West Virginia Workforce Redesign
Oliver the Coal Miner Currently Looking for work
- Wants to find a job using the Events and Announcements page
- Suggests that the Events and Announcement page needs to be reworked.
Problem Statement
As an out-of-work coal miner, I want to access career services, so I can file for unemployment while searching for another job. I would like to attend job fairs and employer events, but the Events and Announcements section of the West Virginia Workforce site is difficult to engage with because of its use of small font and infrequent visuals––making it difficult to pinpoint where events will be held. This makes me feel ill equipped to attend career-building opportunities and unmotivated to continue my search for enriching events associated with West Virginia Workforce.
Insights from User Journey Map
Entice the user with pictures and relevant information
Make sure the website does not reiterate itself
Make fonts legible
Why Redesign?
● To drive business forward, emphasizing the announcements and events section of the home page would optimize event turnout, resulting in greater employment opportunities for the user as well as funding opportunities for event organizers.
● To keep users aware of important announcements
● We could use a calendar option where the user is able to add important dates to their own calendars
Low-Fidelity Prototype
To redesign the West Virginia Workforce site, we decided to create a low-fidelity desktop prototype using Figma. Click the low-fidelity image to the left or the hyperlinked text to access the Figma file we used to create our prototype.
Analysis on Existing Information Architecture
The existing information architecture in the West Virginia Workforce site could be improved upon due to its disorganized layout. If information was organized more thoughtfully, then it may be easier for the user to navigate the website. Additionally, little-to-no content hierarchy in the construction of the homepage makes it difficult to find relevant job fairs or employment resources. Our redesigns will take these factors into consideration.
Design Principles
1. Law of Symmetry - By making our buttons evenly spaced and centered, we abided by the law of symmetry in our wireframe.
2. Whitespace (Negative Space) - We used lots of whitespace to create balance between the elements on the page.
Applying the Style Guide
User Testing Plan
● To test our West Virginia Workforce redesign we will conduct interviews, ensuring that our users understand the changes we have made to the homepage.
● We will have them talk through their interactions with our prototype and then ask questions that pose the importance of the announcements and events section on the site.
● A metric we will use to determine the success of the site will be their ability to perform and use the calendar and maps option in the events section of West Virginia Workforce.