Revitalising the Sustainable UCL Website
In a digital era where websites serve as the frontline of organisational communication, the Sustainable UCL team faced a significant challenge. Despite their decade-long commitment to sustainability and environmental initiatives, their website wasn’t effectively communicate their ambitious projects and achievements. The team commissioned That Web Person to transform their outdated and cumbersome website into a dynamic, user-friendly platform that not only reflects UCL's sustainability ethos but also significantly enhances user engagement and accessibility.
Challenges
Sustainable UCL's website struggled with several issues:
Complex structure: The site was difficult to navigate, with content buried in complex layers that did not align with user needs.
Duplicate and redundant content: Lack of time to content manage effectively led to duplication and outdated information, decreasing the site's reliability.
Inefficient content strategy: Content was punchy, but at times lengthy, overly technical, and not user-centric, making it hard for visitors to digest and find related information.
Strategy and Execution
The redevelopment process was strategically phased and user-centric:
Kick-off and planning: The project commenced with a detailed kick-off meeting, setting clear objectives and a roadmap.
Segmented delivery: Starting with the 'Student Take Action' section, the site was redeveloped in sections, aligning with key university events like Freshers' Week.
Data-driven analysis: Conducting a thorough Google Analytics review and industry comparison provided insights into user behaviour and industry standards.
Content audit: An extensive audit of over 600 web pages identified redundancies, broken links, and outdated content, streamlining the site's content.
User research: Online questionnaires and one-on-one stakeholder interviews provided valuable feedback, shaping the site's direction.
Site architecture redesign: A new site structure was developed, focusing on user navigation and content accessibility.
Testing and validation: User experience techniques like tree-jack surveys ensured the new structure met user expectations and industry benchmarks.
Achievements
Enhanced user experience: The new website structure, divided into 'About', 'What UCL Does', and 'Take Action' sections, significantly improved navigation and user engagement.
Content optimisation: A standardised content template was introduced, ensuring consistency, SEO optimisation, and high-quality content production.
Improved accessibility: The site's accessibility scores saw a notable improvement, making it inclusive for a wider audience.
Efficient content management: Clear content creation and management guidelines were established, supporting the incredibly busy, time-poor team to ensure the site remains current and relevant.
Increased engagement: Standard industry terms and categorisation encourages deeper site exploration, increasing user stay time and interaction and user engagement.
“Reena worked with us to help streamline and update the user journey of our complex website ‘Sustainable UCL.’
She interviewed and surveyed stakeholders from across the institution to develop a new navigation system, streamlined the user journey for multiple audiences, and made the back-end process simpler for our team.
Reena reviewed hundreds of pages, flagged duplications, wrote content, and checked accessibility standards. She developed a tagging system to reduce future content creation, making it simpler for us and our users.
Her dedication, professionalism, and positive attitude over a year-long project resulted in the creation of an easy-to-use website and a professional online presence.
Thank you, Reena!”
Conclusion
The transformation of the Sustainable UCL website stands as a testament to the power of strategic web development focused on user experience and content relevance. This project showcases That Web Person’s technical expertise in handling a vast and complex website but also the commitment to creating a digital space that mirrors the sustainability goals of UCL.
The result is a streamlined, engaging, and informative website that not only serves its immediate community but also sets a benchmark for academic websites in sustainability communication.
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