Elevate Humans
Elevating business systems and UX strategy for a human-design consultancy.
Business Systems Development Practicum @ UT Austin
The idea
Project goal: Design and execute an IT project as a team of 5 for a local Austin business over the course of 12 weeks.
This project was the practicum project of my Business Systems Development course at UT Austin.
Project Date
March 2020 - May 2020
Role
Project member
Note: Website linked for reference only, because site changes may have been made after project handoff in May 2020.
The overview
Problem Statement:
Elevate Humans is a local Austin business that focuses on using Human Design, a mixture between the Meyers-Briggs personality test and your genetic identity, to provide individuals with a roadmap on how to best navigate the world and workplace. Our client is a human design consultant and the founder of Elevate Humans. She wanted us to help improve her site’s SEO and UX/UI in order to improve her site visitors’ experience - making it easier for them to understand what Human Design is and book their appointments.
Project Goals:
1. Understand as-is and to-be site flow and design, as well as any other requirements (functional, non-functional)
2. Improve SEO metrics and site UX/UI to make it more accessible and user-friendly
3. Deliver project within 12 week-timeline
Scope and Constraints:
At the point of our project, our client was our sole focal point and only stakeholder, so we had to take into consideration her bandwidth and technical ability to maintain the website after project handover. The decisions we made reflects that.
The process
Understand as-is and to-be site flow and design, as well as any other requirements
Since our client preferred and already built some skills and experience with the Squarespace platform, our team came to the conclusion of maintaining and building upon the currently existing platform. The main integration that our client emphasized was payment processing and options.
Conduct an in-depth analysis on which payment integration would best suit our client’s needs
We noted that our client was currently subscribed for the Commerce Basic Plan.
The Squarespace platform that our client will continue to use consisted of the following features:
No transaction fees from Squarespace (fees apart from using Stripe/Square/PayPal)
Modern templates that our client can choose from - coupled with Dropbox integration and Google Drive synchronization
Ability to link social media
Editing image and text features
Built-in mobile websites
First, we did a user story exercise in order to help us prioritize the functional components that needed to be implemented with the re-design.
Implement agile methodologies for project management
Throughout the duration of the project, we used agile methodologies and worked in iterative sprints in order to collaborate more effectively with our client and ensure that the project was on track. We had in-person meetings and maintained consistent online communication via a Trello board and emails. After a couple initial planning, research, and strategy sprints, we were ready to begin designing.
The design
Based on our research and understanding of the client’s current state as well as her system requirements, we designed a to-be data flow diagram (DFD) when a prospective user visits and books a consultation on her site.
Then, we created a mock-up of her site on Balsamiq with the new features and functions.
The outcome
After conducting the research and completing the wireframes, we got to work with re-designing the UI. We kept the user’s experience at the forefront of every change we implemented.
Changes made:
Re-designed the overall UI to make a prospective client/user’s experience more seamless when they land on the site. Keeping in mind that Human Design is a relatively niche subject, we made the decision to keep sections like “What is Human Design” and client testimonials on the site where it would be easy to find.
Reviewed and revised SEO metrics
Integrated a payment method on the site so it’s easier for users to book and make a direct payment