Skill | Information Architecture
Transforming a text-based employee manual into a navigable internal website
Project Brief
A company that provides comprehensive study guides for students, teachers, and book groups has a manual for the writers who build the guides. The current manual is a set of Google docs and PDFs with internal bookmarks and links between the documents. The company wants to restructure and replace it with an internal website.
Role
UX Researcher and Designer
Tools
Goole Sites, Google Forms, Adobe XD
Research and Reorganization
I performed a close audit of the manual, identifying key topics and regrouping content blocks under them. I incorporated observations from editors and staff on where improvements could benefit users.
Sitemap
This reorganization process mapped out an updated version of the manual.
Initial Deliverables
I produced the following deliverables to provide a tool for user research, to communicate the sitemap visually to stakeholders through a draft site, and to provide style recommendations that matched existing branding. I introduced these tools early in the process for two reasons: to further communication about the project, and to leave the project managers with concrete design proposals in hand after my short-term consulting period.
User survey
To learn about guide writers’ habits and what they think is missing or frustrating in the current manual.
Draft website
Preliminary structure and navigation for usability feedback & to test embedding existing content.
Style guide
Captures brand elements plus Google Sites template selections to guide future site updaters.
Survey Analysis
Findings coming soon!
Photo by Christin Hume, Unsplash.