IDEO U, helping customers discover the right product
Role
Designer
Platform
Web
Duration
80 hours
Type
Redesign
Background
IDEO U is a design-thinking learning platform offering courses and certificates. In 2021, the marketing team found that too many options overwhelmed potential customers. I worked with them to design a solution.
Outcome
July 2021 to March 2022 showed an 7.62%+ increase in homepage value and 2.6%+ decrease in bounce rate via Google Analytics.
New sections enhanced IDEO U's overall marketing strategy to highlight learner stories, and further supported ad, social media, and email campaigns.
Team
Product manager | Growth analyst | Marketing manager
Original vs Redesign
Research
I conducted stakeholder and observational interviews, a card sort, and analyzed marketing data, personas, and competitors to:
Identify key competitors and their UX strengths/weaknesses
Uncover user goals, frustrations, and navigation behaviors
Evaluate site alignment with IDEO U’s brand and messaging
Usability testing was also done to validate new designs.
Design objectives
01
Remove repetitive information.
02
Highlight differentiators.
03
Showcase ROI from enrolling.
Key Design Decisions
The redesign highlighted branding, simplified content, introduced learning paths, grouped products, added pricing to cards, and included testimonials, benefits, quotes, an interactive module, and FAQs- all ready for A/B testing.
Branding & First Impressions
Selected high-quality images to bring out IDEO U's creative branding.
Original
Redesign
Homepage pathfinding
Grouped products into topic-based learning paths to streamline navigation and reduce repetition. Used action-oriented language like "Choose" and "Pick" to guide customer decision-making.
Original
Redesign
Product differentiators
Created a new layout for certificates to set them apart from courses.
Course
Certificate
Testimonials, statistics, and benefits
Added statistics and highlighted testimonials for credibility, and added language to communicate the ROI of the certificate (a group of classes).
Testimonials
Certificate benefits
Learnings
At kickoff, the marketing team suggested a quiz to solve the way-finding problem but hesitated to alter the page after a past redesign hurt conversions. My research showed that refining existing elements would improve the experience more than adding a new feature. I proposed a redesign in A/B-testable sections—low-lift changes-which won stakeholder buy-in. This project reinforced that small changes can drive big results, especially for risk-averse businesses, and was a fun, collaborative experience.
