Improving Institutional Process
During my time as a Graduate Student Coordinator at NC State’s College of Design, I witnessed operational bottleneck. Our student services staff and program leaders were fielding a relentless volume of daily emails—the vast majority of which were redundant questions already answered on our website. The information existed, but it was scattered across a fragmented architecture that created a knowledge barrier for prospective students and a 'support burden' for our staff.
Leveraging my year of experience as Coordinator, I knew the 'answer key' by heart. My task wasn't just to update a page, but to redesign the information ecosystem. I set out to treat the website as a self-guided learning environment, aiming to:
Reduce Friction: Cut down on the repetitive inquiries draining staff resources.
Empower the User: Enable prospective students, faculty, and staff to find enrollment and policy data independently.
Bridge the Silos: Align the tone and content across multiple administrative departments.
Strong Design System: Utilize the capabilities of the robust NC State University digital design system. (Icons, components, etc.)
Audit: I conducted usability audits to map user journeys and identify where prospective students were getting lost
Architecture: In collaboration with the Architecture Program Director and Director of Communications, I designed an interactive FAQ and Resource Hub. I utilized instructional design principles like chunking and scaffolding to ensure complex policy data was digestible and searchable.
I approached the redesign through a learning experience lens, ensuring the architecture reflected the real-world decision-making process of a student.
Content: I personally authored the content for every interactive element, ensuring the tone was both authoritative and accessible, bridging the gap between 'administrative speak' and 'student needs'.
The Impact
The transformation was immediate. By shifting from a transactional site to a self-guided experience, we significantly reduced redundant inquiries and improved navigation clarity.
Systemic Impact: The Hub created a consistent, easy-to-maintain ecosystem that empowered users to take action confidently and independently.
Proof of Concept: Perhaps the most telling metric of success is longevity. Three years later, these pages remain an active, primary source of information for the college, proving that human-centered design is a sustainable operational strategy.