as.nyu.edu/biology
web refresh

In 2019, the Department of Biology requested an organizational refresh of its entire site, specifically targeting site mapping and a cleaner organization of links.

In association with the Director of Administration and Faculty of Arts & Science (FAS) Communications, I assisted in refreshing the site to better streamline content for users. See the most recent version of the Department of Biology site as well as the version I assisted in creating and maintaining up to March 2022 (courtesy of the Wayback Machine).

1: Analyzing the previous site and Information Architecture (IA)

After taking a look at the homepage, we created an IA of all existing pages using Google Sheets, taking note of where they all are in relation to parent pages. We found content being displayed that cluttered the site with irrelevant information to students. For example, under Programs, there were resources related to programs in the navigation, but not actually relevant to being a Program.

2: Redistribution of pages: What to keep and what to get rid of

4: Front page design and overall Accessibility

Next came a conversation on the front page. While much of the front page was agreed upon to keep, we wished to refresh the News, PhD section and Shared Equipment spotlight.

A key conversation we had with the Department Chair was the goal of the front page in 2019. His goal was to emphasize the hard work by faculty, staff and students through the use of News and Spotlights.

I offered removing the PhD Program in Biology video and Shared Equipment Spotlight. My reasoning was the following:

1. The PhD Program video, by 2019, was two years old and getting older. However, much of the explanation of the PhD program, even the Chair in the video, had changed or evolved. Keeping up with a new video every three years was possible, but not feasible due to the financial willingness of the department at the time. It felt easier to keep the video within the PhD section but remove it from the front page.

2. Shared Equipment Spotlight, althought interesting, did not serve the Chair's purpose to highlight people. Instead, it only served to highlight tools rather than the products that those tools helped create.

Ultimately, he agreed, and we collaborated to create two sections: News and Research Highlights.

News would consist of a 3 x 3 accessible News component containing the latest news from faculty, staff and students. The most recent news would be on the left side while older news would reside on the right. Although we planned to only update 1-2 times a semester, we ended up updating this section as needed, turning out to be around 3 times a semester.

Research Highlights would have the same look and feel as News, except as a 2 x 3 accessible News component, highlighting specific Biology labs and research done through these labs.

In an effort to decrease the number of CMS pages within the Biology Department, all News and Research Highlights were required to link out to external pages.

For accessibility, I spent around 2 weeks manually checking on each Biology page to ensure accessibility within these pages. I worked with the NYU Accessibility team and did a 3-day Accessibility Bootcamp from NYU to prepare myself for this manual revision. To be frank, this was a strenuous process, but it allowed me to learn the ins and outs of accessible design and common practices when it came to accessibility.

After launch, we assessed feedback from faculty and PhD students, receiving positive feedback from the new sites navigation and front page design. The site was a success!

Lessons Learned

Although a success, like with every process, there were a few bumps down the road and some lessons learned along the way.

1. Refreshing a site may require compromise; not everyone will get what they want, especially as we worked within NYU's existing CMS with limitations in components. My communication efforts with the Department Chair and Director of Administration was clear and concise enough for them to understand these limitations.

2. Where there are losses there are also wins! Even if our exact ideas can't come to fruition, moving the needle toward the goalpost always felt fulfilling. Sometimes, our ideas did turn out the way we wanted, such as for the News and Research Spotlight. Overall, agile communication became key in a refresh like this.

3. Having many stakeholders involved is great, but it is also important to balance the number of cooks in the kitchen with a reasonable timeline. The more people there are in a project (especially a high visibility project like this), the more ideas there are, the more disagreement there is and the longer it could take to reach our goal. We learned that it is better to have a wireframe of a product and bring stakeholders in intermittently for feedback rather than include too may stakeholders at all parts of the process. Guiding stakeholders and users towards a feasible product can make the process simpler and easier in the long run.