Consolidating the Digital Front Door for WashU’s University Services
Role
Lead UX/UI Designer
Duration
9-Month initiative
Washington University in St. Louis (WashU) launched a strategic initiative to reimagine the digital presence of its University Services division. Historically, essential campus functions—including Dining, Transportation, and ID Services—were siloed across ten fragmented, outdated websites. This project successfully consolidated these disparate resources into a single, modern "one-stop shop." By establishing a unified information architecture and adopting the university’s new visual brand identity, the initiative eliminated user confusion, reduced content redundancy, and solidified University Services as a reliable, accessible resource for the entire campus community.
Addressing this required a deep immersion into the pain points of students, faculty, and guests to solve the core problems of navigational complexity and fragmented branding.
By auditing the existing disconnect between numerous departmental sites, it became clear that the community was frustrated by duplicated content and the lack of a unified voice, making essential tasks—like managing Bear Bucks or finding graduation parking—unnecessarily difficult.
Unified Ten Departments: Successfully consolidated ten fragmented websites into a single, high-performing digital hub.
Centralize University Services into a Single Hub
Through a methodical, phased approach, the goal was to use discovery data to define a new structural foundation, ensuring that high-traffic services were prioritized and easily discoverable.
The process began with a series of crucial discovery workshops involving key departments like Parking & Transportation, Dining, and ID Services. These sessions were essential for identifying user pain points and defining the strategy for content consolidation.
University Services functions as a vital administrative engine for WashU, yet its digital presence did not reflect its operational importance. The division faced a significant organizational barrier: the lack of a centralized branded hub.
Align with Institutional Rebranding
As the WashU Marketing Team unveiled a new aesthetic, the project sought to adopt and translate this modern theme into the University Services hub. This ensured the division remained visually seamless and integrated with the wider university brand.
Establish a Data-Driven Information Architecture
The Solution: A Collaborative, User-Centric Design Process
The project followed a comprehensive strategic workflow, moving from high-level discovery to high-fidelity execution.
Structural Audits & Card Sorting
To achieve ambitious consolidation goals, the team conducted comprehensive content audits and card sorting exercises. This provided the structural data needed to integrate all ten departments into a single, logical Information Architecture (IA).
Translating Brand Identity
The project translated the university's new modern look and organized content into dynamic design comps. This ensured the new digital hub was not only functional but also visually aligned with the university's future-facing identity.
High User Acceptance: The strategic focus on IA and discovery resulted in a design so intuitive that user testing sessions returned very few requested changes, confirming the site was "already in a great place."
IA-Driven Wireframing
Once the IA was approved, the focus shifted to high-fidelity wireframes and design comps. The site was structured into three core areas: the University Services umbrella, WashU ID Services, and Parking & Transportation, ensuring a balanced hierarchy.
Project Goals: Enhancing the Campus Experience
To transform University Services into a customer-focused digital platform, the project prioritized three strategic objectives:
The primary goal was to create a "one-stop shop" that brought all essential information together. This required migrating content from ten individual departments into a logical, streamlined ecosystem that reduced the cognitive load on users.
In-Person Discovery & Strategy
Impact: A Seamless Transition
Improved Brand Reliability: Transitioned University Services from a scattered collection of links to a clear, reliable resource that significantly enhanced the digital campus experience.
“We had very few changes brought to us by user testing, because the site was already in a great place.”
— Director of Marketing/Communications