At CSAIL (MIT’s Computer Science and Artificial Intelligence Laboratory), students were having difficulty locating the professors they wanted to work with, or the groups and projects they wanted to join. There was no easy way to sort through the different categories of interests and impact areas on the old site, and most of the detailed CSAIL information was interspersed among several external research group websites. The old site also didn’t demonstrate the culture interconnectivity at CSAIL, and it didn’t effectively educate users about the organization.
We conducted user interviews with students and professors, asking about the general pain points throughout the site and in the CSAIL application process. We also examined site analytics to see where users were going and where they were dropping off. We used this combined data to restructure the site, introduce connectivity and add more useful information for the CSAIL student.
We created a system to organize all of CSAIL (people, research projects, research groups, news and events) and allow a user to find things relevant to their area of study. Profile pages for each person, group and project have information that shows how all of CSAIL is connected. We also created a section that explains what CSAIL is and how to become a member.
BEFORE: Homepage Wireframe for Interactive Prototype
AFTER: Homepage wireframe after User testing
People page before client feedback sessions
People page after user testing and client feedback
