Value Proposition Redesign
Project description
From 2017-2019, I worked on redesigning and combining websites for State Street Global Advisors (to launch late 2019). As the company updated its brand value proposition, I worked with stakeholders and experts to determine user and business needs, create new navigational structures, evolve wireframes and visual design, and define requirements for development.
(Images have been withheld to honor client confidentiality agreements.)
Process
As Information Architect and UX Designer, I worked with world-class external and internal experts in branding, content strategy, taxonomy, user research, visual design, and development to reflect the value proposition in the redesigned responsive site.
Planning
- Led workshops and information gathering sessions with stakeholders to ascertain needs of clients and business
- Reviewed content of various sites to propose a new unified site structure
Content Strategy & Publishing
- Gave feedback and collaborated with writers to improve flow of content
- Led a separate design stream for the back-end publisher experience in order to promote efficiency, sustainability, and scalability within Adobe Experience Manager
- Coached publishers to use redesigned templates appropriately
Navigation & Taxonomy
- Worked with content strategist to evolve taxonomy in order to provide a more dynamic and user-focused content solution across the site
- Created new navigational structures across sites for products and regions
Wireframing & Visual Design
- Created wireframes and presented designs to stakeholders, and evolved designs based on feedback
- Guided internal and external visual designers on appropriate hierarchy of content
- Led workshops across teams to finalize designs
- Created component guide for use by publishers, developers, and designers
User Research
- Sat in on user interviews and usability testing
- Evolved designs based on findings
Development
- Wrote and shepherded user stories through grooming sessions and sprints
Challenges
Organizational change is never easy, and redesigning the website during a time of change required wading through murky politics. We had planned to merge several sites into one, but the business wasn’t quite ready for the union. This presented challenges when designing navigation, since we still aimed to give the illusion of simplicity for the user. We also faced complicated requirements to accommodate user roles, regions, languages, and compliance globally.
Working with teams who were spread all over the world presented communication challenges. Collaborating with many external consultants was tricky, since it can be difficult to convey business needs in a short amount of time. Scope changed several times over the course of a year, and the design struggled to keep up with it.