Haggard
Childcare Resources
Website redesign and optimization for a group of Montessori schools in Seattle.
TL;DR
Haggard Childcare Resources has been a Montessori pioneer for 40 years. There are 8 total schools under the Haggard Childcare Resources umbrella. 4 of these 8 schools falls under UW. Montessori method is a teaching method that promotes cognitive, emotional, physical and social skills in children.
To optimize their website, we used a task-based approach to simplify the information architecture and capturing philosophy through visual design.
This project was done as a part of academic project for HCDE 537.
Role: UX Designer, Visual Designer, UX Researcher
My work included conducting qualitative research and card sorting, synthesizing findings, creating the information architecture, ideating through wireframes, building the brand identity and design system, and designing the high-fidelity prototype.
Team: Rabab Rabbani| Meghna Balachandran| Kasturi Khanke| David Pearl | Vidya Subramanyam
Duration: 10 weeks (Apr- Jun 2022)
AFTER
BEFORE
Who are we designing for?
Parents and Caregivers
BROWSE AND ENROLL
Users can look for schools at convenient locations, get an idea of spatial infrastructure, programs, and tuition before they proceed to find sept-by-step instructions to submit an application to enroll their child.
Prospective Staff
ASSESS AND APPLY
Users can assess if they align with the company's values in addition to learning about school specific information like the experiences of existing staff and campus policies before they submit a job application.
Exploratory Research
Methods
Redesigning Goals
WEBSITE GOALS
Ensure content is current, focused, useful, and inviting
Organize the site so main tasks are easy to accomplish
Provide visual coherence and strengthen the HCR brand
Make it easier for job-seekers to learn about HCR and apply
BUSINESS GOALS
Reduce inquiry calls by 15% within 3 months of redesign launch
Increase teacher/staff job applications by 20% within 6 months of redesign launch
Key Opportunities
01
Outdated Content
02
Complex Information Architecture
03
Challenging Application Process
04
Lack of Visual Identity
What worked well
Usability Testing
01
Clear categories and calls-to-action made it easy to navigate and find what users are looking for
Easy to navigate
02
Page hierarchy and chunking makes it easy to skim through pages
Clear Hierarchy
03
Following typical website conventions made usage intuitive
Intuitive Design
What could have been done differently?