains up-to-date and adding more compelling visual content. We plan to make significant enhancements to the "Projects" page by including dedicated pages for past projects with descriptions and product and team photos to further encourage participation.
What I Learned
I really got to dive deep into what makes a successful user experience, from thinking about how people interact with and navigate through a site to actually building it. I significantly improved my web development skills, specifically with React, Tailwind CSS, and JavaScript. Stepping into the Website Team Lead role after a year of being a member on the team, was challenging but invaluable, teaching me essential communication, collaboration, and leadership skills. I've learned a ton about how to clearly communicate my design ideas, assign and monitor tasks, and gather and implement valuable feedback from other team members, leads, and directors. I look forward to continuing to build my leadership skills and add greater functionalities to the site!
