PROJECT CONTEXT
TEAM
1 UX Designer (Myself)
1 Project Manager
2 Developers
ROLE
Product Design Lead
TIMELINE
January 2023 – June 2023
TOOLS
Figma, Adobe Creative Suite,
Slack, Jira and etc.
PROJECT CONTEXT
TSE had a world-class program—hidden behind a fragmented website.
TSE, a new graduate program at National Tsing Hua University, was built to attract top international talent. But the digital experience told a different story. Key information like how to apply or what the program offered—was scattered, inconsistent, and hard to find.
WHO'S INVOLVED IN THE PROCESS?
Faculty, guest speakers, staff, and students working within one system with many needs.
I worked with academic leads, guest lecturers, staff, and international students to understand their priorities and constraints. The goal was to design a flexible structure that supported content ownership, clear navigation, and a sense of trust across all audiences.
ESTABLISHING OUR USERS
Three core user groups. One misaligned experience.
The site struggled to serve its key audiences. We focused on three groups with distinct goals:
🌍 Prospective international students: Needed quick access to admissions info and application steps
🧑🎓 Current Students & Alumni : Returned for updates but faced broken links and unclear navigation
🧑💼 Administrative staff: Manage content and responded to repeated user questions
By mapping their journeys, I identified gaps that caused frustration and eroded trust.
KEY CHALLENGES
Despite world-class faculty and programs, TSE’s website struggled to meet basic user expectations—hurting credibility and engagement.
“It took me 10 minutes to find the application form—it felt hidden. Why isn't there a clear button?”
– Prospective Students
“Frustrating to navigate, making it difficult to find information.”
– Current Students
“The mobile version is terrible. The image is out of screen and nothing fits properly.”
– Faculty
Challenge #1 Buried admissions flow
Navigation made it hard for applicants to find critical forms and requirements.
Challenge #2 Unclear structure
Disorganized content forced users to rely on search instead of intuitive paths.
Challenge #3 Mobile breakdown
Poor responsiveness undermined trust, especially among first-time visitors.
📉 30% of users dropped off within 5 minutes. Mobile retention was the lowest among all segments.
BEFORE THE REDESIGN
Where the experience broke down
Users across roles faced scattered content, unclear paths, and dead ends, which eroded trust and credibility.
A static table with no clarity, hierarchy, or connection
No clickable profiles
Faculty names were plain text with no links to bios or contact information
Lack of visual hierarchy
Names and research areas used the same font style, making it hard to scan or prioritize key details
Limited scannability
A dense table made it difficult to distinguish between core, joint, and visiting faculty
The events page that looked more like a photo gallery than a resource
No descriptions or dates
Only event names and images were shown. There were no titles, times, or context.
No differentiation
Past and upcoming events appeared identical, with no clear structure or timeline.
No way to engage
There were no links, buttons, or ways to explore or register—just static photos.
Together, these gaps broke the experience flow, reduced clarity, and led users to disengage.
CURRENT SITUATION
Heuristic Evaluation
To identify usability issues in the current version of the TSE website, I conducted a heuristic evaluation as the sole designer. I systematically reviewed key pages and prioritized the uncovered UX problems prioritized the uncovered UX problems by severity, ranging from critical to minor.
The highest-priority issues included the lack of clear categorization between news and events, confusing chronological ordering of content, and inconsistent labeling across sections. These problems made it difficult for users to quickly scan, filter, and locate relevant information, increasing cognitive load and contributing to higher drop-off rates.
Competitive Analysis
I reviewed academic websites such as Chicago Booth and UCLA Anderson to evaluate how they structure admissions flows, promote events, and communicate faculty information. I focused on layout clarity, hierarchy, and user decision support.
Key takeaways:
Clear segmentation between news and events reduced information overload
Strong visual hierarchy and scannable layouts made content easy to browse
Event flows were integrated with clear CTAs and time-based sorting
A professional but approachable tone enhanced trust and reduced friction
What we uncovered in research shaped the foundation of our redesign. We focused on clarity, consistency, and credibility to ensure applicants could find what they needed quickly, confidently, and without second guessing.
DESIGN STRATEGY & ITERATION
Based on our research and the most critical usability challenges, I focused on improving how TSE presents faculty information, news, and events to create a more organized, trustworthy experience for prospective students and international collaborators.
🟢 Faculty Directory
Provide a clear, approachable overview of faculty and affiliates, improving discoverability and credibility.
Clean card layout with professional photos, names, and titles to establish trust.
Distinct labels for Core Faculty and Visiting Professors.
Consistent typography and spacing to improve readability.
🟢 Events and Announcements
Help users easily identify upcoming and past events, reducing confusion and boosting engagement.
Label “Upcoming Event” and “Previous Event” for clear time context.
Displayed consistent date and time info on each card
Applied unified layouts with photos and color-coded categories
Auto-sorted content chronologically to match user expectations
🟢 Admission Wayfinding
Clarified admissions pathways for a diverse applicant journey by aligning information architecture with user mental models.
Added a dedicated “Admissions” tab to the global navigation
Designed a centralized page with cards for each applicant type
Used icons and concise labels to help users self-identify quickly
Linked each card to a clear, step-by-step guide to reduce confusion
IMPACT
This refined design enables prospective students and partners to:
Browse faculty expertise with clarity and confidence.
Locate relevant events faster.
Understand the school’s activities and value at a glance.
These outcomes demonstrate how a user-centered design process and close cross-functional collaboration can deliver measurable improvements in engagement, trust, and conversion.
+2X
+2X Growth in Applications:
Applications from prospective students doubled compared to the previous year, indicating a significantly improved user journey and higher trust in the program.
+40%
Higher event attendance, with more participants joining info sessions and school events, showing that the new event flow and visibility were effective.
+30%
Increased content engagement: A significantly higher proportion of visitors successfully navigated to program details and admissions pages compared to the legacy site.
+25%
Improved mobile engagement, with users spending more time on the site and navigating key content more easily on smaller screens.
REFLECTIONS
Redesigning the TSE website reinforced the importance of designing with clarity, measurable impact, and collaboration at every stage. This project challenged me to balance consistency with flexibility, align diverse stakeholders early, and ground decisions in evidence. These takeaways continue to shape how I build experiences that earn user trust and scale effectively.
01 / Simplicity drives trust
When redesigning an academic website, I learned that clarity and simplicity are critical to building credibility. Streamlined navigation and consistent labels helped prospective students feel more confident engaging with the program.
03 / Measure what matters
By tracking application and engagement metrics, I could demonstrate the real impact of design decisions on conversion and retention, reinforcing the importance of data-informed iteration.
02 / Align early with stakeholders
Working closely with faculty and administrative teams from the start made it easier to prioritize the most impactful content and avoid last-minute changes.
04 / Balance consistency and flexibility
While redesigning the TSE website, I learned how critical it is to balance consistent navigation patterns with the flexibility to accommodate diverse content types, such as program information, events, and faculty profiles. This balance ensured the experience could scale and remain clear for all audiences.